Patients should pay NHS fee, says report

Co-authored by former Labour health minister Lord Warner, the study called for radical changes to how the NHS is funded.

Under the proposals, every resident would gain 'NHS membership' at a monthly fee of £10, to be collected alongside council tax.

The report, published by think tank Reform, said this could entitle more people than now to an annual 'health MOT' of basic health checks.

The membership would also 'review progress over the previous year, agreeing individual goals and NHS support for the coming year, with a focus on management of chronic conditions and more support for carers'. Those receiving free prescriptions would be exempt from the charges.

It argued that NHS funding from general taxation should only rise with inflation to avoid starving the rest of the public sector of resources.

Other ways of increasing revenue could include taxing alcohol and tobacco more heavily and food and drink containing 'excessive' amounts of sugar.

"Betting and gambling taxes could also be increased and used on the same basis," the report said. Other moves may include 'full-cost charging for the administration of vaccinations for overseas travel and reducing the number of people exempt from charges'. Patients should also pay 'co-payments for the hotel costs of some inpatient hospital care'.

The report said: "By the end of the next Parliament, providing there was the political will, it is possible to envisage these changes in entitlements yielding over £6 billion a year."

Lord Warner said: "We can no longer pay homage to an out-of-date and unaffordable NHS that's unfit for today's and tomorrow's care needs. The day of reckoning has arrived with an obesity epidemic on our doorstep.."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "This Government doesn't support the introduction of membership fees or anything like them."

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