Dr Ellie Cannon hit out at the “Amazon Prime” generation for missing doctors’ appointments. Her argument comes as she argued last month in the Daily Mail that there should be a £25 fee to see a GP. But after receiving backlash for the amount, she has since proposed a cost of 50p for MPs to consider.
Speaking on ITV GMB, Dr Cannon said: “Well, I think I have the answer: a fee of just 50p that has to be paid when patients book a new appointment.
“It’s a charge small enough that’s it’s affordable for most, but large enough to teach patients the value of NHS time.
“I look after patients who are homeless, victims of domestic abuse, all the child abuse victims in my practice and I have to be honest with you, it is not my vulnerable patients who are missing appointments and wasting appointments.
“They don’t want to waste their appointments, they can’t afford to waste their appointments.”
Host Susanna Reid interjected: “Who are they, is it people like me?”
Ms Cannon added: “It is people like all of us, who throw away everything in our society.
“We don’t value stuff – it’s what I call the Amazon Prime generation. We want everything now, now, now.”
Panellist and model Eunice Olumide argued against the doctor’s suggestion.
She said: “I’m so proud of the NHS partly because it is free at the point of delivery.
“Very few countries can boast that and it would be a slipper slope if they started charging for appointments.”
Her comments come as support GPs are reportedly using the consulting room sink to go for a pee to save time, according to support workers.
Shock figures from the Royal College of GPs reveal soaring numbers of doctors seeking help for depression and burnout.
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According to the GP who set up a programme to help family doctors, some have been pushed to the brink of suicide. The problems are being blamed on a major shortage of GPs sparking longer working hours.
Dr Clare Gerada, founder of the NHS Practitioner Health Programme offering help to GPs and dentists, warned average 11-hour days worked by GPs were a major risk factor.
Out of the 3,000 NHS practitioners seeking help for mental health problems from her programme, a total of 1,855 (56 percent) are GPs.
She said action had to be taken to stop GPs working the long hours that are destroying their lives and putting patients at risk.
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