Nick Ferrari suggested people be charged 'about 50 to 60 pounds' per appointment after they reached their limit
A radio host has called for people to be limited to 12 NHS appointments a year in order to tackle the issue of "frequent attenders".
Nick Ferrari suggested that people have the equivalent of one free appointment per month, and then be charged between £50 and £60 for every subsequent appointment after their allocated 12.
Speaking on his breakfast show on LBC, the broadcaster told listeners: "The provision of NHS care – whether it is in hospitals, clinics or your GP – they are bouncing on the bottom at the moment because of Covid.
"It is time for radical action. And today I propose to you that you all have 12 appointments per annum.
"Which obviously works out at one a month. After that, you will be charged.
Ferrari was commenting after
research from the University of Manchester found that a large proportion of the workload for GPs was taken up by patients who made a disproportionate number of visits to clinics, known as "frequent attenders".
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But he added: "If you constantly come along and say 'I’ve got a bump on my bottom' or 'I’ve got earache' or 'I don’t feel well, I don’t think I can go to work', whatever it might be; the myriad of complaints that confront those poor men and women, the army of GPs.
"You will effectively get one a month free after which you will be charged somewhere in the order of about 50 to 60 pounds."
Ferrari added that people in "desperately serious cases" such as those with cancer would be exceptions to the rule and could be put in a "different bracket".
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He also called for people who do not attend appointments to be penalised by losing three of their allotted 12 appointments and fined £100.
The suggestion sparked anger on social media, with many saying that the issue is not people attending too many appointments but the NHS not being properly funded.
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Other social media users pointed out that for people with long-term health conditions this would be a hugely harmful policy.
"My diabetic pensioner dad has had about 40 appointments this year. Glad to hear Ferrari wants to bankrupt him," one person wrote.
Lib Dem peer Chris Rennard said: "Fine if you are very healthy! But very unfair if you have a long term condition, and a policy that would be dangerous to public health if people avoid their GP when they may infect others etc."
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The research from the University of Manchester looked at more than 160 million consultation events from 12.3 million patients in 845 general practices between 2000 and 2019.
It found that four in 10 consultations at GP clinics were with "frequent attenders". These were people who visited their GP more than 90 percent of all other patients at the same practice.
The study concluded that the number of consultations for those who were frequent attenders doubled in the past 20 years.
The study’s co-author Professor Evan Kontopantelis said: "This is the first study to show that frequent attenders, the top 10 per cent of consulters, have largely and progressively contributed to increased workload in general practices across the UK over the last 20 years.
Professor Aneez Esmail, another co-author, said: "Our findings show that frequent attenders account for an increasing proportion of face-to-face consultations with GPs and are responsible for nearly 40% of consultations fairly constantly over time."
