A&E facilities in private clinics.

mayhem#

Don't know if this is the right forum but does anybody know if the spate of private clinics appearing lately provide A&E services?

E.

Fyr.Fytr

As far as i know the likes of vhi swiftcare is a walk in service, for minor injurys and illness, they as such do not provide a&e services in the fact that hse and dfb ambulances do not transport patients to them

The Real B-man

Fyr.Fytr wrote: »

As far as i know the likes of vhi swiftcare is a walk in service, for minor injurys and illness, they as such do not provide a&e services in the fact that hse and dfb ambulances do not transport patients to them

Correct

Fyr.Fytr

Found more info here http://www.vhi.ie/swiftcare/

They CAN treat
Minor injuries or illness that requires treatment ASAP. For example:

Sprains or possible breaks
Minor burns
Cuts that may need a stitch
Minor eye & ear conditions
Sports injuries
General medical conditions

They CANNOT treat
Chest pain
Severe breathing difficulty
Acute or severe stomach pain
Severe burns
Loss of consciousness
Pregnancy related conditions
Serious head and neck injuries
Any problems with infants under 12 months

mayhem#

So the answer would be no then?
;-)

emedd

Fyr.Fytr wrote: »

As far as i know the likes of vhi swiftcare is a walk in service, for minor injurys and illness, they as such do not provide a&e services in the fact that hse and dfb ambulances do not transport patients to them

they do transport them from these clinics though... to proper emergency departments!

parsi

mayhem# wrote: »

Don't know if this is the right forum but does anybody know if the spate of private clinics appearing lately provide A&E services?

E.

No.

A&E involves the acceptance of public patients, non-insured patients, stab victims, drunks etc.

Therefore private spots don't want to deal with that hassle.

/as an aside when herself was in the Bons for the babbies I read their religious and loving "Mission statement" and my only thought was that if an unmarried and uninsured mother turned up at the door the Nuns would probably run her...

dfbfirerescue

the vhi swiftcare clinics are actually very good. for a cash fee !! or if your a member of vhi they will treat as mentioned above various emergency ailments. they will take x-rays , suture minor lacerations, cannulate(put in i.v. access) give morphine for cardiac chest pain and run 12 lead ecg.s ect... the emergency ambulance services in dublin will take emergency cases from these places and transport them to a&e. the doctors in these establishments will call an emergency ambulance if nessecery.. you can take your e-rays with you and thus save yourself hours in an emergency dept.. think its the way of the future..

dfbfirerescue

the vhi swiftcare clinics are actually very good. for a cash fee !! or if your a member of vhi they will treat as mentioned above various emergency ailments. they will take x-rays , suture minor lacerations, cannulate(put in i.v. access) give morphine for cardiac chest pain and run 12 lead ecg.s ect... the emergency ambulance services in dublin will take emergency cases from these places and transport them to a&e. the doctors in these establishments will call an emergency ambulance if nessecery.. you can take your x-rays with you and thus save yourself hours in an emergency dept.. think its the way of the future..

!!!!!conor!!!!!

The Beacon clinic do offer private A&E facilities, as far as I'm aware it's the only one in Ireland.

http://www.beaconhospital.ie/dep_emergency.html

emedd

dfbfirerescue wrote: »

the vhi swiftcare clinics are actually very good. for a cash fee !! or if your a member of vhi they will treat as mentioned above various emergency ailments. they will take x-rays , suture minor lacerations, cannulate(put in i.v. access) give morphine for cardiac chest pain and run 12 lead ecg.s ect... the emergency ambulance services in dublin will take emergency cases from these places and transport them to a&e. the doctors in these establishments will call an emergency ambulance if nessecery.. you can take your x-rays with you and thus save yourself hours in an emergency dept.. think its the way of the future..

if you have cardiac chest pain, you are far better in an emergency department that can thrombolyse or angio you than a private clinic which can give you morphine and aspirin and get you a CXR. time is muscle remember!

BatDub

dfbfirerescue wrote: »

the vhi swiftcare clinics are actually very good. for a cash fee !! or if your a member of vhi they will treat as mentioned above various emergency ailments. they will take x-rays , suture minor lacerations, cannulate(put in i.v. access) give morphine for cardiac chest pain and run 12 lead ecg.s ect... the emergency ambulance services in dublin will take emergency cases from these places and transport them to a&e. the doctors in these establishments will call an emergency ambulance if nessecery.. you can take your x-rays with you and thus save yourself hours in an emergency dept.. think its the way of the future..

VHI clinic will not do anything for Chest pain only call an ambulance for transfer to a proper A+E, Never go to VHI Clinic or Beacon Clinic Chest Pain go to the A+E.

Scramble

Out of curiosity, if someone were arrived into the Beacon's A&E and needed treatment urgently, would they have a duty of care to provide it, or could they send you off elsewhere?

timmywex

Scramble wrote: »

Out of curiosity, if someone were arrived into the Beacon's A&E and needed treatment urgently, would they have a duty of care to provide it, or could they send you off elsewhere?

i reckon they would call an ambulance but in the mean time try to give them as much help as possible. I dont know about duty, but morally they probably would


It always amazes me how these private hospitals say they are a model and the hse should be asamhed because of their waiting time, dont get me wrong, the waiting times are too high but in the private hospitals they dont ever deal with critical cases that tie up doctors, this is the problem in the hse, they need doctors covering resus and doctors covering minors, and that only changes if somethiing very serious happens.

