BACKGROUND
GPs are to hold a vote on charging for appointments. The idea is to deter patients from missing consultations – a problem that costs £160million a year. The fees – possibly between £10 and £25 – would be the first since the NHS was founded in 1948. One GP said an entire morning's work was lost when 14 patients failed to turn up. Others believe the free care offered by the Health Service is unsustainable in the face of an aging and increasingly obese population. Read more >>
THE CARTOON
This cartoon by Mac from the Daily Mail is set in a doctor's surgery. The doctor, who is putting some banknotes into a till on his desk, tells a patient, Mr Spiggot, who has come to see him about a sore toe that he will see him several times over coming days and weeks.
COMMENTARY
The joke is that a sore toe is not a very serious medical problem but the doctor wants to treat it like one in order to get as much money as possible from the patient.
VOCABULARY
If a part of your body is sore, it is painful and uncomfortable, usually as a result of an injury, infection, or too much exercise. • I always feel stiff and sore after gardening. • Her eyes were sore from studying all night.
