owelly
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 09:47 AM |
|
|
Tiny NHS rantlet.
Just to vent off a bit!
Since leaving school, I've been in full time employment. For the past 23 years, I've worked at the same place and had a total of 30 days
off on the sick/compassionate leave. I had to go to the Drs last week as I was feeling unwell and as I've not been to the Drs for over 15 years,
I had to register at my local surgery. So far, so good.
Initial consultation went fine. Dr took blood, gave me a prescription and sent me to hospital for a chest Xray with instructions that if the
radiographer saw anything dodgy, to refer me to the hospital Drs. Radiologist lady says there are some irregularities but nothing to worry about.
I popped into the pharmacy to collect my prescription. It came to over £15. I didn't know you pay for each item. I had another look at the
prescription and realised one of the items was for rehydration salts, available right next to where I was standing for £2.40, not £7.65!
Thats my first rantlet about getting ripped-off!
Fast forward a couple of days. I'm getting more ill so phone to make an appointment to see the Dr. None available but the Dr will phone me asap.
A Dr did phone me 7 hours later. It wasn't the same Dr I had seen but was reading my notes as he talked on the phone.
He then changed my drugs and said he'd leave the prescription at the surgery. So, another trip to surgery, then off to town to collect drugs.
Another
£15ish for prescriptions.
A couple of days later, I'm a vomitting corpse. Rang the emergency Dr number and got to see another Dr. She pondered way too long, flicked
through a few books, and changed my drugs again. Another £15.
These drugs made me worse so back to my Dr, who, suprisingly, changed my dugs and after a bit of pestering, explained what he thought was wrong with
me. Xrays showed shadows consistent with pneumonia and scarring*. Blood tests showed wonky white blood cells consistant with them having a battle with
a virus. And test also indicated that I had a bacterial infection that had sneaked in whilst my immune system was fighting the virus.
This new prescription was for more antibots, steroid tablets and an inhaler. £30.30 please.
During my visits to the various Drs, I met a few school chums. None were in full time employment. Three of them have never had a full time job. They
all live on benefits, in paid for houses, with dozens of kids. They thought it was hilarious that I had to pay for my prescriptions!
You can pick out the rantlets for yourselves.
*the scarring was consistant with mesothelioma (sp?) but blood test showed negative for asbestosis but I now have to go for six monthly blood
tests!
[Edited on 21/6/12 by owelly]
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
|
|
|
|
|
balidey
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 09:58 AM |
|
|
It is odd that the people that don't (want to) work are often better off than those of us slogging our guts out.
But you will be glad to know that ranting on this forum is good for your health and you will be right as rain shortly. For this service you need to
send £17 via paypal to ChrisW for every time you have posted a rant. 
Dutch bears have terrible skin due to their clogged paws
|
|
|
HowardB
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 09:58 AM |
|
|
get well soon, a vomiting corpse is not a good thing,...
Howard
Fisher Fury was 2000 Zetec - now a 1600 (it Lives again  and goes zoom)
|
|
|
mookaloid
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 10:01 AM |
|
|
Hope you feel better very soon - that all sounds very unpleasant 
on the upside the more that you pay for your drugs, the less we all have to pay to subsidise your illness - so it's not all bad
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
|
|
|
britishtrident
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 10:28 AM |
|
|
I thought after reading the first few lines this was going to turn into a Legionaries disease story.
I am just glad you didn't have Legionaries if that goes unidentified and untreated it gets very nasty.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
|
|
|
designer
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 10:44 AM |
|
|
My mate is a Pharmacist on Leeds and he makes it a point to inform people when a drug can be bought cheaper over the counter than on prescription.
Most don't because it's more money in the pocket!!
Also, doctors, if they are as efficient as the bloke on TV said this AM, should know when they are cheaper over the counter.
They just don't care! They think that, of we work, we are all on 105K (basic) a year!!
|
|
|
owelly
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 10:52 AM |
|
|
Strangely enough BT, one Dr did ask if I'd been to Edinburgh. I said "no, but I do work in an office supplied with air from an air
handling unit that has standing water in the bottom of it". His reply......."yes but have you been to Edinburgh?".
Ranting hasn't made me feel much better yet.....
