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The BBC are reporting: NHS 'will not be free in future'
Quote:
The NHS is unlikely to be free at the point of use within 10 years, according to doctors.
A British Medical Association poll of 964 young GPs and hospital doctors found 61% thought some patients would have to pay for some treatment by 2017.
Four in five said it was also likely the health service would be providing fewer services.
All three main political parties have ruled out bringing in a form of charging in the short-term.
The doctors questioned were members of the BMA's Junior Members Forum, which effectively represents the top doctors of the future as it includes doctors who have graduated within the last 12 years and also students.
The poll also revealed that 94% thought the role of the private sector would continue to grow and 48% said they envisaged they would have left the NHS within 10 years.
Forum chairman Dr Andrew Thomson said it was time to have a debate about the future of the NHS because of pressures from the ageing population and new and ever more expensive drugs.
"We are likely to see demand on health increase with more older people and this is at a time when there will be more drugs coming on to the market," he said.
"It is clear we need to discuss how the NHS responds. It will either do less or will require more money.
"Our members are not saying they are for or against charging, just that we feel it needs to be discussed.
"We will be the ones making the decisions in the future and implementing changes so we want to know what the public, profession and political parties think."
Various options have been put forward, including asking patients to contribute towards the cost of some minor treatments, such as varicose veins, or excluding them from NHS care altogether.
There has also been suggestions that an NHS tax could be introduced to help pay for the extra demands on the health service.
Dr Thomson said his members were not expressing a favour for any one option, but he suggested patients may well be ready for a change in the system.
BMA policy is still that the NHS should be free at the point of need, although the issue is likely to be discussed at the doctors' annual conference, which sets policy, later this year.
But a spokeswoman for the Patients Association said: "I think it is an important principle that where care is needed it is free.
"We would not be in favour of patients paying for care where doctors say it is necessary."
NHS 'will not be free in future'
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