A ‘pay-as-you-feel’ honesty system with no set patient fees is being touted as a way for GPs to escape universal bulk-billing.

The idea is based on the system used by a not-for-profit vegetarian restaurant chain called Lentil as Anything which offers meals free of charge in Sydney and Melbourne.

In return, diners are encouraged to donate what they ‘feel’ the meal is worth into an honesty box, with no questions asked for those who pay nothing.

But Dr Daniel Epstein, a GP and PhD student at Monash University in Melbourne, wants to apply a similar model in general practice.