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Sunak proposes £10 fine for missed NHS appointments
Rishi Sunak has proposed introducing fines for patients who miss GP and hospital appointments as part of a shake-up of the NHS.
He said those who fail to show up for appointments are “taking those slots away from people who need [them]”.
Under Sunak's plans, first time offenders would be given the benefit of the doubt, but missed appointments after that would lead to a £10 fine.
Sunak told the Telegraph: "If they're not being used, then that's a waste.
“So if we can change that, then we basically get more out of the money that we're putting in today. It's a good example of a Conservative approach to that problem."
The system would be in place until the NHS has cleared its Covid backlog.
Over 15 million appointments at GPs go to waste each year, according to NHS England.
However, the proposal has been criticised by health leaders.
BMA chair Dr Philip Banfield cautioned that fines would damage trust between patients and doctors and threaten the core NHS principle that care is delivered free at the point of need.
He said: "While it is frustrating when patients do not attend, the reasons why this happens should be investigated rather than simply resorting to punishing them.
"Financially penalising patients inevitably impacts the poorest and most vulnerable in the community. This may discourage them from rebooking, exacerbating already worsening health inequalities and costing the NHS more."
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Healthcare is evolving through digitalisation and widening network capacity whilst simultaneously collecting a greater range and depth of data. The NHS is the largest integrated healthcare provider in the world with a supply chain consisting of more than 80,000 suppliers. The amalgamation of different estates, the multiplicity of legacy systems and the diversity of technology, people, processes and culture makes it a hugely complex environment. This is also vulnerable to Cyber Security attacks including data breaches where sensitive patient records may be attained for extortion, disruption or resale on the dark web. The current heightened political tensions and state sponsored cyber-crime only add fuel to this already challenging mix. In this evolving environment, it is imperative UK health organisations recognise the need to proactively manage and constantly review their Cyber Security posture as widely advocated by the NCSC for all the CNI sector.
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