HSC to address cost of GP appointments

Thursday 30 April 2020

Health & Social Care could accelerate plans to make doctor's appointments more affordable.

Although its primary care proposals were put on hold towards the beginning of the corona virus pandemic, the committee has started a comprehensive review into the fee and grant structure.

"We paused our policy letter on primary care services as everything kicked off, but we are now looking as part of our recovery plan to accelerate proposals when it comes to primary care, to making it more accessible and affordable for all," explained President of HSC, Deputy Heidi Soulsby.

Pictured: Deputy Heidi Soulsby.

However, that is likely to take a while before coming into effect. But, with many patients complaining about high GP prices throughout the pandemic - particularly the £40 charge for telephone consultations on repeat prescriptions - HSC is looking to work with practices to find a solution.

"In the meantime, we are inviting the GP practices to work with us to look at proposals that would make things better in the short term," continued Deputy Soulsby.

"We've had lots of concerns from the public about the costs - they are private practices, let's not forget. We've never had contracts with the GPs in the system, so we're inviting GPs and talking with them about how we can have a structure in place that meets those issues."