Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Tanaiste calls on doctors to reduce their charges

Options
2

Comments

  • Options
    #32
    Phototoxin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,398 ✭✭✭Phototoxin


    yeh, the irish feel shafted if they dont get an antibiotic despite it doing SFA for a viral thing.

    That said I thought that E45 each for a vaccination (which I get free being diabetic but the actual giving of the fricking thing..which I could have done myself had I been given it..) for me da and myself would = 90 but they said 60. Thats about E2 a minute for the nurse.. not even the doctor... it was decent of them as they could have charged 90 but all the same it's bloody expensive!

    Personally if we had something like the NHS in wales it'd be great but we have one of the worst health systems inthe EU


  • Options
    #33
    inforfun
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 20,862 Mod ✭✭✭✭inforfun


    tallaght01 wrote: »
    Yea, we don't particularly like doing it either. But, one of the carrots at the end of the stick is a well paid position at the end of it.

    Many many doctors do a 24 hour shift 1 day in every 3 or 4, and they do a 72 hour shift every 3rd or 4th weekend.

    They might do this for 8 or more years. These are some of the most highly qualified people in the country, who work essentially slave labour for the best part of their lives (well I'd regard my 20s and early 30s as the potential fun years). So, you have to reward them.

    I don't begrudge a GP earning 150k per year. They're highly qualified,a nd they've busted their balls for the health service.

    The reason they give antibiotics is simple. 99% of GPs know they're useless. But you're paying. You should see the arguments people put up when they go to their doctors, and they don't get an antibiotic. I've heard my relatives complaining about ot getting an antibiotic, when their cold has "gone to my chest" or "started getting green phlegm". GP surgery waiting rooms are packed t the hilt in december/january every year. It's full of people with colds.

    They're all their for one reason...an antibiotic.

    I spoke to a GP friend of mine before, and asked him why he just doesn't refuse to prescribe antibiotics. He said he just didn't have the stomach for the fight anymore. He tried. But he was getting into arguments with 10-15 people each day.

    He's only human, so he now prescribes amoxicillin for colds. He's a really good guy, and really really intelligent. He's worked in an infectious disease unit when he was a hospital doctor.



    Pharmacists aren't there to query the diagnosis. Pharmacists aren't trained to diagnose. Therefore, they don't ring you up saying "I've had a look inside that kiddy's ear, and I think it's viral.".

    If you prescribe an antibiotic, then the pharmacist has to take it at face value that you suspect a bacterial infection.

    That is not their "essential role"

    The slave remark reminds me a bit of a certain c. ronaldo a few months back. When earning 150k a year i wouldnt call it exactly slavery.

    But apart from that, the answer is clear to me.
    Thanks.

    Could it also have to do with this (and i am looking to my own situation)
    My employer demands that anybody who is off sick for 3 days goes to his/her GP and gets a cert.
    That is where my problem is.... i dont need to pay 50 or 60 to a GP to hear that i got a cold. I know damn well myself when i got a cold or not.
    Do people maybe look for anything they can get from a GP (antibiotics most of all) in order to show their employers they are off sick for a ligitimate reason?


  • Options
    #34
    sam34
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    asdasd wrote: »
    Pharmacists not doing their essential job.
    QUOTE]


    what have pharmacists got to do with the number of prescriptions written for antibiotics? they're not the ones writing the scripts.


  • Options
    #35
    sam34
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    jaycen wrote: »
    Fair play to her but I don't think it will have any effect on the moneygrabbing doctors;
    €50 for a GP visit that probably lasts 15 mins, there should be a law against rates like that, in any other profession price fixing like that wouldn't be tolerated.

    other professionals do charge just as much, as someone else has pointed out...

    i paid a solicitor €80 to witness my signature on a document before i moved jobs in the HSE within the same province. took approx 30 seconds, solicitor did not know me, nor ask for id.

    i paid my dentist €65 for a check up which took less than 10 mins. no clean&polish, no frills, just a check up.

    i paid my hairdresser €90 last wk for 2 hrs work... i dont earn that.

    i paid a locksmith €70 for a ten minute job

    i paid a driving instructor €35 for an hour, at a time when i was not earning that myself

    the list is endless


  • Options
    #36
    ZYX
    Registered Users Posts: 882 ✭✭✭ZYX


    tallaght01 wrote: »

    The reason they give antibiotics is simple. 99% of GPs know they're useless. But you're paying. You should see the arguments people put up when they go to their doctors, and they don't get an antibiotic. I've heard my relatives complaining about ot getting an antibiotic, when their cold has "gone to my chest" or "started getting green phlegm". GP surgery waiting rooms are packed t the hilt in december/january every year. It's full of people with colds.

