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The push to get us all free GP appts?

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Comments

  • #32
    GarIT
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,671 ✭✭✭GarIT


    Maura74 wrote: »
    Give your card back if you do not want it is not mandatory to keep it or use it.

    I'll use it while I have it, what I'm saying is if there was a small fee charged it would be completely understandable.


  • #33
    Maura74
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 559 ✭✭✭Maura74


    GarIT wrote: »
    I'll use it while I have it, what I'm saying is if there was a small fee charged it would be completely understandable.
    Fair enough, however a small fee to you may not be hardship but to a woman that did not work and brought up a family and is now widow with no pensions with only the standard state pension that would be a lot for that person and the same for younger disabled people as well. I do not know about Ireland but in the UK from what I read benefits are very difficult to get when you have a disability and the government is making everyone go for tests again to see if they can work, but there is no work available for anyone now.

    It is well known that being kept active this is beneficial for everyone especially older people in care homes, but there are no facilities in these places for them to do exercise such as swimming that would not have such as bad effect on their older people bones. Unfortunately, it's all about money today, people do not matter when you have passed their sell by date.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/oldest-woman-to-finish-a-_n_844972.html


  • #34
    hmmm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,203 ✭✭✭✭hmmm


    When I go to see my GP it's packed with medical card patients. I'm the one paying my taxes, yet I'm also the one who has to avoid seeing the GP because I have to pay for my visits while they visit to get a prescription everytime they need paracetomol.

    "Free" anything will always be abused, there should be a charge for everyone.


  • #35
    Maura74
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 559 ✭✭✭Maura74


    hmmm wrote: »
    When I go to see my GP it's packed with medical card patients. I'm the one paying my taxes, yet I'm also the one who has to avoid seeing the GP because I have to pay for my visits while they visit to get a prescription everytime they need paracetomol.

    "Free" anything will always be abused, there should be a charge for everyone.

    Yes but pensioners have paid their taxes as well do you want them to keep paying their taxes and not take the state pension that they may have contribute towards??:eek:

    Again people assume far too much when they go to their GP they know when people are paying and how old they are, I would find it very difficult to tell if some one is 63, or 64, which would not make them pensioners.

    People in Ireland can die if they got no money to see their GP what a sorry state of affairs that is, just like the US, show the colour of your money first and they you will be treated and may live.

    Glad I do not live in Ireland anymore. :eek::eek:


  • #36
    avalon68
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 689 ✭✭✭avalon68


    spank_inferno wrote: »
    No need to piss on the guys post Maura.
    We all know surgerys that are all but full of OAPs from 9am onwards.

    My better half spent a year as a GP receptionist and can testify to the same. Today being friday (always a busy day for some reason) I'm certain the waiting area of my home GP clinic will be full of old people nattering away to each other..... chances are my Gran will be there!
    The woman is there most weeks, though there is nothing wrong with her.

    The way I see it.... I pay a health tax (now USC) for others to reap the benefit.
    If I'm sick, I get over it because I cannot afford to miss work and pay €50 to see a GP for 5 mins to tell me I am sick!

    A small charge for all means more resourses for all... means more fairness for all.

    I fail to see the point

    The system is fundamentally flawed - yes there is a shortage of GPs, but the vast majority of people in a waiting room at any one time could be seen to be a nurse, or nurse practitioner. Thats the kind of system we need to move towards, one where doctors only see patients that are genuinely ill, and rountine checkups, blood draws, vaccinations are done by nurses. A pre-screening of patients if you will, where the serious cases get sent through to the doctor.....I dont have a problem with making visits free, but as already mentioned, it will lead to overflowing GP offices unless they can up the flow through. It would also provide employment for all of our recent nursing grads who have no hope of work right now, and for once would be a good use of tax money to improve the system


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  • #37
    djpbarry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    Maura74 wrote: »
    Yes but pensioners have paid their taxes...
    How do you know?
    Maura74 wrote: »
    People in Ireland can die if they got no money to see their GP what a sorry state of affairs that is, just like the US, show the colour of your money first and they you will be treated and may live.
    An ill person in Ireland will not be refused essential treatment if they cannot afford to pay for it.


  • #38
    djpbarry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    avalon68 wrote: »
    It would also provide employment for all of our recent nursing grads who have no hope of work right now...
    Ireland already employs a huge number of nurses.


  • #39
    avalon68
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 689 ✭✭✭avalon68


    djpbarry wrote: »
    Ireland already employs a huge number of nurses.

    Yes I know that - employing them in doctors offices might actually help with patient care, perhaps at a lower rate of pay that a hospital nurse as it would be a 9-5 gig mainly. Ireland has to embrace a shift towards better local care facilities, especially with so many hospitals losing A&E departments. Take Germany for example - my aunt lives there and her local GP has the facilities to draw and analyse blood (rapid results), take xrays, bandage up sprains and strains and simple breaks. In Ireland if I twist an ankle - I go to the GP, who sends me off to the nearest hospital for an xray, where I wait for hours while more urgent cases get seen to (and rightly so!), only to be told in broken english by a doctor who looks monumentally pissed off with life in general, that nothing is broken and its just a sprain. I then get sent to a nurse, where i wait a few more hours and finally leave with a bandage (and whatever infections I might have been exposed to by touring through the hospital that I never needed to visit!). Its a ridiculous system which places far too much pressure on the hospital system. Local clinics staffed by nurses/nurse practitioners and GPs would be far more effective in dealing with minor ailments such as there, leaving the hospitals free for more serious cases.


  • #40
    thebman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,012 ✭✭✭✭thebman


    Why not just regulate the prices rather than introduce free GP's for all?

    There is a middle ground between 50 euro a go and free that is a reasonable price.

    GP's price gouge those that pay at the moment it seems as they are usually the regular PAYE worker again.

    Free GP care for all will just mean increased taxes for PAYE so what is the difference between that and just continuing to pay 50 euro a go except if you don't go often, your now also subsidisng those that go often.

    I'm sure GP's love the idea of government sponsored GP visits. Seems like in 5-10 years, it will be costing us a fortune and we'll be wondering what we were ever thinking.


  • #41
    Maura74
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 559 ✭✭✭Maura74


    thebman wrote: »
    Why not just regulate the prices rather than introduce free GP's for all?

    There is a middle ground between 50 euro a go and free that is a reasonable price.

    GP's price gouge those that pay at the moment it seems as they are usually the regular PAYE worker again.

    Free GP care for all will just mean increased taxes for PAYE so what is the difference between that and just continuing to pay 50 euro a go except if you don't go often, your now also subsidisng those that go often.

    I'm sure GP's love the idea of government sponsored GP visits. Seems like in 5-10 years, it will be costing us a fortune and we'll be wondering what we were ever thinking.

    Pensioners that have moved back to Ireland have their medical fees paid by the UK government. Irish doctors charge £6000 per patients. That is a lot of money and it is more than the rest of EU charges.

    It is at the end of BBC programme for all to view it.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nbryp/Panorama_Britains_Secret_Health_Tourists/


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