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
|
|
|
Alfa145
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 11:01 AM |
|
|
On the flip side, some of the pills you have been given could cost £1000's of pounds. so a prescription charge of £7.65 might be preferable to
paying the actual cost.
Although I do prefer the Welsh way of not having any prescription charges.
|
|
|
daviep
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 11:04 AM |
|
|
We scots also aprreciate you subsidising our free prescriptions, keep up the good work
Cheers
Davie
“A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”
|
|
|
matt_gsxr
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 11:10 AM |
|
|
I am sorry the system disappoints, sadly my experiences are similar.
Regarding costs, look on the bright side. In the USA you would have paid 15-20% of your annual income on health-insurance over the last 30years for a
similar service.
|
|
|
SteveWalker
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 11:47 AM |
|
|
Too late now, but if you'd got a receipt and a refund form from the pharmacist each time, you'd be able to buy a 3 month pre-payment
certificate for about £27.50, back dated to the first payment. Then you'd be able to get any further prescriptions withing the 3 months free and
also claim back the ones you'd already paid for.
|
|
|
nick205
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 12:15 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by owelly
Strangely enough BT, one Dr did ask if I'd been to Edinburgh. I said "no, but I do work in an office supplied with air from an air
handling unit that has standing water in the bottom of it". His reply......."yes but have you been to Edinburgh?".
Ranting hasn't made me feel much better yet.....
Maybe he's planning a weekend away and was after some sightseeing tips?
Hope it clears up soon for you!
|
|
|
maccmike
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 12:17 PM |
|
|
Some incredibly expensive drugs out there but you only pay the standard price, surely that must work when the drugs are also cheaper than the
prescription charge? so no you've not been ripped off.
Doctors dont have a magic wand and peoples chemical make up alters the way drugs work from person to person so its trial and error lots of the
time.
£75 for 15 years worth of prescriptions, I think you done alright there mate.
Hope you get better soon.
|
|
|
Steve Hignett
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 12:52 PM |
|
|
I am on incredibly expensive (legal) drugs at the moment.
I guess it works both ways...
(I wouldn't be able to get out of bed without them, and I wouldn't be able to afford them if they weren't subsidised...)
Walking (Un-supported) has become a drug necessary thing, and sometimes even the drugs are not enough...
|
|
|
MakeEverything
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 01:15 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by daviep
We scots also aprreciate you subsidising our free prescriptions, keep up the good work
Cheers
Davie
So are the Welsh.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
|
|
|
owelly
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 02:01 PM |
|
|
Thanks for the good wishes folks.
I shouldn't rant or complain as there are plenty of people who are a lot more worse off than me. I'm not even sure what I'm
grumbling about the most! The cost of the prescriptions, the amount I've paid during my working life, the fact that some lazy folk don't
pay anything, the inability to see the same Dr and the way they can't agree what drugs I need, the 'over the phone' consultation
because the Drs were too busy, blah, blah, blah.
And how come my Mam was refused the drugs she needed because they were too expensive? Thats a new rant.....
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
|
|
|
SeaBass
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 03:06 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by daviep
We scots also aprreciate you subsidising our free prescriptions, keep up the good work
Cheers
Davie
Yep I'd have to agree...
SWMBO is a GP and she regularly gets asked - "Give me a prescription for some antibiotics please". Basically because it's free they
think they should get a prescription for something at every visit. They don't normally like her refusal on the grounds they've simply got
a common cold.
I'm honestly not sure where the money is coming from to run most of Scotland.
JC
|
|
|
Peteff
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 03:42 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by maccmike
Some incredibly expensive drugs out there but you only pay the standard price, surely that must work when the drugs are also cheaper than the
prescription charge? so no you've not been ripped off.
Our Pharmacist always tells us when the drugs are available cheaper than prescription price but since I had cancer treatment (free on NHS) I get my
prescriptions free for a few years and by the time it runs out I will get them free due to my age.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
|
|
|
Agriv8
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 04:08 PM |
|
|
Owelly write a letter to practice manager.
I got fobbed off with a visit back end of last year .
My story 3 days sick in 10 years ( non in the past 7 years ) went to doc at evening walking wounded surgery with very sore throught unable to eat
drink . 'Just a cold ' said doc I argued a while and pointed out could not eat / drink pain killers to get to sleep and heading into 4th
day couging up green gunge but was sent packing.
