Just had an email from Boots advertising an online Doctor service. Prices start at £15…. One step nearer to the end of The NHS I feel.
What next ? Off topic : Just had an email from Boots... - NRAS
What next ? Off topic
46 Replies
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It is so sad, but the way things are going 😥
The signs of a sneaky covert privatisation have been there for some time. It makes me so sad and I wonder where it will end
Where will it end? Everyone paying taxes for nothing!
Nothing new there
If only over the years politicians of all hues had increased the annual contribution we pay to a financially viable level …..we might not be in this position….but as in all walks of life….lining their own pockets & ignoring the fact that first class medical treatment…just like any other commodity ……increases in cost every year…has landed us where we are.So when they all told us THEY were the Party who would protect the NHS…..they got it wrong didn’t they?
But tbh even now…I bet if any party suggested anything that meant our NI contributions were increased to keep up …the general population would not vote for them.
So get that medical insurance whilst you are young…because trying to get a reasonable policy as you get older is nigh on impossible…& if you already have pre-existing conditions…it really is impossible!
Just thought I’d cheer everyone up🤒
I absolutely agree but hope and pray that you are wrong.
Well I think it has been mentioned here on HU for years.Yes most of us here do have a personal interest in having free access to medical treatment ….but for those of the general public who maybe go to the doctor once a year ….who is going to persuade them to pay more money each month ….from which they will possibly gain no benefit?
People don’t look at it like house or car insurance to protect them if their house burns down or they have a car crash……they look at the NHS as their right….& why should they pay for something they may never need?
I an mot sure you are correct. My children, all in their 30's, appreciate that taxes need to be paid to cover things like the NHS. We need to make sure we do all we can to show them what makes a fair society. As one of my sons said to me a society can be judged by how it looks after its poorest/ weakest citizens. We must not give up the fight for a health system for all.
I just wonder how did we end up where we are then?
I hazard a guess friends of your very compassionate children would not be at the front of the queue to pay extra NI contributions.
Don’t you think it has been happening before our eyes?Can you remember any political party campaigning “we will only PUT UP NI CONTRIBUTIONS BY X%”?
As a very old lady…I can’t ….but as an ex nurse I can see how the NHS has just been put on the back burner….promises have been made that have been broken….. and Health Secretaries of all political persuasions have ignored advice from those who did know what should have been done.
Hopefully it is salvageable…. But there will have to be a very persuasive campaign to encourage people to dip into their pockets every month to pay maybe double NI contributions…..I wonder if there are enough politicians who have the will to push that view?
Yes, and the way the NHS is at the moment I bet they'll be inundated!
What do you get for £15 i wonder
in reply to Marionfromhappydays
Oh it only starts at £15 . They sections eg. Women’s health / men’s health: general health/ sexual health/,skin etc so you can only book in for one specific problem at a time.. rob dogs!
stiff19 in reply to
Much like our doc then , you can only have one problem .This has long been in the making, the pandemic is just helping them along with privatisation I feel. It’s scarey.
This government cannot be trusted and proven so , I fear for my kids and theirs .
in reply to stiff19
😭
Emye343 in reply to
Hi, I live in the Channel Isles (Guernsey) where there is no nhs and every visit to the doctor costs £53. With my conditions I can no longer get health insurance (we had it through my husband’s job until he retired last year). We certainly miss it and think more than twice before deciding on a doctor’s visit! My son is a junior doctor working in the nhs (Carlisle, intensive care unit) and he works very hard for what is not a particularly great salary. I am very proud of him though...
in reply to Emye343
Oh I’ve learnt something new . I didn’t know there is no NHS in the channel isles. Well done your son I would be proud too .
"Hi I'm your Dr."Then the clock starts ticking for real ?
Rob dogs indeed! Quite worrying the way these things are creeping in x😕
When I went was in our tiny local branch of Boots the other day there was a lady waiting for a prescription- the assistant asked if it was a private prescription and she said yes. Turned out she had seen a Boots doctor - presumably privately. Unfortunately I didn’t get to hear how much she was having to pay for the prescription. I was quite surprised to hear that.
in reply to Fruitandnutcase
This is the government’s plan . Underfund the NHS . Lots of medics didn’t have their contracts renewed or offered a contract after the crisis. It will force people to go private and then the government will say more people would rather/ use private health care.,
My cousin had and operation last week and needs a dressing changed every day. Gp surgery said no can do we haven’t got enough district nurses go to A&E . She said I can’t go to A&E everyday. Sorry we can’t help . Now travels to a health centre 15 miles away… just the tip of the iceberg.
