I honestly don’t feel that as a GP there are any unnecessary consultations. The whole idea behind general practice is that the public feels comfortable and happy to make an appointment whenever they feel the need to get something checked out, ask questions or even just to talk through issues. We are trained as GPs to recognize potentially life threatening problems in their infancy. By discouraging patients not to attend (and by imposing ANY copayment this is discouragement to attend, particularly for poorer patients) it is surrendering this important skill over to the individual, asking them to triage their own health questions so they only attend for what they judge themselves to be “important enough”. Read more…