Let patients ‘buy better care on NHS’

Patients should be able to top-up their NHS treatment with small monthly payments in return for an ‘enhanced’ service, a report suggests.

Allowing people who can afford it to invest extra money would raise billions of pounds and give all patients a better healthcare experience, the authors say.

Those who choose to pay – a sum starting from £100 per year for someone on a wage of £20,000 – would still receive the standard service in NHS hospitals and clinics.

But by voluntarily paying extra they could avoid long waiting times for procedures and seek treatment anywhere in the country, according to the report by think-tank Civitas.

The authors, NHS consultant Dr Christopher Lees and researcher Edmund Stubbs, argue the scheme would alleviate the stress on the health service and offset the need for higher taxes across the board.

They say polls show there is a ‘public appetite’ for increased contributions to the health service. The proposal would create a two-tier system, as the authors acknowledge, but they say this has already been created by the advent of private healthcare.

Credits – Daily Mail 20/02/2015 P. 10

“I’m getting a quite sickly healthcare experience from this report. If you like the idea you can choose from the standard, gold or platinum policy!!!”