Sajid Javid says patients should be charged for GP appointments, emergency and ER visits to ease waiting times Politics News

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Patients must pay for GP appointments, emergency visits and accidents, Sajid-Javid said, calling the current model of the NHS “unsustainable”.

“Extending the contribution principle,” the former health secretary wrote in an op-ed for The Times, “should be part of sweeping reforms to combat increasing waiting times.”

He also called for an “adult, puritanical conversation” about revamping the health service, noting that “too often the appreciation of the NHS has become a religious fervor and a barrier to reform”.

Downing Street said the prime minister was not “currently” considering the proposals.

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had previously laid out plans to fine patients who missed GP and hospital appointments £10 while campaigning for the Conservative Party leadership.

But he scrapped the idea after widespread criticism from health leaders.

Mr Javid suggested the NHS should replace making people wait with test charges, with “low-income protection”.

“We must consider, on a multi-party basis, an extension of the contribution principle,” he wrote.

“This conversation will not be easy, but it can help the NHS ration its limited supplies more effectively.”

Bromsgrove MP, who will not stand in the next election, highlighted Ireland’s ‘nominal’ fee of €75 (£66) to go to an injury unit without referral, and the £20 fee for GP appointments in Norway and Sweden as possible models.

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The Bromsgrove MP also said: “NHS esteem has often become a religious fervor and a barrier to reform”.

“We need to get rid of the shackles of political discourse and start having an adult, hard-line conversation about the alternatives.”

Mr Javid argued in his article that the “75-year-old NHS model is not sustainable”.

His proposal comes amid growing calls for an overhaul of the NHS, and not just from within the Conservative Party.

Labour’s shadow health minister Wes Streeting told the Guardian: “Reform is not a conservative word.

“In the last election the left gave many people the impression that the answer to everything is more money. Of course there needs to be investment in the NHS, but ask any patient about their miserable experiences and it’s partly about culture and systems that needs to change too.”

It comes after the PM repeatedly declined over the past week to answer whether he used the NHS or paid for private healthcare, before revealing he was registered with an NHS GP but had used private healthcare “in the past”.

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