UK Prime Minister Backed Down On Patient £10 Fine

During the Tory leadership campaign, Mr Sunak vowed to introduce a temporary £10 charge for patients who failed to turn up for an appointment without providing notice.

He said that patients would be given the “benefit of the doubt” the first time around but would face fines for further missed appointments.

Rishi Sunak has backed down on a Tory leadership campaign pledge to fine patients who miss GP and hospital appointments £10. 

Spokeswoman for the prime minister said on Friday: “The PM wants to deliver a stronger NHS and the sentiment remains that people should not be missing their appointments and taking up NHS time. 

“But we have listened to GPs and health leaders, and have acknowledged that now is not the right time to take this policy forward.”

Health unions had previously criticised the plans as unworkable, claiming that the cost of administrating the policy would cancel out the amount of funds that it brings in.

Reacting to the plans in July, the British Medical Association (BMA) said it “stood firmly against the idea of charging patients for missed appointments”. 

“While it is frustrating when patients do not attend, the reasons why this happens should be investigated rather than simply resorting to punishing them,” said BMA chairman Philip Banfield. 

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the “cost of administrating” the policy would be “as much as anything you raise by it”. 

“Fining is going to gum up the system with a huge bureaucracy of chasing people and, in the end, if it’s a £10 fine, are we actually going to follow it up,” he asked in July.

Figures released on Thursday showed that the number of GP appointments climbed to its highest total in six months in September with a total of 28,251,282 offered up. Over a third (68.1 per cent) were carried out face to face, the highest number since before the Covid pandemic. 

Analysis by the Standard found that the number of people not attending their booked GP appointment has jumped by nearly a fifth in a month in September.