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Cost of visiting a GP

holyhead

It cost €55 to visit my GP in a small town. This seems steep. Obviously health is wealth so it does pay to go. Is their merit in the state paying half that to encourage people to visit their GP? I imagine the cost of GP visits puts people off going.

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HeidiHeidi

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

When you go to the Pharmacy to have a prescription filled ask is there a generic version of the prescribed medicine. The pharmacist is required to give you the generic if one is available.
Doctors usually prescribe by brand name.

To be fair, the local pharmacist will always offer generics. One of the reasons I have a lot of time for them!

I suspect they're not ripping me off, but it's the inability to compare that drives me mad!

The Tetrarch

You are paying for a solution to your problem, if there is a solution, and if they can not treat you they refer you.
I think charges are reasonable. Mine charges 60 euro.

_Kaiser_

Live in a busy town and have struggled to get a GP at all, never mind a decent one.

Of the two I've had to use, I ended up in A&E after the first one because he was more concerned with what unrelated tests he could charge me for rather than actually examining me for the problem I came in with (my clue should have been the empty waiting room when all others in the area were fully booked). €100 A&E charge + his fee for my trouble.

The second one was a bit better but again just sent me to A&E for an X-ray that it turned out (8 hours later!) I didn't need anyway and which he could have at least saved me the time on if he'd written the damn referral properly.

Paying €50 for that level of "service" when others walk in with minor ailments and pay nothing really sticks in my craw, but thankfully it's still pretty rare that I need a GP at all.

arctictree

the beer revolu wrote: »

Virtually no GP will do a house call.
Did you bring the leaky tap to the plummer's office?

Didnt they used to do house calls years ago? What happened to that?

theteal

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I'd rather pay it than have the situation like the NHS where people will go with the slightest sniffle because it's free and it takes 3 or 4 days to get an appointment.

Ehhh, no it doesn't. Urgent issue will be seen on the day. You'd make an appointment for non-emergency stuff. Exact same level of service that I'm familiar with at home.

My only issue with the NHS was the almost 4 months I had to wait for an MRI on my knee. The price was right though.

171170

Cordell wrote: »

It's more expensive to treat them in the hospital when their condition becomes serious so it's better and cheaper to offer free GP care.

Are you aware that, sooner or later, mortality will catch up with them?

Still waters

Im classified as being " well off " by virtue of being self employed, my gp visit card was taken off me a few of years ago, there have been times ive had to forego a visit to the doctor because i simply didnt have the price of it, either by not going at all or putting it off until i had the money, 50 euro for a vist here

Plumbthedepths

corner of hells wrote: »

A 30 km round trip to avoid paying 31 euros ?

My car does 55km to the gallon, makes sense to do the distance to save that type of money tbh.

antodeco

My GP is €75 and is typically booked out for at least a week. I ring a week before I get sick, just to make sure.

moycullen14

Next time you're sitting in a GP's waiting room, think of the ways in which you are paying for the service:

55 euro for the visit
Income tax
VHI or similar
Prescription charges

then think about how much the MC holder is paying.......

Cina

I think the fairest solution is free trips for U18's and over 70's (keep increasing it as life expectancy increases!) and a certain amount of free visits per year for everyone else, maybe 3. I don't think it's remotely fair that people with medical card's can go as much as they want for basically anything whilst hard working folk have to pay €60+ any time they go. Plus this way it would limit people on medical card's going in for daft things and clogging up the system. Win win.

Cordell

171170 wrote: »

Are you aware that, sooner or later, mortality will catch up with them?

Only with them?

[Deleted User]

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

I suspect they're not ripping me off, but it's the inability to compare that drives me mad!

I wouldn't be so trusting of the local pharmacy, but I agree entirely about the absence of an ability to compare. I posted here months ago looking for cheaper online options, but didn't get many alternatives to going to the local overpriced pharmacy. I paid €28 for a cream in a Dublin pharmacy which took them 3 days to get in. It was all in Italian. They charged me €28 for it. I googled and found the exact same creme, in Italian, at the top of a google search for c. €10. The exact same. I'm aware of one small town where there were three licensed pharmacies and one went up for sale and the other two pharmacists purchased the licence to keep competition at bay.

Also, I noticed recently that the size of some over the counter medicines are smaller than the size they give you if the gp puts it on a prescription - e.g. Nizoral over the counter is 100ml but if you get the gp to put it on prescription you are given the 120ml bottle and it is €4 cheaper. So much intentional obfuscation in the pharmacy and the related big pharma industries. If even one politician could get researching the profits and quotidian hoodwinking endemic to this sector, it would do society a great service.

Muahahaha

corner of hells wrote: »

A 30 km round trip to avoid paying 31 euros ?

No round trip, I would be passing by the Boots in another town at least a few times a week so its not a diversion for me. Just shopping around and when one pharmacist is 78 and the other is 47 I know where Im going. The same pharmacist running his cartel in the town now has large posters of himself up with a gurning face in his shop windows, he is on the Tidy Towns committee, TextAlert scheme, etc so I'm fully expecting him to run for FF or FG at some stage in the future. Some might call him a pillar of the community whereas I'd see him as someone who is blocking competition and then ripping off the community. I'm not the only one whose noticed it, came up in conversation with a few neighbours and they also shop in Boots rather than the local guy.

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

How do others manage this? I have absolutely no idea if my local chemist (whom I have great time for) is completely ripping me off or not.....

Heidi best way is to just ring around. Chances are your pharmacy isnt ripping you off but next time you have a script with a few things on it ring another two of them to get a price and then compare.

wrangler

moycullen14 wrote: »

Next time you're sitting in a GP's waiting room, think of the ways in which you are paying for the service:

55 euro for the visit
Income tax
VHI or similar
Prescription charges

then think about how much the MC holder is paying.......

