I remember one of my students complaining that she waited xhours for an ambulance. She got fed up waiting and got a bus. WTF?? People should,at least, be fined for non attendance without good reason for a doctor's or hospital appointment. It's common practice for dentists.
The majority of patients don't pay for anything. 80% of prescriptions in England are for patients exempt from paying. Those who normally work, pay taxes and get sick occasionally, get to pay a prescription tax. I bet most surgeries have the usuals.We certainky did . They get up every Tuesday, think what do I do today, I know I'll ring the doctor. They might cry wolf 99% of the time, waste the doctors time, but they get seen anyway because just once in a while it might be necessary. I would like to know that if I ring for a doctor once in every five years, i would get to see one with some degree of promptness. Sadly that never happens. With that level of service I would rather pay privately and be seen promptly.
Many people in A and E are there because they know they get treatment free, can't see a doctor in a reasonable time, and expect treatment for something they could treat at home if they had an adequate first aid kit. When my mother was having chest pains, she went almost straight through. A man who needed a plaster for his bleeding finger shouted that he was there first. I told him that Morrisons next door sell plasters. In many pharmacies I despaired at the number of people who thought we would provide first aid such as basic dressings for grazes, free of charge.
Whilst I don't disagree with you @fidgetbones, if we charged for visits to A@E, as has been suggested, we would put off the poorest, genuine cases.
I don't think I deserve free prescriptions, but plenty do, how do you make it fair, without making the cost of the administration eat up any savings?
I have been in A@E a lot, both as a patient and a doctor, and I think it is somewhat of a myth that the majority of patients are just trying to get something free, or avoid the queue to see a GP. The majority usually seem fairly sick to me, and at the moment the evidence suggests, even sicker than usual.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
One aspect of A & E that annoyed me, though I am recounting a tale from about 6 years ago, was when my wife was taken in with a suspected broken leg having fallen down the stairs (it turned out to be torn cruciate ligaments). I was out but on getting the message went straight to the hospital where a young man was presenting himself at the admissions desk but had brought six friends along with him.
Many people in A and E expect treatment for something they could treat at home if they had an adequate first aid kit.
I often wonder about this for A&E and GP surgeries. I suspect a lot people go into a GP surgery for a sprained ankle, a cough, a cold or a sore neck. Or indeed they want antibiotics for something, like a cold, where none are needed. It would be interested to see stats on that.
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Diabetes accounts for over 10% of the whole NHS budget. 80% of the incidents are preventable. 100 related amuptations a week are carried out.
Over a million hospital admissions a year are alcohol related in the UK. A third of A&E visits and ambulance trips are alcohol related. And a third of GP visits. They account for approximately 4% of the whole NHS budget.
That's more than 20% of the whole NHS budget accounted for by preventable smoking, drinking and eating related illnesses. And it's all set to increase. It's basically bankrupting the country and killing a high proportion of its people.
Just to point out that not all diabetes is preventable, some of it is genetic and unavoidable. I assure you that my fiancé is not overweight or an alcoholic but he still has to stick a needle into his stomach every single day of his life.
I think all prescriptions should be paid for, £2 or £3 an item would make people think twice. I pay nearly £20 every 3 months for HRT and I consider it money well spent.
@Punkdoc, I'm sure that charging would put off some of the genuine cases. My mother is of the generation who rarely saw a doctor because they were brought up before the NHS.They paid into some sort of club /insurance to cover seeing a doctor when they needed. You only saw the doctor if the chemist couldn't provide something. I remember as a child sitting in a waiting room, and everyone in turn moved up the bench, until they went in to see the doctor. Then receptionists and timed appointments came in. Then computers. We now seem to have a section of society that "know their rights", demand to see a doctor about everything and anything, expect a magic pill to cure all, or a nurse to put a plaster on a graze, but seem to have no idea of responsibility to look after themselves and sort out simple problems themselves. Meanwhile our local A and E thinks they have a busy night if 100 come through. A few weeks ago they were regularly getting 200 a night. Even with staff being drafted from other duties, they couldn't cope. It was back to a full waiting room with everyone shuffling up a bit. A lot of the people there could have been seen by a GP.
I would make all prescription £1 an item per month, with a yearly ticket of £100. No exemptions. Even my mum on a pension could afford that. It is either that, or do as some countries do, and declare all medicines that can be bought over the counter must be bought, and not prescribed by the doctor on prescription. It started with the black list many years ago, stopping doctors prescribing many items described as toiletries (Johnsons baby shampoo or Colgate toothpaste, for example) or common vitamin tablets, or even Rennie tablets. It need to be looked at again. A friend of mine had a prescription for a high strength fluoride toothpaste presented for dispensing a couple of weeks ago. It came via a nursing home for a 90 year old. You have to ask why they didn't buy normal toothpaste for the good it will do a 90 year old. Meanwhile it cost the NHS about £15.
A few years ago our health authority was doing free testing kits for chlamydia. We had a pile near the dispensary with a note to say help yourself to one if you thought you might need one. An old lady was shovelling them into a bag. I asked her if she needed that many. Why not she says, they're free aren't they? Yes I said, but you would only need one. Do you think you might have a sexually transmitted disease? She dropped the lot like they were on fire. As we say round here, ote for note (anything for nothing) and there is a long queue, whether they need it or not.
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@Chris-P-Bacon, I also think you're right. Most people just aren't aware of just how many people die at any one time.
People should,at least, be fined for non attendance without good reason for a doctor's or hospital appointment. It's common practice for dentists.
I don't think I deserve free prescriptions, but plenty do, how do you make it fair, without making the cost of the administration eat up any savings?
I have been in A@E a lot, both as a patient and a doctor, and I think it is somewhat of a myth that the majority of patients are just trying to get something free, or avoid the queue to see a GP. The majority usually seem fairly sick to me, and at the moment the evidence suggests, even sicker than usual.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border