[OneMoreThing!]

How do people feel about this one then? I'm not sure about it to be honest...

[OneMoreThing!]

Prices are as follows
Doctor: 25 Nurse: 10 Psychiatric Consultation: 25 Physio: 40 STD Clinic: 10 Contraceptive advice: 10

[eoins23456]

pack of *****!

[OneMoreThing!]

Here's a link to the TST article for more info if ye want it.

Union fails to prevent medical centre charges

[wnolan1992]

And it's on the front page of An Focal as well.

[eoins23456]

great job hushing everything up as usual until the last minute.

[Ginge Young]

Currently, I don't see an issue with it because it is still much cheaper than visiting a GP outside of the college.

Aoife Kenny said it quite right in an focal when she said the time of getting things free is over and if the service wants to be maintained these things have to happen.

People just got too comfortable over the golden years, too used to things for free, when in reality we were probably just setting ourselves up for a big fall.

I would be interested in seeing figures on how often the health centre is used for and for what purposes as well (each of the headings described in the pricing).

[wnolan1992]

I'm undecided on the actual decsion at the moment as I don't yet know enough about the medical centre to comment.

But it's pretty disgraceful that twice this year we find out a major decision has been made at the very last available opportunity.

Dromroe, Cappa and the bike shop closed, we only found out because the shop doors were locked.

Now today, we find out this. They HAVE to have known about this for a while. No doubt in my mind about it. Why the hell wasn't it published sooner? Moreover, the deadline for the print issue of An Focal was last week AFAIK, so this story must have been written before the weekend.

So why was it not put on anfocal.ie? Surely It makes more sense to try and increase readership of the online service as much as possible and slowly reduce print runs to save money. Totaly arseways imo.

[NTMK]

Originally Posted by OneMoreThing!

Prices are as follows
Doctor: 25 Nurse: 10 Psychiatric Consultation: 25 Physio: 40 STD Clinic: 10 Contraceptive advice: 10

Great, you'll only get treatment if you can afford it.
if this was in place this year i would have dropped out because last semester i was suffering from serious anxiety attacks and depression i had no way of paying for the Psychiatric services, €25 euro equated to 2 weeks of food and there are students far worse of than i am.


This won't affect me im finished in a month but will seriously affect a lot of students in the future that cant afford these services

also isnt it lovely how "our" union is completely silent on the matter and leave it till week 11 to announce this and kept it under wraps for a headline. great job of protecting the students interests there.

[Adam_M]

Originally Posted by Ginge Young

Currently, I don't see an issue with it because it is still much cheaper than visiting a GP outside of the college.

Aoife Kenny said it quite right in an focal when she said the time of getting things free is over and if the service wants to be maintained these things have to happen.

People just got too comfortable over the golden years, too used to things for free, when in reality we were probably just setting ourselves up for a big fall.

I would be interested in seeing figures on how often the health centre is used for and for what purposes as well (each of the headings described in the pricing).

Is it really much cheaper though? Previously, you would have to have seen a nurse in there before a doctor. If that is still the case you're looking at €35 if it is an accumulative cost.

On top of that, I don't feel the standard in there is sufficient. I was diagnosed with a kidney infection in there in first year and given antibiotics. A little research indicated that I more than likely actually had a chest infection given my symptoms so I went to a doctor off campus who diagnosed it as a chest infection. Hardly inspires confidence.

The cost of seeing a physio (€40) isn't that cheap - again do you have to see a nurse first before you can be seen by the physio?

I think people are more upset and outraged by the fact this is being announced in week 11, Semester 2, with no significant prior mention of it. I can see a huge amount of people moving their business elsewhere - either to their own GP or a doctor in the local area where the standard is better, waiting lists for an appointment aren't as bad (This will reduce in UL due to the costs being introduced) and where they won't feel like they are being rushed due to the fact the doctor/nurse wants to see the next patient. I have never been in there longer than 10 minutes and even that was at a push.

[Ginge Young]

Originally Posted by Adam_M

I think people are more upset and outraged by the fact this is being announced in week 11, Semester 2, with no significant prior mention of it. I can see a huge amount of people moving their business elsewhere - either to their own GP or a doctor in the local area where the standard is better, waiting lists for an appointment aren't as bad (This will reduce in UL due to the costs being introduced) and where they won't feel like they are being rushed due to the fact the doctor/nurse wants to see the next patient. I have never been in there longer than 10 minutes and even that was at a push.

At that is the case, but that is separate issue to the prices themselves.

I've never used the health centre, except on one occasion and when I couldn't get in I went to a GP off campus. That may be true about the nurse/doctor but it is still cheaper than off campus.

The reason I wanted to see figures of usage is to see where the main traffic is and from there work upon getting individual things cheaper. It would also given an indication of the cost it is actually putting on the University.

Currently based off the info I have I don't have a problem with it. While I understand this could effect some students it is no longer realistic to think everything can be gotten for free.

Why should the University fund our medical expenses, if an issue is going to be made of it then why not ask the government to make all GP visits free for students, because in reality that is what everyone wants.

As I said however, my initial reaction is no problem with the change itself. Problem with how we were told about it on short notice and how it was "too sensitive" to release before hand because that is tripe, and a problem with the lack of students involvement in it, however I imagine that even if there was, it would still have just been "keep it free".

Perhaps it could get cheaper who knows. All I remember is paying 60 euro for my last GP visit, so in my eyes UL is still doing alright. The level of service I've always heard mixed reactions about, so maybe that is something that should be tackled in conjunction with it.

[eoins23456]

Originally Posted by Ginge Young

Currently, I don't see an issue with it because it is still much cheaper than visiting a GP outside of the college.

Aoife Kenny said it quite right in an focal when she said the time of getting things free is over and if the service wants to be maintained these things have to happen.

People just got too comfortable over the golden years, too used to things for free, when in reality we were probably just setting ourselves up for a big fall.

I would be interested in seeing figures on how often the health centre is used for and for what purposes as well (each of the headings described in the pricing).

My local physio is 45 euro. You have to see the nurse before you can see the physio in UL so that will cost 50 euro. Massive step up from free. That surpasses some students weekly budget.


Maintain the service? The service wasnt great in the first place so were getting less for more now basically.The only good thing out of this is the time to get appointment will go down as its a strong possibility the amount of people availing of the doctor will go down with the price

[Popoutman]

It'll be interesting to see how this affects those that need to get I-Grades ratified..

[Ginge Young]

Originally Posted by eoins23456

My local physio is 45 euro. You have to see the nurse before you can see the physio in UL so that will cost 50 euro. Massive step up from free. That surpasses some students weekly budget.


Maintain the service? The service wasnt great in the first place so were getting less for more now basically.The only good thing out of this is the time to get appointment will go down as its a strong possibility the amount of people availing of the doctor will go down with the price

Hey man like I said I can't speak from experience, but while I was happy that it was there for so long, I am struggling to think of a logical answer why a University has a duty of care to provide free medical services to students.

But that's just me. I think if students are going to argue this, it isn't a local issue with the University but a national one.

I'm as skint as the next person to be fair, if I needed to go to a GP urgently there are others ways I can get money (friends/family) and while I know that isn't a fix for everyone it is at least one outlet.

Perhaps a mechanism could be introduced by which students can pay at a later date? Or in installments? I think the idea of it being free is gone, I haven't seen the figures like I said but I can't figure out in my head how it would ever be sustainable.

People can set up specific payment arrangements for fees, why not with medical services? People need to be coming up with solutions other than "it should be free".

[Popoutman]

It's also poor form that the medical card holders must pay up front as well. There are already processes in place where medical centres get paid from the health boards, without the card holder having to pay anything.