Cost of visiting a GP

wakka12 wrote: »

That seems bizarre. Surely there is more to the story? there are standard tests for confirming whether a heart attack is occurring or not isnt there?

I know, yes I'm sure there are but as far as I know those tests weren't even done. The man was just waiting in a corridor like multiple others and basically they took no time at all, just prescribed him anti biotics, and sent him on his way, 4.30 pm and apparently he was dead by 7pm due to a heart attack!

My gp is after getting into a bad habit of only issuing 3 month only repeat prescriptions, then charging €20 for another one.

I used to get 6 months repeat for my 50 quid

Muahahaha wrote: »

Definitely this, because there is no value on it people abuse the system. So you end up with medical card holders just heading along to the doctor every week for a chat because they're lonely or just have little else to be doing. If you had a nominal 15 euro charge on it that would soon stop.

I have a medical card, and agree that people go for ridiculous reasons, for example to get a prescription for a cough bottle that can be bought over the counter. I haven't been to the gp for a year, thankfully. I have been on the other side, the paying patient, and it makes me appreciate the medical card.

BuboBubo wrote: »

My gp is after getting into a bad habit of only issuing 3 month only repeat prescriptions, then charging €20 for another one.

I used to get 6 months repeat for my 50 quid

I get only a months prescription free if I run out but after that he won't give a six months unless he sees me which is understandable.
If something changed and he wanted me back in three months he'd give a three month one.
If you're taking something prescribed by them, they really have to monitor properly how it's affecting you

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

They are right not to pump any of that rubbish in to their bodies, I certainly never will.

Never ever? Is that the same with all vaccines?

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

They are right not to pump any of that rubbish in to their bodies, I certainly never will.

That's a fairly sweeping statement to make.



Is that your attitude to all vaccines or just the flu one?



After a dose of flu I got a couple of years ago that knocked me flat for about 4 months, I'll be beating a path to the surgery door next week (and every autumn) for the jab!

It would nearly be cheaper to go to the Monaco GP.

reg114 wrote: »

I would agree that you shouldnt need to see a gp to get an MRI. Mind you you shouldnt need to see a gp to get a referral to see a consultant either especially if you are paying the consultant yourself. Pharmacists should be given the same freedom to prescribe drugs like they are in spain.

Let me tell you the recent experience I had,

- Had to go to GP to get referral to a a consultant (General Surgeon) (because I am not allowed to go there by myself) costs €60
- GP asks me do you want public or private. I said private (as I don't want to wait for a year to see the doctor)
- I get referred to a public doctor which has private examining rooms, right next day (this is such a robbery. A public doctor is treating on private rooms with premium price) which costs another €150.
- Consultant blatantly lies to my face (I'm sorry there is no nicer word for this) and says that I can have the MRI till the end of the week (it was Tuesday and I was supposed to get it till Friday). Then he will decide for operation.
- 2 weeks later, already asked to 4 hospitals for MRI appointment (2 private and 2 public). 1 Public MRI is broken. Only 1 private one calls back and asks me for my details and then says "queue is a bit long you might have to wait for a month". And this MRI costs €290.

You know what happened eventually? I said screw it, went back to my own country, got MRI 2 hours later, an operation was needed, had the operation after 2 hours which was all on my expense.

In Ireland, even thou you have private health insurance, even you pay for everything yourself, have to wait God knows for how long.

I paid €60 euro just to get a referral to a consultant. To see my GP (for referral) I had to wait for a week. Consultant can't even say "we need MRI for your case but you will have to wait a month", just blatantly lies and says "of course we can fix you till Christmas time" (which means 2 months later).

I have to pay health related taxes from my salary plus private health insurance costs and can't even get decent health service in a timely manner even on private field. This is such a bullcrap.

There was only 1 time I had to go to A&E, because my GP couldn't manage to fix my flu. She sent me to A&E, got X-ray, blood test and urine test, and got a prescription for a different brand of antibiotics and then I fully recovered. I had to go to GP 4 (four) times to get this issue fixed. First time "get some paracetemol and nurofen" this will be €50. Second time, antibiotics for 3 days, another €50. Third time, same antibiotics for 1 week, which is another €50. Then got sent to A&E as it was before bank holiday, luckily it was for free.

I am paying this health taxes for 3.5 years, and I could benefit from it for only 1 time! Just to get examined at A&E because my GP didn't do her job properly.

I don't have any trust left to A&E as you have to wait for a long time and it's doubtful if you will get proper treatment or not but now I don't even trust to GP or consultants here and of course I still have to pay sh*tloads of money for this and wait forever.

Muahahaha wrote: »

Definitely this, because there is no value on it people abuse the system. So you end up with medical card holders just heading along to the doctor every week for a chat because they're lonely or just have little else to be doing. If you had a nominal 15 euro charge on it that would soon stop.

It might cut things down but I’m not sure it would stop it. I met a taxi driver recently who said there was a person living local that would ring the rank regularly. They usually never needed to actually go anywhere. They’d drive around for 15+ minutes at least a couple of times a week just for someone to chat to.

