End of free healthcare? £10 a month NHS 'membership fee' proposed

In an effort to prevent the health service from sliding into decline, a former health minister proposed a monthly £10 NHS 'membership fee'

16:39 31 March 2014

Former Labour health minister Lord Warner is proposing a monthly £10 NHS 'membership fee' to save the health service from sliding into decline. He said that without new funding, NHS may soon become unsustainable and painful changes maybe needed in the near future.

Warner, who served under Tony Blair, said: "Many politicians and clinicians are scared to tell people that our much-beloved 65-year-old NHS no longer meets the country's needs.”

"Frankly, it is often poor value for money. The NHS now represents the greatest public spending challenge after the general election. MPs taking to the streets to preserve clinically unsustainable hospital services only damage their constituents."

In a report, Warner said that NHS faces an expected £30bn-a-year gap by 2020 between the demand for healthcare and its ability to respond. Aside from the proposed membership fee, he said that additional funding can be sourced from higher “sin” taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. He added that inheritance tax should be collected at a higher rate and that visitors staying overnight in hospital should pay “hotel charges.”

Dr Clive Peedell, an NHS oncologist who is co-leader of the National Health Action party, does not agree with Warner’s proposals. He said: "Ministers should instead crack down on the cash lost through tax avoidance and use some of that to boost the NHS's budget.”

"Any attempts to introduce what would amount to an NHS tax on patients puts us on the slippery slope towards the end of an NHS that needs to be, and should be, free at the point of use."