An independent think tank has suggested that patients should pay £10 for appointments with their GP, with the funds raised being put towards opening at weekends.

Reform’s study of 31 developed countries found that 22 of them already charge patients for appointments, with fees ranging from 85p in France to £17 in Sweden; and it is estimated that charging UK patients £10 per appointment would net the NHS roughly £1.2bn.

Amongst other ways of raising cash for the NHS, the think tank also suggests raising prescription fees, making patients pay for end-of-life care and imposing £10 fines for every missed appointment, which would bring in around £55m.

At the moment, around 90 per cent of prescriptions in England are dispensed free of charge but according to Reform, if the price tag were raised from £7.85 to £10 millions of pounds could be raised every year.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have scrapped all prescription charges but with the NHS funding budget shortfall expected to reach £30bn by 2020, the think-tank argues that the time has come to make a small increase, which would see a huge increase in revenue.

Another proposal was to increase the cost of a Prescription Prepayment Certificate from £104 to £120, which would raise £134m, or the UK could emulate the French system, which only charges the equivalent of £3 per prescription but charges for 80 per cent of the drugs dispensed.

A survey earlier this year found that over half of GPs would be happy for the NHS to charge a small fee for routine appointments, with many believing it is the only way to manage their workload and cut rising patient demands.

The number of doctors now in favour of this charge is higher than when Pulse surveyed them in 2012, when only just over 30 per cent were in favour. However, the consensus is that there would have to be exemptions for people on low incomes.