The driver said he stopped taking payment for it from the person but some of the other lads would. He estimated they spend a hundred minimum on taxis for chats every week. You’d wonder if it’s common.

Wouldn't it be sensible to say that evryone should pay for the GP but noone should be in the position of not being able to afford visiting the GP. Am I insane here? Because the government seems to be taking the opposite approach, many groups get 100% free GP care, but the basic rate of attending the GP (€65 for a 10 minute visit) is starting to get very expensive.

Deleted User wrote: »

Exactly! It’s a hugely responsible job, but it should not be such an elite one. However, people who have done 6 or more years studying and put themselves under quite sum stress, are eager to get earning a decent wage for all the effort. I have a friend who’s quite content to be a so-called “junior” doctor all his life as he’s just not interested in too many material things or “status”, yet his experience is invaluable at the level he chooses to work. So many graduates see a top consultant’s post as being their career goal to be gained, and as soon as possible.

Medicine does not require the brainiest of academics, and it is only because of demand and relatively low number of spaces that makes it so difficult to attain. Yes, there’s a lot of stuff in it, but it’s not beyond the grasp of motivated students of reasonable ability. This has been proven, an example of such I saw on BBC was a nurse in England years back who, by her own confession, was not at all academic, and it was an act of faith of the college to take her on the four year post-grad medical degree. It turned out she did actually better than her more academic fellow students as the practical nature of the learning particularly suited her.

We need more places in medical schools, more post-grad medicine courses or indeed like Romania a basic medical degree which forms a platform for further study to become a scientist, medical practitioner etc. this would lead to less people feeling like “failures” if they could not do a full 6 years of medical degree. It should never be regarded as elite, but a viable career and study option for anybody with a genuine interest.

I don't have any graphics or solid evidence to back my claim but I can tell what will happen, more people will study medicine and graduate. Then they will go to overseas or other EU countries to work as doctors & nurses, because they earn more money than in Ireland and pay less tax.

Again I have no solid evidence but just personal experience. I met with some random girl at the pub, first topic she brings up is about the salary. I might be mistaken but she was a recent graduate and she said "Listen, people working at Tesco are earning more salary than what doctors earn in Ireland". And naturally she was not happy about it. This might be related with her being recent graduate or her field but she had a valid point.

Do you want to improve the quality of health services in Ireland?

- Pay better salary to your doctors (so they won't run away)
- Build more hospitals and bring more machines like Xray, MRI, CT-Scan etc.
- Decrease the amount of medical card or GP card users add some excess/limits to it.

Again from my personal experience both private and public health sector is overcrowded. And Im sure Medical card and GP card holders has major role in this apart from the fact that your health service infrastructure is not enough. You can't keep Irish doctors and nurses because of the low salaries, instead you are hiring health staff from EU and again paying them low salaries.

A recent example: Bon Secours hospital in Cork, for MRI appointment. Woman on the phone says "we have long waiting list so sometimes we give appointments between 18:00 till 21:00 at weekdays and sometimes on Saturdays". And their MRI waiting list is 4000+ people.

If you have this long waiting list, your staff should work 24/7 with shifts and with proper salaries. Most of the health services' working hour is less than my own working schedule. I work between 10 - 18, 5 days a week. My GP works between 8:30 till 17:00 . The problem is I work for IT sector but my GP works for health sector. And health sector is more important than IT sector. It's unacceptable that their working hours is same as someone from non health sector.

And no, I am not telling that people at health sector should work 50+ hours per week. There should be shifts with more staff so only waiting lists can be decreased otherwise, people will keep waiting for 14 hours at A&E for having an MRI. Or you will wait next to your phone hoping that hospital will call you and give you an appointment for a month later while you hope that your sickness won't get worse.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

A acquaintance of mine went into her nearest GP in London with a sizeable breast lump. The secretary asked her what her address was and when she told her said she was just one street outside the catchment area for that GP surgery and told her to go to the right one. The girl was in tears begging them to see her. So the secretary asked her what was so urgent. This was with a queue forming behind her. She hesitated but eventually told the nosy bint of a secretary who still sent her on her way. After extracting personal information from her. She had to find which GP surgery was the right one and then wait three weeks for an appointment. And yes it was cancer.

Lily, if that lump persists, do not be afraid to be pushy. Advocate for yourself and disregard dismissiveness. I developed an “old lady” cancer in my 20s.

Once in Band camp......

Martina1991 wrote: »

With what staff do you think services could run 24/7. Emergency hospital services run 24/7 but others just don't have the people to do it.

And its not just health care workers that are needed. You need the admin staff, the catering department, the maintenance staff and everyone else, all working around the clock too. A hospital doesn't run on doctors and nurses.

Well like I said, you need more health staff (doctors and nurses) first. Finding admin staff, catering department and maintenance staff is the easiest part of this problem.


You can either build 10 more hospitals (again you will need doctors and nurses for it) or turn the current hospitals to work 24/7 (or something similar) just to decrease the amount of patients in queue. If the hospital departments keep working between 8 to 5 (or similar) the queue will just get longer.


The reason A&E is overcrowded is the same reason, you don't have enough health staff & tools to cure people.