Should patients be penalized if they miss their doctor’s appointments?
Do you think patients should be fined for wasting doctors’ time, with 37,379 GP appointments missed every day due to no-shows?
According to shocking NHS data, nearly four and a half million GP appointments were missed by service users this year, costing the health service approximately £175 million, or more than £1.4 million per day.
According to the report, 37,379 appointments are missed every day, while sick and frustrated patients complain about not being able to secure consultation slots.
Meanwhile, other patients may have to wait several weeks for a non-urgent GP appointment.
Missed appointments are “incredibly frustrating,” according to Dr Sarah Jarvis, a GP and clinical director, when family doctors are under pressure.
“If people make an appointment and then fail to appear, that’s an appointment that could have gone to someone else.”
Dr. Jarvis stated that she supports fining patients a small fee – between £5 and £10 – for wasting doctors’ time.
Each appointment costs approximately £39; the money saved could pay the salaries of over 2,000 full-time GPs, 8,000 community nurses, or fund 200,000 cataract operations and 50,000 hip replacements.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on whether or not patients should be fined for missing appointments. If you want to share your thoughts, leave them in the comments section and we’ll highlight the best ones as they come in.