    They're all their for one reason...an antibiotic.

    I spoke to a GP friend of mine before, and asked him why he just doesn't refuse to prescribe antibiotics. He said he just didn't have the stomach for the fight anymore. He tried. But he was getting into arguments with 10-15 people each day.

    He's only human, so he now prescribes amoxicillin for colds. He's a really good guy, and really really intelligent. He's worked in an infectious disease unit when he was a hospital doctor.
    I disagree completely. I have been a GP for many years and I do not give out antibiotics for everything I see. Poor GPs give antibiotics for colds. Good GPs do not.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #37
    sam34
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    inforfun wrote: »
    To be perfectly honest, i wouldnt like anyone who is up for 70 hours to make a life/death decision on me.
    QUOTE]

    LOL! it's not like the exhausted, overworked, over-burdened doctor, who has not eaten in maybe 8 hrs and is dehydrated because they havent had time all day stop for a cup of tea, absolutely LOVES these inhumane (and illegal) shifts!

    it's not nice working those hours.actually, it's more than "not nice", it's pure and utter crap, it is awful. it takes its toll, mentally and physically. it effects yuor family, your friends, your relationships.

    being paid for it is teh only good thing about it. but, i, and i suspect droves of my colleagues, would forego the money for a 9 to 5 job. at least these days, doctors get paid for working overtime, unlike the days of the 1980's.


  • Options
    #38
    sam34
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    inforfun wrote: »
    The slave remark reminds me a bit of a certain c. ronaldo a few months back. When earning 150k a year i wouldnt call it exactly slavery.
    QUOTE]

    i'm not a gp, so i wont claim to speak for them. i am a hospital doctor. i have never earned 150k a year, nor have i ever earned two thirds of that. yet i have worked shifts that could certainly be called slavery - 70 mins sleep (in two divided sessions) in a 55 hr period being the one that sticks out the most. at other times, i have frequently worked weekend shifts, such as 48 hrs in a 72hr period. currently, i do one overnight a week, which means that on a specific day, i come in at 9, and i leave at 5 the next day, ie 32 hrs.

    but, yeah, you're right, it's all fun and games and we're just wusses to complain :rolleyes:


  • Options
    #39
    Tim Robbins
    Registered Users Posts: 8,959 ✭✭✭Tim Robbins


    ZYX wrote: »
    I disagree completely. I have been a GP for many years and I do not give out antibiotics for everything I see. Poor GPs give antibiotics for colds. Good GPs do not.

    Isn't there a test though that can be done on saliva to determine whether it is bacterial or viral? It can be done in an instant and is done in Sweden?


  • Options
    #40
    Tim Robbins
    Registered Users Posts: 8,959 ✭✭✭Tim Robbins


    tallaght01 wrote: »
    Many many doctors do a 24 hour shift 1 day in every 3 or 4, and they do a 72 hour shift every 3rd or 4th weekend.
    This is because we have very sloppy time management and / or because we do not have enough Doctors. Probably both.


  • Options
    #41
    inforfun
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 20,862 Mod ✭✭✭✭inforfun



    but, yeah, you're right, it's all fun and games and we're just wusses to complain :rolleyes:

    I just notice around me that people basically always end up with anti-bitics whenever they see a GP.
    And don't get me wrong. I have respect for the work GP's and Hospital employees (well ... apart from management maybe) are doing.

    And i suppose those people are not exactly cheering before they start their 72 hour shift.
    My problem with that is, that people are allowed to make those shifts while they do have to make the life/death decisions. That is where the problem is, not the people making these crazy shifts.
    But i honestly don't think that throwing more money to doctors and nurses will solve that.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #42
    Bison
    Closed Accounts Posts: 43 ✭Bison


    Another way of looking at the short GP consultation would be to say that he has used about 12+ years of experience to quickly determine that you have a condition that can be treated without admission to hospital. There are many other occasions where a check-up results in a swift admission to hospital. Would you feel you got better value then?

    The fee might seem excessive for a short consultation but whats the other alternative. You can't say "Oh you just have a cold, thats 20 Euro but you owe me 150 for spotting that cancerous growth on your back."

    As for antibiotics, thats like saying you always see people coming back from the shop with "groceries". There are lots of antibiotics given for very different reasons.