Spyral

/as an aside when herself was in the Bons for the babbies I read their religious and loving "Mission statement" and my only thought was that if an unmarried and uninsured mother turned up at the door the Nuns would probably run her...

why mus everyone slag the church. why not actually ask one and find out. Nuns are nice if not a bit TOO happy... they're up to something..;)

dfbfirerescue

hi folks.. maybe i was unclear.. vhi swift care offer same services as the beacon clinic.
i wasnt insinuating that you are better off in these establishments that in an a&e dept.. i said they would treat the signs and symptons of chest pain .. and just to note just because you are in an a&e dept. does not mean to say they will diagnose immediatly either.. "time is muscle" i know , i spend enough time in a&e with M.I.s . what i said is they are the way of the future.. in my opinion! unfortunatly a&e dept.s are choked up with people who should not be there.. an initial diagnosis in a private clinic might save an unnessecery trip..with swift and immediate consultation it might save your life.. believe me i see enough inept referrals from out of hours g.ps to know how much a&e times can vary, and it might cost you your life if your waiting for hours to be seen..

Gran Hermano

dfbfirerescue wrote: »

you can take your x-rays with you and thus save yourself hours in an emergency dept.. think its the way of the future..

Can anyone confirm whether the A&E in a public hospital will use the x-rays
taken in the private hospital. I recall hearing that due to unions or insurance
liability a Public hospital A&E would insist that you had to use their own
radiographers and you'd have to queue to have the x-rays re-done upon
admission to the public hospital.

dfbfirerescue

no problem using the x-rays provided in private clinics in a&e.have brought lots of people in myself clutching their x-rays ..

emedd

dfbfirerescue wrote: »

hi folks.. maybe i was unclear.. vhi swift care offer same services as the beacon clinic.
i wasnt insinuating that you are better off in these establishments that in an a&e dept.. i said they would treat the signs and symptons of chest pain .. and just to note just because you are in an a&e dept. does not mean to say they will diagnose immediatly either.. "time is muscle" i know , i spend enough time in a&e with M.I.s . what i said is they are the way of the future.. in my opinion! unfortunatly a&e dept.s are choked up with people who should not be there.. an initial diagnosis in a private clinic might save an unnessecery trip..with swift and immediate consultation it might save your life.. believe me i see enough inept referrals from out of hours g.ps to know how much a&e times can vary, and it might cost you your life if your waiting for hours to be seen..

Emergency Departments are choked up with people who should not be there, but these are the patients for whom a decision to admit has been made but for whom there is no bed available on a ward. 30 of these patients will clog up an ED to the extent that new patients cannot be seen efficiently due to lack of space. People with minor/no complaints do not contribute to ED overcrowding as they can be discharged. Private clinics don't help this.

Traumadoc

I feel that they do provide a service for those people who need proper primary care. Often GPs send in patients to public EDs because there is no access to simple diagnostic procedures. If you go to a GP in Australia with minor trauma, you will get an xray performed without having to visit the local ED.

These private emergency departments do not relieve the pressure on the public EDs as these are already full to capacity with those requiring admission, they may however relieve suffering by allowing quicker diagnosis and treatment for those with less serious problems.

If I had a minor problem say a sprained ankle the choice is pay 66 euro and wait 4 + hours in a public ED, or pay 85 euro and be seen in less than an hour.

emedd

Traumadoc wrote: »

If I had a minor problem say a sprained ankle the choice is pay 66 euro and wait 4 + hours in a public ED, or pay 85 euro and be seen in less than an hour.

if you have a sprained ankle - don't go to any ED public or private

if you have a broken ankle - go to an ED with the facilities to treat you properly, not pay your 85 quid, then another 85 for xray, 55 for plaster cast, 5 for analgesia and end up being sent to the proper ED in the end anyway because your fracture needs manipulation or surgery or orthopaedic follow up

if you don't know whether its broken or not maybe privates are worth a go... but who ends up reading the xray?

Vorsprung

emedd wrote: »

if you have a sprained ankle - don't go to any ED public or private

How do you tell if it's sprained or something more serious?

Traumadoc

Thanks for that Emedd, I needed to refressh my Ottawa rules;)

I am just looking at it from joe publics view, most of the delays in the EDs ( mine anyway) are from patients requiring admission as a result there is no space for the minors and they are the ones who are waiting (suffering) for long periods. As primary care cannot look after these patients- they are ending up going to the EDs , what Im saying is I would pay 200 euro so as not to have to wait 4+ hours.

People are using them but mostly as extended primary care.

emedd

Traumadoc wrote: »

Thanks for that Emedd, I needed to refressh my Ottawa rules;)

I am just looking at it from joe publics view, most of the delays in the EDs ( mine anyway) are from patients requiring admission as a result there is no space for the minors and they are the ones who are waiting (suffering) for long periods. As primary care cannot look after these patients- they are ending up going to the EDs , what Im saying is I would pay 200 euro so as not to have to wait 4+ hours.

People are using them but mostly as extended primary care.

fair enough, i'm not trying to be smart. I just don't think they are all they're cracked up to be. Particularly for what you pay.