As a senior citizen I am beade very aware that by a recent visit to my GP [one of the practice partners in fact] demonstrated a vociforouss reluctance to refer me to a service thich would be beneficial to my needs with the excuse that it would be not funded by the practice.t She never even questioned or made an enquiry as to the extent of cost or advantage of my joining what was, in fact, a weight loss advisory class to stave off the onset of diabetes which was looming for me in the near future. She absolutely refused to refer me, with a smile on her face, and sent me on my way with the refusal that the practice would NOT fund me for this and I must go to bed earlier so a the evening so I would not be tempted to eat.
To me, it would make sense for the council to instruct these penny pinching GPS that if a genuine patient seeks help for a lo cost service for which the patient would be happy to fund themself a letter of referral should at no time whatsoever be emphatically denied by an authoritarian GP using the practice funding as an excuse.
As a council tax payer an employee who paid tax and national insurance for decades I was incensed. I thankfully have never used one of the NHS hospitals and never received or was offered any expensive medications on my very infrequent visits to this surgery. I conclude that this particular GP considers me totally unimportant and not worthy of practice funding