    I seriously disagree with the guy who has just given up explaining and dishes out unnecessary antibiotics. It would help though if there was a public health campaign informing people that antibiotics are not vitamin tablets and are actually not that good for you to take just for the craic. Oh, but wait, we don't have the money for that because the government hasn't run the country properly....


  • Options
    #43
    inforfun
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 20,862 Mod ✭✭✭✭inforfun


    Bison wrote: »
    Another way of looking at the short GP consultation would be to say that he has used about 12+ years of experience to quickly determine that you have a condition that can be treated without admission to hospital. There are many other occasions where a check-up results in a swift admission to hospital. Would you feel you got better value then?

    Yeah well, i have experience with a GP who probably acted on experience. My mom fell, hurt her ankle and went to visit her GP. Guy thought by the looks of it it was just some ligaments being stretched (forgive me for not knowing the right words...). Along she went for holidays and when she came back weeks later she still was in pain. Went to the hospital and it apeared her ankle was broken.
    GP's are not in the position to work on routine imho
    Bison wrote: »

    As for antibiotics, thats like saying you always see people coming back from the shop with "groceries". There are lots of antibiotics given for very different reasons.

    It might look normal to you, i compared it to Holland (where i am from) and i just noticed here, that a lot of people i know, who visited a GP, came back with antibiotics.



    Bison wrote: »
    I seriously disagree with the guy who has just given up explaining and dishes out unnecessary antibiotics. It would help though if there was a public health campaign informing people that antibiotics are not vitamin tablets and are actually not that good for you to take just for the craic.
    Oh, but wait, we don't have the money for that because the government hasn't run the country properly....

    Asking the question is probably answering it at the same time but... do we really need a commercial on tv/radio for everything to warn people that things might not be good??


  • Options
    #44
    sam34
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    inforfun wrote: »
    Yeah well, i have experience with a GP who probably acted on experience. My mom fell, hurt her ankle and went to visit her GP. Guy thought by the looks of it it was just some ligaments being stretched (forgive me for not knowing the right words...). Along she went for holidays and when she came back weeks later she still was in pain. Went to the hospital and it apeared her ankle was broken.
    GP's are not in the position to work on routine imho
    QUOTE]

    thats unfortunate for your mother, but realistically, you cannot expect a gp, hospital doctor, or anyone to be right 100% of the time. there will always be human error, nobody is infallible. the unfortunate thing is that when doctors make mistakes, people suffer. if you were a shop assistant and you made a mistake, the worst that might happen is that you scan something twice, or you dont scan something at all. if you're a taxi driver, and you make a mistake, you might take a wrong turn- well, you do a u-ey, correct your mistake and the damage is a bit extra on the meter and a few hundred yards out of your way. unfortunately, the cost is higher when doctors get it wrong.

    there are guidelines inplace so that doctors have to update themselves regularly, but this will only reduce error, not eliminate it.


  • Options
    #45
    RobFowl
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 11,667 Mod ✭✭✭✭RobFowl


    jaycen wrote: »
    Fair play to her but I don't think it will have any effect on the moneygrabbing doctors;
    €50 for a GP visit that probably lasts 15 mins, there should be a law against rates like that, in any other profession price fixing like that wouldn't be tolerated.

    I,m a GP and we charge 5 for a child and 55 for an adult. Out of that we employ 6 staff , rent a buliding, pay public liability insureance, prodeffional insurance of €5000 a year per GP. Generally out the the fee we charge only 15-25 is actually "profit".
    Go to VHI swiftcare and seeing a GP there (usually the Docs there are GP's just finished training or from SA) and you'll be charged 90-120. See a consultant for 5-10 mins €150-250.
    Sorry to hear you think 55 is exorbitant but if you can let me know how to provide it any cheaper i'd love to know!
    PS Gp's earnings average €100k to 150 , a very good salary but bear in mind that after at least 10 years training (first 6 in college (where you'll end up in debt of up to €60k) the next four in a combination of hospital jobs and GP training positions where the salary varies from 30 to 65k although overtimes is now paid, (it wasn't in the 80s and in the 90's was at 1/2 the normal hourly rate)


  • Options
    #46
    2Scoops
    Registered Users Posts: 1,845 ✭✭✭2Scoops


    RobFowl wrote: »
    PS Gp's earnings average €100k to 150 , a very good salary but bear in mind that after at least 10 years training (first 6 in college (where you'll end up in debt of up to €60k)

    How did you manage that? I got through med school without any significant debt, as did most, if not all, of my classmates. Are you talking about living expenses?
    RobFowl wrote: »
    the next four in a combination of hospital jobs and GP training positions where the salary varies from 30 to 65k

    Some would consider that a paid job.

