Gp Visit card and out of hours visits

[asknicely]

I am currently in receipt of a GP visit card. Something has come up the last few times I have been at the doctor and I want to know if anybody can shed any light on this.

If I have an appointment in the evening say 5.30 pm the receptionist asks me to sign this form. After signing them a few times I just casually asked what this form is for. She said it was for “out of hours” service. I just left it at that and took my seat in the waiting room.

It got me wondering. Does that mean that apart from the flat fee my doctor is getting for providing me with the services of the GP visit card, is he also getting an extra payment for seeing me “out of hours”? I have visited the doctor once or twice in the morning and I didn’t have to sign this form it only happens in the evening surgery. The surgery also seems more packed out in the evening. Its harder to get an appointment in the evening than the morning surgery.

So my question is when a doctor has a patient with a GP visit only card is he only getting one payment for providing that service or are there other payments under this scheme eg out of hours service?

 

[Protocol]

I suspect you are correct.


This only adds to my perception that many medics are profit-driven, not working for a vocation, quite the opposite.

 

[Towger]

This only adds to my perception that many medics are profit-driven, not working for a vocation, quite the opposite.

This would seem to be a large problem with how the 'system worked' for many years. Many people became doctors not because they were interested in it and had a 'good bedside manner', but because they 'got the points' for the course.