Rishi Sunak has abandoned his Tory leadership campaign pledge to fine patients £10 if they miss a GP or hospital appointment.
The Prime Minister had told Conservative MPs in August that it was “wrong” that there were “15 million missed appointments every year” at GPs and hospitals, as he justified the fine as a “tough” measure to change people’s behavior
In a blue-on-blue attack, Sunak, then a former chancellor without portfolio, told members that “no one had bothered to address” the issue for years, even though the Tories had been in power for more than a decade.
“It’s not valuing our doctors properly, but also, more importantly, depriving people of the care they urgently need, making them wait unnecessarily, so I’ve said I want to be tough on this,” he said. say at that time.
But a Downing Street spokesman said on Friday: “The Prime Minister wants to deliver a stronger NHS and the feeling remains that people should not miss out on their appointments and taking up NHS time. But we have listened to GPs and healthcare leaders and we have recognized that now is not the right time to move forward with this policy.”
Health experts had widely criticized the plans. The British Medical Association said the move would “make matters worse” and threaten the principle of free NHS care at the point of need.
Sunak’s press secretary said the prime minister was “committed to fulfilling the commitments made” in the Conservatives’ 2019 election manifesto.
In the summer, Sunak had presented the fines as a necessary temporary measure until post-coronavirus backlogs were addressed. “Under my government there will never be any care charges in our NHS,” he said. “But I will charge people who waste valuable NHS time by booking appointments and not attending.”
Sunak also promised to cut NHS waiting lists, saying it was his “No. 1 public service priority” if he became prime minister. He pledged to create a “vaccine-style” task force on Day 1 of his premiership dedicated to tackling backlogs.
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