    I don't want to get on your case but I think the temptation for many doctors is to overstate the hardship they endured during the early years of their career. Lots of people work hard and deserve their pay and doctors are among the lucky few who are actually rewarded appropriately. The life of a junior doc is crap but it's not the worst. And doctors are paid higher, fresh out of school, than almost any other profession.


  • Options
    #47
    RobFowl
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 11,667 Mod ✭✭✭✭RobFowl


    Quote
    "2Scopps"
    Some would consider that a paid job.


    I don't think thats in question ! Not too sure what I said that made you think otherwise

    Re the Debt I went through Med school when I paid fees 6 years at an average of £2500 a year and about £2-3000 in living expenses, and that was in the late 80's and early 90's. At graduation I had loans outstanding of £15,000 and that was because I worked through college earning about £4000 a year. (interst payments of about 10% per annum didn't help)
    Today 4 years in a post grad course is 50k in fees alone.
    I think after getting through Med school the maths shouldn't be beyond you !
    PS not sugesting that life as a GP is bad but as A Junior doc was pretty miserable.
    The above argument was made to justify a fee of 45-55 euros per consultation, not to get any sympathy.


  • Options
    #48
    ergo
    Registered Users Posts: 756 ✭✭✭ergo


    inforfun wrote: »

    Asking the question is probably answering it at the same time but... do we really need a commercial on tv/radio for everything to warn people that things might not be good??

    hmm, answer: yes we do! In reference to the information re antibiotics. The public doesn't know. The public (especially the older generation, including my own mother who refuses to believe me and insists "get an antibiotic for that cough" or whatever) needs to be educated.

    I agree: good GP's don't dole them out like smarties.

    I am working in the NHS where GP surgeries have very useful info leaflets and posters regarding "antibiotics and colds" and that kind of thing. People don't insist on them in the UK like in Ireland. They can accept that it's a viral thing. And yes, I acknowledge they haven't paid a consultation fee and will have to pay a prescription fee for an antibiotic...amazing how that sort of system will change the patient's outlook... :rolleyes:


    and why why why, alway alway always, when this debate about overpaid GP's come up it is usually the healthy people who only ever have been to a GP with tonsillitis and ended up with an antibiotic as that was probably their agenda for going to the doctor in the first place, anyway why is it always the example of "€50 for that, what a rip off...".....?

    it's never the example of the more frequent presentations like the elderly person on 10 different medications with 3 different problems to be sorted out in the tiny amount of time available. And if that involves a hospital referral or any referral more paperwork

    it's never the example of a new onset severe depression who wants to end it all or who spends 20 minutes in tears in front of the GP (easy €50 - what robbers GP's are)

    its never the example of a 3 week or 3 month old baby with breathing problems who needs to be assessed, decision made (based on the thousands of kids, sick and healthy, a GP will have seen as part of his or her training and experience) if they need to go to hospital or can go home and not worry about it (another handy €50 euro - looks like we'll be retiring at 40 if this continues...)

    and sorry, when i say €50 for each one, well, chances are that at least 2/3 of patients that come through the door have medical cards so no big fee like that anyway (people with medical cards go to the doctor twice as often as people without them)

    I am SICK of hearing people give out about GP's, like they have an easy job, or like they just stand and dole out antibiotics all day long, because that's not the reality, that WOULD be easy.

    /ends rant


  • Options
    #49
    Fionnanc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 162 ✭✭Fionnanc


    Say you work an everage of an 80 hour week( underestimate) as a junior doctor. You would be better off financially if you took two 40hr a week average paid jobs. Big payoff comes with a consultant post.
    If you train as a psychiatrist you can be a consultant in 5 years post med school. The thoeoretical minimum time as a junior surgeon would be 10 years with an average of 16 years being the norm. And the junior surgeon works twice the hours of a junior psychiatist too, but as a consultant they get the same contract! Anmd half the new jobs offered for consultants are in psychiatry.:eek:
    Save the state a lot of money and make the current psychiatrists work surgical hours!:D


  • Options
    #50
    tallaght01
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,778 ✭✭✭tallaght01


    2scoops, I reckon being a junior doc is pretty low down there in terms of working conditions. Sure, it's not the worst job in the world. But any job that requires people to work 27, 36, 72 hour shifts ona regular basis is pretty miserable. I don't think the job itself is that bad, but it's the conditions. I've said before on this forum that I developed kidney stones at work once as I got so dehydrated on a regular basis from doing 12-15 hour shifts day after day without water breaks. Then when I'd passed the stone in A+E, I had to go back to work, as I knew the remaining staff were gonna be shafted if they were a man down.

