A doctor has argued that patients should be charged 50p to see a doctor - to make people think twice about missing an appointment.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, Dr Ellie Cannon expressed her frustration over people skipping appointments - branding the 'Amazon Prime' generation as the main culprits.
In her Daily Mail column last month, she mentioned a £25 fee to see a GP, but after much backlash, she acknowledged it would "anger many" and has therefore come forward with her own 'reasonable' proposal for politicians to consider.
In an article on Sunday, she said that "a charge of some sort is needed" after figures reveal patients failed to attend an estimated 16.4 million appointments last year.
While another recent report reveals 15 million patients are waiting at least a month to see their GP.
"Well, I think I have the answer: a fee of just 50p that has to be paid when patients book a new appointment. It’s a charge small enough that’s it’s affordable for most, but large enough to teach patients the value of NHS time," she said.
Likening the charge to the 5p fee on plastic bags, she said the "same logic should be applied to GP appointments."
On the GMB panel, she explained: "I look after patients who are homeless, victims of domestic abuse, all the child abuse victims in my practice and I have to be honest with you, it is not my vulnerable patients who are missing appointments and wasting appointments.
"The don't want to waste their appointments, they can't afford to waste their appointments.
"Who are they, is it people like me?" interjected host Susanna Reid.
"It is people like all of us, who throw away everything in our society. We don't value stuff - it's what I call the Amazon Prime generation. We want everything now, now, now."
But her controversial opinion wasn't shared by all of the panelists, with Eunice Olumide saying it went against the principal of the NHS.
The model said: "I'm so proud of the NHS [partly because] it is free at the point of delivery."
She added that "very few countries can boast that" and argued it could be a "slippery slope" if the NHS starts charging 50p for appointments.
You can watch GMB every weekday on ITV or catch up on this debate on the ITV Hub.
