"Free doctor visits"

have just been promised in the election campaign which is not yet official but which has definitely started. 

"Everyone will be bulk billed!" the Prime Minister has promised. "You will all be bulk billed from November as long as you vote for us." The Opposition has just, it is claimed, matched that promise. 

Oooh goody, goody. I don't often see my doctor but I won't have to pay for it?  I am aware she is overworked so I do my best not to worry her about the fact I have a "cold".  I know I do not need antibiotics for it. When I do see her it is because it is something I cannot do for myself. I can take advantage of all her years of training without having to pay for it?

I know I am fortunate enough to be able to work out some things for myself. I can save my GP time by asking a question or describing a problem with some accuracy. Not everyone can. They need to see their GP for longer and more often. So I will not be taking up too much of her time. It won't matter if I do not have to pay anything.

Being a GP is not a job I would enjoy. Their role is a very different one from the one they played in my kittenhood. It was a GP who delivered me in a small rural hospital. He had one nurse in attendance - who just happened to be my godmother as well. Now there are specialists for such roles. The same GP would have done some surgery, especially things like appendectomies and tonsillectomies. There are specialists for those things now. Medical practice has changed.

But the idea that we do not need to "pay" to see the doctor is nonsense because of course our taxes will go towards the cost. It is not just that which matters. We need to consider the years of training that go into being a GP - or any other sort of medical professional. The cost is huge. It is not just financial. It is the time it takes. It is the commitment to hours at study and at work. Your friends, if you have any, go home at the end of the day and play tennis or watch the telly. You do paperwork and write up case notes from the notes you made but did not have time to do during the working day.  You take the responsibility for what can be life and death decisions and much more. 

I think we should be paying doctors directly where we can. If we believe we are getting something for "free" then we won't feel the same way about what they do.