Having read around a bit on this NHS issue, I find that Dorset is not the only place in the country that is offering a two tier health system. An example from Surrey.
Fees
GP
First consultation with new patient check £95
Consultation
£80
Home visit (additional travel charges may apply) £160
Telephone and email consultations
(registered patients only)
£40
Essential health check
£260
Comprehensive health check
£395
Virgin Care are now buying up practices, and are making them profit generating businesses. 15 years ago our dentist in England said that they would no longer be doing NHS work, and gave us an invitation to buy private insurance. Leave them and go elsewhere you might say, but they were the last ones in the area to still do NHS work, so there was nowhere to go.
1.5 million private individuals in the USA filed for bankruptcy last year, with over 70% saying it was because of health bills, and the vast majority had some form of insurance they had paid for.
Meanwhile back in Dorset, central Bournemouth has 10 sites, used by seven practices, and this could be reduced to just three. The Primary Care Commissioning Strategy and Plan, revealed 'super-surgeries' with up to 50,000 patients could be introduced in a radical shake-up of GP services.
This is what is happening on the ground now, so it is no wonder that May doesn't want to talk about it.