    There are worse jobs out there, but it can be pretty grim. Doesn't matter what they were paying me when I was hitting my 22nd hour in work. I would have given the cash up ina second just to get some sleep.

    And i worked every single xmas, summer and easter holidays, aswell as having a job during the year in my pre-clinical years, and I'm still paying back my student debt.



    Ergo, that's a really good post. I think it's important that the public realise what exactly GPs do.
    It's hard, as a paediatrician, to get away from the fact that GPs as a group are shocking in their prescriptions of antibiotics. But, in fairness, we're shocking insofar as we overinvestigate patients (you'd be hard pressed to geta trip to hospital without having bloods taken).

    I remember being a student and doing GP attachments. I was expecting a world of colds and flus. But on my first day, a kid rolled in with takayasu's vasculitis. Then the next patient had just come back from a SARS area with viral symptoms and wanted to know if they were infected! Next patient was a teenage girl who was pregnant and was under pressure from her family to have a termination, but she didn't want one. The rest of the day carried on like that. It was mental.

    Total respect for GPs at this end. Though, they're pretty lazy here in Oz. Well, in terms of their referral letters they are.

    Yesterday, in paeds A+E, I picked up a file from the triage tray. It was a kid who previously had leaukaemia. She was in remission. She'd gone back to her GP the other day with chesty symptoms. He did a CXR. It showed metastases. So, he doesn't ring her oncology team. He just sends her up to A+E. What a horible ting to find in the cat 3 box!!!




    Fionnanc, I think you'd be doing pretty well to become a consultant shrink in 5 years post med school. You've got one year as an intern. Then there's 2 years as an SHO. You'd have to do your SpR job and get your exams in 2 years!
    Plus the psych guys work the same on-call rotas as the surgeons do. The psych docs get called in less often. But putting more psych SHOs and registrars on a rota that's not saturated wouldn't change much.

    PLus if we turn everyone into surgeons, who'd read the ECGs and listen to the chests :P


  • Options
    #51
    sam34
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,073 ✭✭✭sam34


    Fionnanc wrote: »

    If you train as a psychiatrist you can be a consultant in 5 years post med school. The thoeoretical minimum time as a junior surgeon would be 10 years with an average of 16 years being the norm. And the junior surgeon works twice the hours of a junior psychiatist too, but as a consultant they get the same contract! Anmd half the new jobs offered for consultants are in psychiatry.:eek:
    Save the state a lot of money and make the current psychiatrists work surgical hours!:D

    you cannot be a consultant psychiatrist in 5 years post med school!
    one year as an intern.
    a minimun of 3 years before you can sit teh final part of your membership exams.
    then the SR scheme, agaim a minimum of 3 years.

    so thats a minimum of 7 years. factor in the fact that not everyone will get their exams at first attempt, the fact that you may not get on the SR scheme at first attempt, the fact that a lot of people opt to do research time,and the fact that some wish to do dual training as an SR and you gat anything from 8 to 10 or 11 years.

    as an NCHD in psychiatry, i worked rotas from 1 in 5 to 1 in 8, depending on the hospital. sure, some nights are quiet, but like any job you can get the nights from hell. but the basic rotas have generally been in line with my medical/surgical colleagues.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #52
    Traumadoc
    Registered Users Posts: 2,523 ✭✭✭Traumadoc


    Most psychs I know were about 35-37 when they got appointed.
    Why it takes so long is a good question, perhaps it is cheaper to have NCHDs treat patients than Consultants. ( Am I a cynic?)


  • Options
    #53
    2Scoops
    Registered Users Posts: 1,845 ✭✭✭2Scoops


    Here's a quick question for the GPs on this thread:

    My understanding is that a flat fee of 640 Euros is paid for each of the controversial 'goldcard' medical cards, regardless of how often they visit. If you took each of these patients on your books and applied the normal charges, on average, would the 640 cover it almost exactly, be too little, or cover it with some left over? I assume the figure was based on some kind of typical annual fee? If so, the government haven't a leg to stand on. But still, I'm curious if that's the general experience of our GPs here.


