£10 NHS charge idea sickens MP

CHARGING patients £10 a month to see a doctor would turn the NHS into a full-blown private health service, Oldham MP Michael Meacher has warned.

The Oldham West and Royton MP says said the suggestion, by right-wing thinktank Reform, was part of a Tory plan to destroy the NHS.

Co-author of the report Lord Warner, who served under Tony Blair, warned that the NHS would become unsustainable without new sources of funding.

The controversial report said the £10 monthly fee would be used to fund local initiatives to improve health and also fund an annual health MOT for everyone of working age.

Mr Meacher added: “We now see why the Tories, led by Jeremy Hunt, have been so keen to demean and vilify the NHS on every occasion they can over the last several months, cue the need to junk the old, failing NHS and to announce the dawn of a brand new burnished private healthcare system. And — what a surprise — you’re going to have to pay for it if you want to get any medical attention.

“Oh yes, they have fixed the initial fee at the loss-leader level of £10 a month, but don’t be taken in by that. Remember tuition fees — originally we were assured they would be held at £3,000, but then as soon as the Tories got in, they tripled them to £9,000.”

Mr Meacher said his constituents should not be made to pay and many families would not be able to afford additional costs.

Mr Meacher added: “It is incredible that Lord Warner has the gall to claim the NHS is unaffordable without mentioning that the Tories have deliberately imposed a £20 billion cut on the NHS over the current five-year period to put it under intolerable strain.”