In fact if you have to pay for an NHS prescription…it is often cheaper if it is something you can get OTC to just buy it!
Its not your cousins fault but I think that a real cheek to tell any of their patients to go to A&E. to have a dressing changed. I don’t know how GPS are getting away with that. Having a dressing changed is neither an accident nor an emergency.
I feel really sorry for hospital staff. I’ve got a friend whose daughter works in A&E and she says that the place is full of people who can’t get to see their own GP.We took a friend to hospital to visit her very sick husband at 1.45 today, we passed the A&E entrance as we dropped her and the queue outside was the longest I have ever seen. It was massive, it zigzagged back and forwards out onto the parking spaces outside.
The pharmacy I use is joined onto our former GP surgery. While we were waiting outside because they only allow two people in at a time the general conversation was about how absolutely appalling the surgery had become (the original owners sold out and then all of the doctors left - even the ones who we were told were going to stay) and I said we changed doctors last month. No one was surprised about what we had done or why and two of the three people I was talking asked how to do it and were going off to do the same.
in reply to Fruitandnutcase
It’s getting scary!
For many,many years using A&E because people were too idle to make a GP. appointment has been allowed to continue,I had many arguments with people who used to do that….back then their argument was “A&E is open on my way home from work“
But it was allowed to continue & being British nobody put their foot down….so here we are…..three week waits to see a GP…or in fact a phone call…….so now even more people go to A&E.
My biggest bug bear is all these people in A&E over flu or a scratch drives me nuts. However I have to say it seems my local hospital has now set up a GP practice within the a&e to basically divide people up as they arrive and seems to be working really well. They are lethal at the door but it seems to be working as a&e was almost quiet compared to times been before on this new system.
in reply to Deeb1764
This sounds like something that can be adapted across the country . Simple and efficient.
I was told to go to A and E after a face to face appointment with my GP. After hours of waiting I was seen by a GP based in the hospital who referred me to the Ambulatory Dept. I’ve been there several times and always found the staff extremely efficient and caring. 🙂
😥
What an abuse of A and E
It is, how can GPs seriously bring themselves to refer patients to A&E. what do they think they are there for? I mean for goodness sake - we don’t change dressings - go to A&E. that is just beyond awful. As my chiropodist said way back when people started coming out from the first lockdown, dentists, opticians, chiropodist are all back in acton because they only get paid when they see people, doctors get paid per person on their list whether they see them or not. In this case it’s not!
My own GP has been good, but she is good anyway. Others at the practice are fine, I have no issues with them....except hiding throughout the pandemic when nurses, receptionists, cleaners and pharmacy staff were working. A GP did see me F2F when my slipped disc initially presented...she queried a septic arthritis and sent me to A and E, good decision. Otherwise it has all been by 'phone.
The silent privatisation of the NHS. Thanks to Boris et al. Just don't use those services. I could go on, but I don't want to be typing all day!
No I blame it on whatever changes Tony Blair’s government made to change the way medical practises were run and give them such power. What we’ve got today is the result.
No one wants doctors to be up several times during the night and working all weekend and ruining their family life like they used to be but those changes did nothing for the patients.
Add to that the fact that so many doctors only work part time these days. In our last practice there were six doctors but only one guy worked full time some of the others were hardly there at all.
The surgery we use now only opens Monday to Friday 9.00=6.30 - only one practice in a group of six has a monthly Saturday clinic - does no one get ill on a weekend?
Meanwhile hospital doctors are picking up the pieces.
I know the creeping privatisation started with changes in the 90's and it's not just the Tories. All I can do is praise the NHS wherever and whenever I can. The NHS only let me down once in 37 years.
Must’ve pressed the wrong button this was supposed to be a reply to
Stbernhard…..🤭
Actually it’s not just Boris and his cronies….. as I said before any party that said they would protect the NHS ….the majority of British people voted for -because they put their heads in the sand ….and although they were quite happy to pay more and more and more for everything else …when it came to the NHS out came the “free treatment from cradle to grave” mantra.