  • Options
    #54
    Fionnanc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 162 ✭✭Fionnanc


    IT probably is Cheaper, buit promoting the Senior NCHDs to Consultant early is just re-arranging job titles.

    I wouldn't feel confortable taking up a consultant post until I am at least 40, or at least 12 years post registration experience


  • Options
    #55
    Amnesiac_ie
    Registered Users Posts: 510 ✭✭✭Amnesiac_ie


    I'm a second year SHO and I earn €20 an hour before tax. That is after five years in University and two years working as a doctor. I don't think it's a particularly extravangant wage. I wouldn't care though as I never expected the money in medicine to be fantastic. There were several other avenues I could have pursued if I had been motivated by nothing more than finanical success.

    What kills me are the working conditions. Trying to work as a doctor in a system as wasteful and inefficient as the HSE is soul destroying. Working 36 hour shifts, sometimes with NO sleep whatsoever and dealing with some of the sickest people in the hospital during these shifts can be pure torture.

    Some of my friends reply that there's some "big reward in the end" when I talk about this. Well that's not true. I'd love to specialise next year. In reality that would mean obtaining a Reg job, competitive application for an SpR Scheme (which sees you moved randomly around the country every 12 months doing the same work as a Reg... and a year working even worse hours in a small underresourced peripheral hospital for good measure). Following completion of that it's time for research and fellowships which realistically need to be done in a centre abroad.

    So in 9 or 10 years time I could be a fully trained specialist. Will there be a €240,000 job to come home to? Who knows. Specialist appointments are rare and sporadic and there are several highly trained Irish applicants already waiting for jobs back home. Jobs that rarely come up. And with the Government and Mary Harney doing everything possible to destroy the health service, what will the life of a consultant be like in 10 years time? What sort of service will it be possible to offer public patients? I have no interest in working privately.

    I wish I had never chosen to study medicine. It was a decision made when I was very young, and very naieve. I love the subject, I love patient care, I love the rush of acute emergencied. I'm very good at what I do and have the references, exams and patient approval to prove it. But the lifestyle is too much. Being treated like scum by your employer and the state is too much. The lack of resources and funding for our public hospitals is too much. Next year I'm either taking a break or pursuing a career as a GP.


  • Options
    #56
    2Scoops
    Registered Users Posts: 1,845 ✭✭✭2Scoops


    The government have slashed the €640 fee for >70 cards to just €290 with some potential to claim expenses

    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/1030/1225320616300.html

    This is mad: assuming the €640 flat fee was based on average costs for patients >70 y, does this now mean that GPs will be making a huge financial loss with this deal?


  • Options
    #57
    RobFowl
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 11,667 Mod ✭✭✭✭RobFowl


    2Scoops wrote: »
    The government have slashed the €640 fee for >70 cards to just €290 with some potential to claim expenses

    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/1030/1225320616300.html

    This is mad: assuming the €640 flat fee was based on average costs for patients >70 y, does this now mean that GPs will be making a huge financial loss with this deal?

    Actaully most medical card patients over 70 generate a capitation fee of €141 -240 depending on how far away they live from the surgery. Only people who became eligible when they turned 70 generated the higher fee/ So most GP's will actually be better off, the main exception will be the D4 set who will lose about 100k a year.


  • Options
    #58
    Vorsprung
    Registered Users Posts: 2,814 ✭✭✭Vorsprung


    Got my pay slip yesterday. I'm a surgical intern on......€17.34 per hour. Cleaners making more per hour. Go figure.


  • Options
    #59
    Traumadoc
    Registered Users Posts: 2,523 ✭✭✭Traumadoc


    Back in my day you got 1/2 time overtime, my last intern pay check was for over time only (paid a month in arrears) for 200 hours overtime i took home £380.


  • Options
    #60
    RobFowl
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 11,667 Mod ✭✭✭✭RobFowl


    Traumadoc wrote: »
    Back in my day you got 1/2 time overtime, my last intern pay check was for over time only (paid a month in arrears) for 200 hours overtime i took home £380.

    I must be older than you then ! we got paid 1/2 time for the first 32 hours overtime and nil after that !!
    as an intern I was on £7.70 an hour and £3.35 overtime. Always remember working christmas and realised I was paid more for making burgers the year before :-) (1994/95)


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #61
    ZorbaTehZ
    Registered Users Posts: 2,149 ✭✭✭ZorbaTehZ


    Fkin hell, this thread is depressing. :(


Advertisement