19.06.14
RCN rejects proposal to charge patients for GP visits
A motion to charge patients visiting their GP £10 at the point of service has been ‘overwhelmingly’ defeated by delegates at the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN) annual conference in Liverpool.
The proposition - this meeting of RCN Congress believes that a fixed fee should be charged for GP appointments - as put forward by Andy McGovern from RCN inner London, was voted against by 91% of those in attendance, reinforcing their belief that the NHS should be free at the point of delivery.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary for the RCN, said: “Charging patients for GP visits is a controversial issue – one that goes to the heart of what the NHS is and should be.”
He added that the future funding of the NHS is “shrouded in uncertainty” and there needs to be a clear direction from politicians about the way ahead so that clinicians and commissioners can plan for the future.
Lisa Reith, from RCN’s south-west outer London branch, said: “When we already pay for this service through general taxation it seems unreasonably unjust [to pay at the point of service as well].”
But Andy McGovern, who proposed the motion, stated that at some point in the future, regardless of which UK country people live in, there will have to be a choice between increased taxation or paying for public services like health that “we have hitherto expected by right”.
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