Next morning even worse and physically could not get up to go to work. I did not know what to do so wrote a letter to practice re afiming my case why
'i did not think it was a cold ' ect ect. Call from practice manager 30 minutes later very sorry come down for a second oppinion.
Within 3 minutes of said appointment and calls to other specialists at hospital. I was in the back of an ambulance on the way to Bradford Eye, Nose
and troat dept. 15 minutes afer arival swabs taken of throat gunk and a camera up left nostril ( pleasant ) though she was a good looking doctor and
while whe was looking at my throat i was looking down here cleavage ! anyway walked out of hospital with just short of £40's worth of
precription drugs. with a note saying
savere tonsilitus, secondry infection of somthing. stong antibiotics that made me ill (so gave me pills to stop me gipping !! ) 2 days later just
about back to normal;
So drop them a line telling them why you are not happy.
ATB Agriv8
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
|
|
|
owelly
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 04:41 PM |
|
|
There is a problem with complaining! My son was ill as a baby and was blue-lighted to hospital several times with suspected meningitis. He saw just
about every peadiatrician in the area but he was still ill. Eventually, we were told he 'was a sicky baby' and we were 'paranoid
parents'. We went private to get him fixed and he was sorted within 20 minuts of meeting the consultant.
I was furious so set about writing letters of complaints to whoever would listen, until SWMBOs retired doctor grandpa pointed out, that we WILL need a
doctor in the future, and it WILL be one we're complaining about! We live in a small village served by a small town so we were a bit stuck
really! We wrote a (name with-held) letter to the local paper and that provoked a few other letters with similar stories so we did sort of say
something!
I'm on the mend now so all's good..........even though I can't afford to eat.
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
|
|
|
bobinspain
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 04:48 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by owelly
Thanks for the good wishes folks.
I shouldn't rant or complain as there are plenty of people who are a lot more worse off than me. I'm not even sure what I'm
grumbling about the most! The cost of the prescriptions, the amount I've paid during my working life, the fact that some lazy folk don't
pay anything, the inability to see the same Dr and the way they can't agree what drugs I need, the 'over the phone' consultation
because the Drs were too busy, blah, blah, blah.
And how come my Mam was refused the drugs she needed because they were too expensive? Thats a new rant.....
owelly,
Were it not for the fact that you're situated in sunny Whitby, your rant could well be about my pal's Dr's practice in not so sunny
Rugby. Very similar story of the runaround, difficulty (near impossibility), of making timely appointments, lack of continuity etc etc.
I sympathise with your plight, as I did with my pal's, however, I couldn't help but recall the dialogue from Tony Hancock's,
"The Blood Doner" in 1961. Hancock whinges about the cost of spectacles, prescriptions and dental fillings, then says, with no hint of
irony, "Course, most countries dont have a free health service."
|
|
|
Agriv8
|
| posted on 21/6/12 at 05:07 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by owelly
There is a problem with complaining! My son was ill as a baby and was blue-lighted to hospital several times with suspected meningitis. He saw just
about every peadiatrician in the area but he was still ill. Eventually, we were told he 'was a sicky baby' and we were 'paranoid
parents'. We went private to get him fixed and he was sorted within 20 minuts of meeting the consultant.
I was furious so set about writing letters of complaints to whoever would listen, until SWMBOs retired doctor grandpa pointed out, that we WILL need a
doctor in the future, and it WILL be one we're complaining about! We live in a small village served by a small town so we were a bit stuck
really! We wrote a (name with-held) letter to the local paper and that provoked a few other letters with similar stories so we did sort of say
something!
I'm on the mend now so all's good..........even though I can't afford to eat.
I agree and we too are in a small practice and my Sons and wife are up there resnabally regulally. But remeber they serve you and your taxses pay
their wages - if you got that level of service with you car you would be peed but as you say it could be detrimental .
ATB Agriv8
Taller than your average Guy !
Management is like a tree of monkeys. - Those at the top look down and see a tree full of smiling faces. BUT Those at the bottom look up and see a
tree full of a*seholes .............
|
|
|
