A&E Fee

elly123

Hi,

I just have a quick query. i had my little guy at the Doc two weeks ago and he was put on an antibiotic for 10 days for two bad ear infections. 7 days in we end up in a&e high temps, heart racing, headaches, eyes sore & completely motionless (very scary he's only 2.5) anyway it was all as a result of his ear infections as the first antibiotic did nothing for him. What im wondering is do we still have to pay the €100 a&e fee as he had already been to the GP with the same problem?

NIMAN

I think so, yes.

Remember getting a similar bill a few years ago.

Lucyfur

As far as I know, the fee is only waived if the GP refers you directly to A+E. Hope the little guy is feeling better now

elly123

Thanks guys, i know i could easily ring and find out but wanted to see if anyone had the same experience. I'm hearing contradictions some ppl saying yes it is to be paid others saying no as its the same issue we had him at the gp for. I don't mind paying as the care he got was brilliant. But obv i'd rather have the €100 in my pocket He's on the mend Lucyfur, infection has cleared but now has fluid on the ears so referral to the hermitage. I'd say in the last year and a half he has had 10-12 ear infections, the last 6 been in the last 7 months!

cyning

Ya unless you have a gp letter or valid medical card you have to pay... You might be able to claim it back from health insurance though? Glad he's on the mend

nukin_futs

You do have to pay the fee. The only exemption is with the GP referral letter or medical card.

In the case of second visits related to the same ailment some GPs might waive their fee or charge a reduced rate. Obviously no use to you in an emergency situation.

The other apsect to this is you probaly have the under 6 free GP card. I have wondered about the A&E fee in relation to this - you could have gone to the GP, gotten a letter (no charge for consult) and gone to A&E and no charge. As mentioned, in an emergency you will not be running around like this. BUt it does seem sensible to me that if the hospital assess it as being an emergency the fee should be waived for under 6s.

I imagine that the hospitals would be worried about waiving fees in terms of possible volumes of patients - worried parent shows up, child basically has the 'sniffles' which should be taken care of by GP. These types of cases should be liable for the €100.

elly123

Thanks guys, at the time it was an emergency as in we taught it might have been meningitis and we just couldn't take the risk, we are 2 mins from the hospital and 30 mins from the gp. He went down rapidly, from playing around and then complaining with sore head and covering his eyes from any brightness few small spots like a rash, he was boiling but feet freezing (it was a struggle to get a droplet of blood for ketones test) and literally not talking (he's a chatter box) but he was motionless. i had never seeing him like that. Brought in straight away and doctor seen him within 2mins. His poor heart was racing from the high temp. Brought under control with Calpol and Difene and had bloods taking. Thankfully he came around after an hour or so and was somewhat back to himself. We got a much stronger antibiotic and difene suppos. We do have the under 6 GP card so I might give them a ring and try plead our case. I will let you all know how i get on

BlueLass

I had to take my little lady up in the middle of the night a few months back,very scary but we got it sorted. Was in with doc with my son a couple days later and just mentioned the visit and she kindly gave me a backdated letter to send in when the bill arrived. Sent it in and haven't heard anything since so it might be worth asking your doc for something similar along the lines of if his ear infection deteriorated then take straight to a&e.