A freind who is a GP tells me that they cannot service the medical card holders at what the HSE are giving them, he mentioned €27/mth for pensioners,
Those who pay have to make up the difference....... if that's true it really pisses me off.

SEPT 23 1989

Self employed with no medical card so visits to my GP are rare

Greyfox

The Tetrarch wrote: »

You are paying for a solution to your problem, if there is a solution, and if they can not treat you they refer you.
I think charges are reasonable. Mine charges 60 euro.

I think there too expensive and force some people to take there chances with google which is never good. The problem is most people are paying for them to do a job that can be done in 3/4 minutes. The problem is there should be a cheaper version when your just looking for a sick note or a prescription for the thing you got the last time you had the same problem. I've never needed a GP for more then 10 minutes so a cheaper price for very minor things would make more sense.

Thelonious Monk

I've used a thing called video doc the last couple of times. You speak to an Irish GP and it costs 25e. It's handy if you just need some antibiotics or a sick note or something like that. Can't fault the service.

Trigger Happy

£25 punts last time I visited...

Plumbthedepths

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I've used a thing called video doc the last couple of times. You speak to an Irish GP and it costs 25e. It's handy if you just need some antibiotics or a sick note or something like that. Can't fault the service.

Standalone or part of a very expensive insurance premium?

HeidiHeidi

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

I've used a thing called video doc the last couple of times. You speak to an Irish GP and it costs 25e. It's handy if you just need some antibiotics or a sick note or something like that. Can't fault the service.

I think my old GP was involved in setting that up! Always wondered if it would catch on....

Lackey

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I'd rather pay it than have the situation like the NHS where people will go with the slightest sniffle because it's free and it takes 3 or 4 days to get an appointment.

We pay 50€ here and it takes that long to get an appointment
If you say it’s an emergency the receptionist tells you to head to a &e

the beer revolu

reg114 wrote: »

When it comes to physios I can tell you from personal experience that it is prudent to have an mri on the injury before attending a physio. Certain symptoms can mimic a variety of injuries and you remove any doubt or misdiagnosis by getting a scan .

On the GP front my GP is 40 quid and charges an extra tenner for bloods

I think that depends on the physio (and, maybe the condition).
When attending the physio, she sent me to the doctor for pain meds. After a few weeks, he insisted on an MRI. My physio's description of what was wrong with me was basically the MRI report, almost word for word.
Why can't a physio refer a patient for an MRI?

If I know I need to see a specialist, why do I need a piece of paper from a GP? That's a scam, imo.

Thelonious Monk

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Standalone or part of a very expensive insurance premium?

Not sure what you mean I don't have insurance, but I just registered and then spoke to a nice Irish GP, older lady, I'd say it could be something they do in semi retirement. Next time I did it I got the same doc too so it's very good, usually when I go to a GP I know exactly what I need from them so it's such a waste of time going for a piece of paper when a video doc can do it for less than half the price.

sportsfan90

I was in a situation before where I was at the opposite end of the country several hours from my home for a period of time and couldn't get a GP appointment for love nor money as they were all over-subscribed.

What might have been nipped in the bud early had I seen a GP eventually turned into being admitted to A&E, spending a few weeks in hospital and the bones of a year out of work recovering.

From that my conclusion is that I've no problem paying the €60 or whatever the cost, but the shortage of GPs (and all other health workers too) is what really needs to be addressed.

Plumbthedepths

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Not sure what you mean I don't have insurance, but I just registered and then spoke to a nice Irish GP, older lady, I'd say it could be something they do in semi retirement. Next time I did it I got the same doc too so it's very good, usually when I go to a GP I know exactly what I need from them so it's such a waste of time going for a piece of paper when a video doc can do it for less than half the price.

Some insurance providers also provide an online consultation as part of the insurance policy. That was my question but you addressed the standalone element of my question. Thanks must look into it, 60 a pop is a bitter pill.

shesty

Would you all pay more tax if it meant free GP visits (or a min number of free GP visits per year)?
Out of curiosity?

Plumbthedepths

shesty wrote: »

Would you all pay more tax if it meant free GP visits (or a min number of free GP visits per year)?
Out of curiosity?

I'd prefer if medical card holders paid a flat fee per visit, say 15 euro. Would encourage them to place a value on the service they use and cut down on crowding and the waiting room wouldn't be full of idiots with nothing more than headcolds.

Geuze

171170 wrote: »

What sticks in my craw are the wealthy over 70's who own their homes so don't have any mortgage/rent or work-related expenses, but are still eligible for Medical Cards due to the obscenely generous means test threshold.

Indeed.

And you'll be delighted to hear that the already generous over 70s GMS means test limits have been increased again.

Mollyb60

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I'd rather pay it than have the situation like the NHS where people will go with the slightest sniffle because it's free and it takes 3 or 4 days to get an appointment.

3/4 days? Are you insane? I just booked a non-urgent appointment with my doctor. The first available one was November 19th. That's almost 3 weeks away. There is a walk in clinic for urgent cases available at my clinic but I don't think that's the norm up here.

An article in the BBC recently said that more than a third of people waiting for an outpatient appointment in a hospital in NI are waiting over a year.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49509002

In saying that though, I 100% think the NHS model is better than the one in the south or the US. Sure people abuse it but I am happy to pay my national insurance tax of 11% (or whatever it is) to pay for it. Paying 50-100 euro to visit your doctor is absolute madness and it means that people leave illnesses too long before going to see a doctor because of the cost. At that point the illness could be much worse than it was originally.