Unfortunately since 1947 everything has gone up in price by 1000%+++++, and we all paid up happily …..except when somebody mentioned we might have to pay a few quid to go to see a doctor!
I’m sure there could’ve been some arrangement where if you only went once a year …yes you had to pay …but if you were had an ongoing disease there would have been some sort of season ticket arrangement.
But as was ever the case and still is …..thinking outside the box where the NHS is concerned is unheard of……we must just keep getting it at what people call “free” and it looks like we are going to end up losing, what once was the best medical service in the world.
But being purely practical….. it won’t be the end of the world - some sort of system will be introduced whereby we can always see a doctor….it will just be added to the Benefits Department…….after all right now anybody from all over the world is treated in UK hospitals for free-yes they are given a bill but there is no way of enforcing they pay it!
When I was being treated for Graves’ disease I spent a whole year trailing along ti the hospital - I only ever saw my named consultant once -/8 would wait in a huge queue of other patients, mostly they ran late, I would get weighed then just sit and read.Saw a different assistant every visit. I used to have my bloods taken at my surgery the week before so all decisions had obviously bern made before I arrived.
I honestly couldn’t see the point in the whole palaver and back then I would much have preferred to have my bloods taken then a phone call to tell me what was going to happen next. They weren’t go8ng ti change their decision no matter what I said.
Whereas on the other hand, I’m stuck with a really painful lower back - has a private scan of the lumbar area - it showed up loads of damage and last week the scan report recommended I had my sacrum scanned too and also that I needed see a spinal consultant. My physio has written to my new GP along with the report, I took one in too - unfortunately I’m having ti wait until Tuesday for a telephone appointment. The bones in my pelvis feel likely they are all loose in a Tesco carrier bag, I’m in a lot of pain and can’t sleep.
So I had a load of face to face appointments back when I didn’t really need them and now when I desperately need to speak to someone face to face and have something done I’m having ti wait for a week, be in a huge amount of pain, unable to sleep and hobble and I mean hobble around ?????
Yes I agree with you J1707, though I don’t want to believe it.
Having had to wait 6 weeks for a telephone appointment with my GP I might wish to make use of that service in future! Sad isn’t it?!
My hubby had the same 6 weeks to get a call back from a GP who said send photos waited another 2 weeks then a face to face & immediately referred to hospital. 9 weeks wasted. Crazy.
Sadly it is going in that direction I fear. My own GP has told me to see a private menopause consultant at a private hospital. When I said that I don’t work or claim benefits but that my husband supports us both (he’s on a good wage but we’re by no means well off), her reply? Well, if we had a leaky roof to fix or a pricey car repair she could understand it. But I should look on it as instead of a holiday. Health is more important than a holiday. 😳 She seems to think that I focus too much on RA and it’s too easy to blame all my symptoms on RA. My husband thinks I should go & see this private consultant and I’ve booked it. But still reeling from my GP’s comments and not sure I want to. Prior to Covid she was wonderful. Haven’t heard from her at all since and that was only by telephone incidentally as my surgery still only has telephone appointments apart from nurse ones for blood tests.
in reply to Moonart
Oh yes . One particular Gp blames everything on RA no matter my symptoms. Told me I had gone through the menopause and overheating and sweats was RA along with several problems. Rheumatologist wasn’t happy muttering he isn’t a Gp . he had my hormone levels tested . I am menopausal and I have fibromyalgia. I swear if a limb dropped of she would say Ahhh RA! Won’t see her now. I had to go to a private podiatrist. No one interested. NHS waitlist for a podiatrist is ridiculous. It cost me £300 . I have also had severe gastric issues ( long story) A&E doctor told me to go private and not leave it as nhs waiting list for test would be 18 months or more .£3000 it cost . Like you hubby supports us both and this was our savings couldn’t afford to do it again.
Very similar to your situation except my GP is suddenly of the opposite opinion. I do understand that RA isn’t the cause of everything but my GP has always, up until now, blamed it all on RA or RA meds. A rheumy registrar told me that methotrexate can cause hormonal problems, is known for it apparently.I’m going to see the private menopause specialist even though I thought I’d gone through the menopause several years ago (GP told me that too back then 🤷🏻♀️) Just hope that it’s worth the money! Won’t be able to afford it again either, same as you.
These sort of things have been around fir a while. I suppose those who can pay private do but at least in this country those who can't will still be well looked after x
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