'Charge patients for A&E and GP visits to fix unsustainable NHS', Tory ex-health secretary Sajid Javid says

21 January 2023, 08:21 | Updated: 21 January 2023, 08:41

Patients should be charged for visits to the doctor and to accident and emergency, Sajid Javid has said, with the Conservative former health secretary labelling the current NHS system "unsustainable".

In an op-ed for The Times, the MP called for a "grown-up, hard-headed conversation" about revamping the health service, adding that "too often the appreciation for the NHS has become a religious fervour and a barrier to reform".

But the government is not considering Mr Javid's proposals, a spokesperson said.

Mr Javid, who served as health secretary from 2021 to July last year, said that the NHS's only rationing mechanism - to make people wait - should be replaced by means-tested fees, while "protecting those on low incomes".

"We should look, on a cross-party basis, at extending the contributory principle," he wrote. "This conversation will not be easy, but it can help the NHS ration its finite supply more effectively."

It comes after A&E and ambulance waiting times hit record levels again in December, and with thousands of nurses and ambulance workers striking over pay and conditions.

He pointed to Ireland's "nominal" 75 euro fees for going to an injury unit without a referral, and £20 fees for GP appointments in Norway and Sweden as possible models.

"Too often the appreciation for the NHS has become a religious fervour and a barrier to reform," the Bromsgrove MP also said.

"We need to shake off the constraints of political discourse and start having a grown-up, hard-headed conversation about alternatives."

Mr Javid, who will not stand at the next election, argued that "the 75-year-old model of the NHS is unsustainable".

It comes after the Labour party also called for reform of "culture and systems" within the NHS that are giving patients "miserable experiences".

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The shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told The Guardian: "Reform is not a Conservative word.

"In recent elections, the left has given a lot of people the impression the answer to everything is to pour more money in.

Of course investment is needed in the NHS, but ask any patient about their miserable experiences and it's partly about culture and systems. That's got to change too."

Following weeks of speculation over whether Mr Sunak pays to skip NHS queues to see a doctor, he recently said that, while he was registered with an NHS GP, he had paid for private healthcare in the past.