Joined: Feb 27 2002 Posts: 18060 Location: On the road
Cronus wrote:I would love to see a refundable charge for appointments. £5 paid upfront and refunded when the patient turns up, but kept if they don't. Each missed appointment increases your deposit by £1.
It would not only reduce the number of missed appointments massively, it would also make timewasters think twice about whether they actually need to go to the GP.
According to the NHS 1 in 20 appointments are missed, that's 15.4 million costing £216 million. We should put that on the side of a bus or something.
Yes because putting stuff on the side of buses influences voting patterns
Agree with you idea only problem is the cost of administering the taking/returning of deposits
Your job is to say to yourself on a job interview does the hiring manager likes me or not. If you aren't a particular manager's cup of tea, you haven't failed -- you've dodged a bullet.
Cronus wrote:I would love to see a refundable charge for appointments. £5 paid upfront and refunded when the patient turns up, but kept if they don't. Each missed appointment increases your deposit by £1.
It would not only reduce the number of missed appointments massively, it would also make timewasters think twice about whether they actually need to go to the GP.
According to the NHS 1 in 20 appointments are missed, that's 15.4 million costing £216 million. We should put that on the side of a bus or something.
Although in most cases, people missing appointments ought to be charged for (if it could be done effectively and efficiently), it would be interesting to know how many appointments are missed now as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago ??
Although no doubt costly, these issues are usually borught up by those not wishing to dfund services properly, rather than geniune concern for the ncost.
Cronus wrote:I would love to see a refundable charge for appointments. £5 paid upfront and refunded when the patient turns up, but kept if they don't. Each missed appointment increases your deposit by £1.
It would not only reduce the number of missed appointments massively, it would also make timewasters think twice about whether they actually need to go to the GP.
According to the NHS 1 in 20 appointments are missed, that's 15.4 million costing £216 million. We should put that on the side of a bus or something.
Why should I pay £5 to see my GP when I’ve already paid more than that as a deduction from my wage each month?
The Leigh and Wakefield fans mentality......
Say something negative about any other team than theirs - Its an opinion
Say something negative about Leigh and Wakefield - TROLL
Joined: Jan 30 2005 Posts: 7152 Location: one day closer to death
wrencat1873 wrote:Although in most cases, people missing appointments ought to be charged for (if it could be done effectively and efficiently), it would be interesting to know how many appointments are missed now as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago ??
Although no doubt costly, these issues are usually borught up by those not wishing to dfund services properly, rather than geniune concern for the ncost.
Everyone under the sun has spoken about the cost of missed appointments. That's the oddest argument I think I've ever heard on this subject, given the NHS themselves raise it every year and are investing massively in solutions, not something they would do if in reality it wasn't such a big issue.
And they're doing plenty already. My local GP sends several email & text & app reminders ahead of any appointment. A new portal - DrDoctor - is being rolled out as we speak.
Anyway, google tells me there were 6.5million missed in 2007-8, versus 15 million currently. There's probably some statistical inconsistency, that seems far to large a variance but frankly I can't be bothered digging.
It's a no brainer for me. Prevent missed appointments and put off time-wasters. You know, the clueless, "my little cherub has a cold and I DEMAND ANTIBIOTICS." But no doubt the usual crowd will wail "you're victimising the pooooooorrrr."
wrencat1873 wrote:Although in most cases, people missing appointments ought to be charged for (if it could be done effectively and efficiently), it would be interesting to know how many appointments are missed now as opposed to 10 or 20 years ago ??
Although no doubt costly, these issues are usually borught up by those not wishing to dfund services properly, rather than geniune concern for the ncost.
Everyone under the sun has spoken about the cost of missed appointments. That's the oddest argument I think I've ever heard on this subject, given the NHS themselves raise it every year and are investing massively in solutions, not something they would do if in reality it wasn't such a big issue.
And they're doing plenty already. My local GP sends several email & text & app reminders ahead of any appointment. A new portal - DrDoctor - is being rolled out as we speak.
Anyway, google tells me there were 6.5million missed in 2007-8, versus 15 million currently. There's probably some statistical inconsistency, that seems far to large a variance but frankly I can't be bothered digging.
It's a no brainer for me. Prevent missed appointments and put off time-wasters. You know, the clueless, "my little cherub has a cold and I DEMAND ANTIBIOTICS." But no doubt the usual crowd will wail "you're victimising the pooooooorrrr."
Joined: Jan 30 2005 Posts: 7152 Location: one day closer to death
Sal Paradise wrote:Yes because putting stuff on the side of buses influences voting patterns
Agree with you idea only problem is the cost of administering the taking/returning of deposits
To listen to some people, the only thing you need to win any election or referendum is a message on a bus.
It would add work hours and systems expense, no doubt, but any investment would be repaid many times over within a few weeks. There are hundreds of fast & simple payment systems out there now that could do the job. Take the £5, hold the funds, then bank or release according to whether the patient turns up.
I can't believe paying for missed appointments isn't already in place. It would recoup millions.
My wife works for the NHS, and people not turning up for appointments, or turning up late then demanding to be seen straight away is a regular occurrence.
People think that because it's a free service, there are no financial implications when they miss their appointments.
Yes, there will be implementation costs, and it will require a level of administration, but in a 24/7 digital age I would think there's a reasonably successful solution.
"Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him."
I don't disagree with the idea of efficiency and effectiveness measures - although working directly with many Trusts, it's undoubtedly the case that most are well past that and are now into the arena of cutting essential services; and the cause of that is, without question, the failure of Government to fund it properly. There could be an argument about whether that's deliberate or not, but when the Health Secretary is promoting an app that effectively privatises GP's and defunds existing surgeries, it's reasonable to err on the side of the former.
All that said, I do agree that a big drain on the NHS is the general public failing to look after themselves properly - smoking, alcohol and health conditions caused by obesity are costing £billions, and are in most cases entirely avoidable - but given the endless public health campaigns and the massive amount of information that is available to people these days, it does seem that great swathes of us just don't care enough to take appropriate steps.
Maybe the old maxim that familiarity breeds contempt comes into play - we're so used to the NHS picking up the pieces when we break ourselves, that we don't value it any more in the way we ought to? If certain Tories get their way and we do end up with a privatised system, we will quickly realise how good we had it.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 17146 Location: Olicana - Home of 'Vark Slayer
bren2k wrote:Maybe the old maxim that familiarity breeds contempt comes into play - we're so used to the NHS picking up the pieces when we break ourselves, that we don't value it any more in the way we ought to? If certain Tories get their way and we do end up with a privatised system, we will quickly realise how good we had it.
Looking at other countries, like the good ol' USofA, where being ill can be quite expensive it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, in fact they are worse than us. I certainly don't have any ready answers, but connecting people with the production of food they eat might be a start,
“At last, a real, Tory budget,” Daily Mail 24/9/22 "It may be that the honourable gentleman doesn't like mixing with his own side … but we on this side have a more convivial, fraternal spirit." Jacob Rees-Mogg 21/10/21
A member of the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati.
Joined: Feb 27 2002 Posts: 18060 Location: On the road
tigertot wrote:Looking at other countries, like the good ol' USofA, where being ill can be quite expensive it doesn't seem to make much of a difference, in fact they are worse than us. I certainly don't have any ready answers, but connecting people with the production of food they eat might be a start,
A large chunk of the population has health insurance - a bit like us so why would their behaviour be any different - sadly?
Your job is to say to yourself on a job interview does the hiring manager likes me or not. If you aren't a particular manager's cup of tea, you haven't failed -- you've dodged a bullet.
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