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I have to say I am a little confused about some of the news stories this past week.
One day we are told that it is too difficult to ask GPs to inform illegal people without visas to pay. The GPs said so them selves. However I have seen this happen it only takes a minute or two.
Then we are told by the same GPs that we need to ask people at A&E to pay for wasting their time.
All this confusion is making me ill.
A GP has ten minutes with a person
And now 2 (or somewhat more) go towards making a payment enquiry
The result could be NHS collapse
What I saw happening. A lady whos visa had expired asked for an appointment. The receptionist asked her to present her new visa. She refused, because she is now illegal. The receptionist then said you would therefore need to pay £60. The lady walked off.
I don’t know how you came up with the idea the Doctor was involved.
I am not sure the NHS will collapse as a result of this.
Another situation, more personal. My insurance company needed my notes. A long story, too private to explain why. My GP asked for money, they paid money all was resolved.
My Doctor wasn’t involved in this, I still had my full time needed.
It would appear Richard you are a healthy man. That is good, not everyone is. I can assure you, most Doctors will take more if needed.
I am pleased of your good health, I hope this continues in this new year.
Many years ago, I worked in Florida. I had a problem with my wrist and had to go to a hospital to see a specialist doctor. When I checked in, a black man, clearly of very limited means was writhing on the floor, apparently due to severe stomach pains. I asked the receptionist why he wasn’t being attended to. The answer? That he had no means of paying for any medical help, in which case he needed to get himself to another hospital 20 miles away. And what if he couldn’t pay for a taxi, the only available means of transport there? The answer? Not my problem.
Of course, those who don’t have to worry too much about money will often fail to recognise that this may one day describe their situation and comment accordingly. But these are my questions to those people: Does any sort of civilised society act in this way? Is this what you really want to happen to our NHS?
Precisely right
No, but let’s be honest – the NHS gets over £100bn of taxpayers cash. There must be room to make the odd saving or two.
Incidentally, I’m a firm believer, especially as technology drives up what could be achieved eg repeated IVF cycles etc, that the time has come for a Royal Commission to examine precisely what the NHS should provide, how it should be paid for and how it should be run.
I know anecdote isn’t data – hell no – but (there’s always a but) during the ‘booze-up’ with friends of mine (far more intelligent than me, earning far more than me) the topic of healthcare has come up along with ‘well ‘Germany / France / the Netherlands spends far more than we do…..’ at which point, it’s mentioned that co-pay systems exist so that the individual has to pay-up and also pay their taxes to support those that can’t pay….
…..at which point enthusiasm for co-pay systems gets very weak given that taxes also have to be paid for the NHS as well leading to many comments of ‘I’m not paying for that twice…’
I stress, I’m a NOTA voter and I’ve no idea which is the best method to provide highly complex, high-spec (thus very expensive) modern healthcare. My only proviso is that I’m not overly keen on opening the doors of the NHS too widely to the PMPs / PMIs given the propensity od some firms to not provide treatment on spurious grounds, overcharge the taxpayer and also of course cherry pick the treatments that they will provide.
Quite whether that makes me Left or Right wing, I’ve no idea.
Of course there are always room for savings in big budgets
But they never happen for good reason – people run these organisations (and the massively inefficient private sector) and so waste will always happen
Sad fact is we’re not perfect
“No, but let’s be honest — the NHS gets over £100bn of taxpayers cash. There must be room to make the odd saving or two.”
There is! Get rid of PFI and the private companies making massive profits using NHS facilities at taxpayers expense.
Do everything in house and watch the price of running the NHS drop!
I was recently in Spain and became unwell. So I, with my EHIC card, (It use to be EC11) went for medical help. I handed over my card which was they laughed at. I was informed to hand over my credit card. In pain and not very well, my wife did so , as I was now not able to.
Europe and the rest of the World require visitors and illegal people to pay. Maybe we need to be a little more in line with them. Its how they treat us when we visit them. The UK has got a serious debt problem which we are now paying for.
Was an eye for an eye ever an acceptable basis for policy making?
James
so far as I can see, the point of your anecdote is to say
“the way I was treated was totally unacceptable”.
The conclusion you then draw is
“we should do likewise”.
How does that work ?
I was mugged for my wallet once. Should I, in future, always try to mug strangers for their wallets ?