Could This Happen In Nhs?

[Sqad]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2337682/Patients-shun-NHS-clinics-run-Polish-GPs-Cut-price-private-surgeries-doctor-seven-days-week.html

My congratulations to these Polish entrepreneurs and i hope it continues to succeed.

This is my idea of health care where there is 24 hour GP cover in the NHS with a renegotiated GP contract. No home visits except in exceptional circumstances, GP 24 hour clinics attached to hospitals and more emphasis on the patient traveling to the doctor.

Unfortunately it will never happen in the UK.

[pixie373]

It's a brilliant idea. My GP surgery is so frustrating. If you want an appointment, you have to ring at 8:30 or 14:00 only. If you can get through, you go straight into a queue and after waiting for 20 odd minutes, get told there are no free appointments. Try again tomorrow.
This happened for 3 days running when my 9 year old had asthma. They were aware he wasn't breathing normally. When I said I'd been waiting for three days, they found they were able to fit him in.
You really have to plan your illnesses carefully.

[naomi24]

Good luck to them. Great idea.

//No home visits except in exceptional circumstances, //

That could be a bit dicey, Sqad. Who's to judge what exceptional circumstances are? The receptionist on the other end of the phone?

[FredPuli43]

In London, I've used a flying doctor service. It didn't cost much; in those days, 10 years ago, it was only about £50 basic. The doctor who attended my home was French. Not sure whether, as French qualified and registered, she could issue accepted prescriptions though.

[pixie373]

I do think there should be a better home visit service though. Particularly for less mobile people.

[Sqad]

naomi......no.......the Practice nurse.

For God's sake, nurses are now the one's with the stethoscope around their necks, they are the ones with University degrees in Nursing, surely they could go to the home to assess the degree of need for a home visit by the doctor.

[ummmm]

They still have district nurses that visit the patients at home.

[naomi24]

Sqad, it's an option.

[Sqad]

naomi...LOL...thanks...;-)

[Sqad]

Naomi.......no, my suggestion is stupid....well actually not stupid but unacceptable in Socilaized medicine......."he who pays the piper deosn't call the tune"....the GP's and BMA pull the strings.

The 2004 contract offered to the GP's by the Labour Government was "unbelievable"

They could not believe it when GPs were given the chance not to do evening and weekend work for a 6% pay cut, he said.

Since the deal started in 2004, average GP pay has topped the £100,000 barrier.

If you were GP in the NHS would you want to change?.......not likely and neither will it change.

[ichkeria]

No surprise it's in London where there are probably enough people who can afford to pay £70 a visit.
NHS bashing is all very well, but when you've seen so-called public health services abroad you realise how lucky we are

[Sqad]

ichkeria.....

\\\but when you've seen so-called public health services abroad you realise how lucky we are \\\

Here we go again.........

[FredPuli43]

Where abroad? France's service is excellent, far better than ours.

My family use private medicine as and when. We have access to a private doctor in London. A visit doesn't cost much. For minor matters it's a quick,efficient, service; for serious matters, we'd use the NHS. I remember the daughter, then age about 10, had a mysterious skin rash, which the GP couldn't identify. He rang a specialist, we went straight round to him. He said that classic thing of skin specialists "It's not dangerous, it'll come and go, it's never going to be unsightly,just pinhead marks, and there's no cure; it's in the body for life". Whole thing cost about £100 or so.

That is what the NHS should be like; France's service is like that now.

[jno]

the good old British entrepreneurial spirit, ready to open at the hours when people can get to them. Still, wait for the uproar when one of their Botoxes first goes wrong.

[emmie]

my only gripe is what if you are so ill you are immobile. I had to travel half an hour away to see an out of hours doctor, this was at a weekend, and late at night, to discover she was the only doctor working, a truly hideous experience.