Psychiatrists' reticence about fees

Brown Bolt

Recently I attended a GP, who referred me to a psychiatrist. I then
received a letter in the post from the psychiatrist, suggesting a time
for an appointment.

There was no mention of fees, and I could find nothing on the Web about
the matter, so I phoned the psychiatrist to ask. I was told that there
is a fixed fee for the first consultation, with the fees for subsequent
consultations being a matter for discussion.

Two questions:

1) Is it usual for psychiatrists in Ireland to be reticent about
their fees? (From the patient's point of view, the ideal would be
for the psychiatrist to list his fees on the Web.)

2) Is the above psychiatrist unusual in not having a fixed fee for
some consultations?

In relation to question (1): I suppose that psychiatrists have something
of a captive market, because a patient who is dissatisfied about fees
has to go back to his GP and ask for another referral. A possible
solution to this problem is for the patient to indicate a price range
when attending his GP, which the GP would then take into account when
selecting a psychiatrist.

A Neurotic

Are you sure you have to pay any fee at all? My understanding would be that if your GP referred you publicly you won't have to pay anything.

Or did your GP refer/recommend you a private psychiatrist?

Brown Bolt

A Neurotic wrote: »

Or did your GP refer/recommend you a private psychiatrist?

Yes, the GP referred me to a psychiatrist in private practice.

huskerdu

It is normal for Irish doctors not to put their prices on a website. In fact, I think it is banned, as it would be a form
of advertising.

Have a look at the following article for more information

http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=16668

The psychiatrist probably does have a defined fee structure and it waiting to decide what treatment to recommend, before telling you how much it will cost.

I share your frustration, but this is normal behaviour from Irish consultants

Mrs OBumble

huskerdu wrote: »

It is normal for Irish doctors not to put their prices on a website. In fact, I think it is banned, as it would be a form
of advertising.

Have a look at the following article for more information

http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=16668

Ahh, did you read that artricle that you linked to? It explicitly says that they are now allowed to advertise now.

It is normal for GP clinics to put their price structure on their website - I can point to any number of local practices that do so.

Consultants, perhaps have a fee-scale which has a wider range of options and market themselves to GPs rather than directly to patients, so may have a different approach - but they are not required to.

Taco Chips

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ahh, did you read that artricle that you linked to? It explicitly says that they are now allowed to advertise now.

It is normal for GP clinics to put their price structure on their website - I can point to any number of local practices that do so.

Consultants, perhaps have a fee-scale which has a wider range of options and market themselves to GPs rather than directly to patients, so may have a different approach - but they are not required to.

Yes but it's still new and very much not the norm. In fact I would be surprised to see specialists outside of GPs taking part in this type of advertising. Also theres a lot of further clarification required. From the same article

The College has said, however, that the question of advertising prices requires more detailed consideration and further clarification and it will discuss this issue with the Medical Council.

The College's Communications Chairman Dr Mel Bates told irishhealth.com that while the new advertising guidelines needed to be clarified in areas such as advertising prices, he pointed out that most patients would not necessarily shop around for GP services in the same way they might do for petrol.