NHS whats happened?

[crankedup5]

Killboy said:

crankedup5 said:

I went for my blood tests a local hospital, chatting to the practitioner who said that they had 30 no shows the other day. They have four practitioners, so much lost percentage.

Out of how many? I know stats doesn't seem to be your thing

I didn’t ask the practioner for that level of detail, it was a chat while she took my bloods. But she did indicated that the number was one of the days of higher. issued appointments.

[djc206]

Sheepshanks said:

After both wife and I have unfortunately needed to have a series of interactions with a couple of hospitals it’s little short of amazing that they manage to get anything done. But it constantly amazes us how there’s often hordes of nurses and admin staff standing around chatting.

I also find their lack of respect for our time infuriating - even in the nearby hospital only losing half a day is a result, and for the other one, a 2hr round trip, it’s even worse.

I think it’s a British trait. Standing around complaining about how you don’t have enough to time to do your job without a hint of irony. I’m guilty of it from time to time.

[crankedup5]

K77 CTR said:

crankedup5 said:

K77 CTR said:

crankedup5 said:

The prescription item is Dulcolax which is a laxative to help me whilst I wait for my colonoscopy procedure. The doctor advised me to take this medication to help me. when I got to the pharmacy I was told that it is a prescription item.
The issue is not the cost but the service issues, it’s either available on NHS or it’s not.

You can buy dulcolax (bisacodyl) at tesco or over the counter

Indeed, but the point was t that I couldn’t get the product, it was the product is available on prescription and I qualify for free prescriptions.My/Doctor decided that although he recommended it he didn’t issue a prescription. if I wished to follow his medical advise I needed to pay for the medicine. I wasn’t aware Doctors could decide who should recieve free prescriptions?

Should they prescribe you paracetamol too?

No, I don’t believe that paracetamol is on the list of prescription medications, and that is the point of my posting.

[crankedup5]

Sheepshanks said:

crankedup5 said:

Indeed, but the point was t that I couldn’t get the product, it was the product is available on prescription and I qualify for free prescriptions.My/Doctor decided that although he recommended it he didn’t issue a prescription. if I wished to follow his medical advise I needed to pay for the medicine. I wasn’t aware Doctors could decide who should recieve free prescriptions?

Maybe he didn't realise you got free prescriptions so thought he was saving you money?

Or it's simply, as another poster suggested, they've been told not to prescribe over-the-counter medication.

Why couldn't you get it?

The Doctor would have know that I am eligible for free prescriptions, assuming he bothered to read my medical notes which indicate my age.
It’s not about what is available over the counter, it’s about what is on the list of prescription medicines of the NHS and what deems a doctor to be able to make judgement about who pays for prescriptions and who has free prescriptions. Do doctors now override Government policy?

[Sheepshanks]

crankedup5 said:

Do doctors now override Government policy?

Not an expert on this, but I think it's NHS policy not to prescribe: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/medicin...

[skeggysteve]

My wife takes the maximum dose of paracetamol a day and I six a day.

As you can only buy 32 at a time it was a pain (excuse the pun) to have to go to the shops almost every day.

I asked the doctor if there was any way they could give us something so we could buy more at a time, we both get free prescriptions, but told them we didn't mind paying for the tablets. The only thing they could do was to issue a 'script.

The first time I went to collect the tablets I explained the situation to our pharmacist who explained that we couldn't pay for the tablets but as we had a 'script for 100 they could sell us 96 as well.

No, I don't understand it either!

[djc206]

skeggysteve said:

My wife takes the maximum dose of paracetamol a day and I six a day.

As you can only buy 32 at a time it was a pain (excuse the pun) to have to go to the shops almost every day.

I asked the doctor if there was any way they could give us something so we could buy more at a time, we both get free prescriptions, but told them we didn't mind paying for the tablets. The only thing they could do was to issue a 'script.

The first time I went to collect the tablets I explained the situation to our pharmacist who explained that we couldn't pay for the tablets but as we had a 'script for 100 they could sell us 96 as well.

No, I don't understand it either!

That seems like it should be a fairly easy problem to remedy. Ie a note from the doctor rather than a prescription authorising pharmacists to dispense a larger pack of paracetamol. In the US you can buy them in bottles of 100’s. Surely for people like you that should be an option?

[skeggysteve]

djc206 said:

That seems like it should be a fairly easy problem to remedy. Ie a note from the doctor rather than a prescription authorising pharmacists to dispense a larger pack of paracetamol. In the US you can buy them in bottles of 100’s. Surely for people like you that should be an option?

That's what I thought would happen, a note from the doctor but apparently not.

Mind you that would be common sense and we all know about that!

[crankedup5]

Sheepshanks said:

crankedup5 said:

Do doctors now override Government policy?

Not an expert on this, but I think it's NHS policy not to prescribe: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/medicin...

Thanks for posting, that clears up my misunderstanding.
Strange as my pharmacy told me that the medicine was available on a doctor prescription.

Edited by crankedup5 on Sunday 26th February 20:47

[pavarotti1980]

crankedup5 said:

The Doctor would have know that I am eligible for free prescriptions, assuming he bothered to read my medical notes which indicate my age.
It’s not about what is available over the counter, it’s about what is on the list of prescription medicines of the NHS and what deems a doctor to be able to make judgement about who pays for prescriptions and who has free prescriptions. Do doctors now override Government policy?

It is not a prescription only medicine therefore the GP should not be prescribing it regardless of your exemption status. Pay the couple of £ for it over the counter. Infrequent constipation is one of the conditions which was deemed as self care in 2018 and items such as Dulcolax (bisacodyl) were listed as ones "not to be prescribed in primary care".

Doctors do not override policy as that is what they work to. If they are seen to be prescribing over the counter drugs regularly they will be pulled up by the CCG (now ICB) medicine optimisation teams and asked for the reasons why.

https://www.prescqipp.info/media/3731/patient-info...

https://www.prescqipp.info/umbraco/surface/authori...

Edited by pavarotti1980 on Monday 27th February 09:03

[crankedup5]

pavarotti1980 said:

crankedup5 said:

The Doctor would have know that I am eligible for free prescriptions, assuming he bothered to read my medical notes which indicate my age.
It’s not about what is available over the counter, it’s about what is on the list of prescription medicines of the NHS and what deems a doctor to be able to make judgement about who pays for prescriptions and who has free prescriptions. Do doctors now override Government policy?

It is not a prescription only medicine therefore the GP should not be prescribing it regardless of your exemption status. Pay the couple of £ for it over the counter. Infrequent constipation is one of the conditions which was deemed as self care in 2018 and items such as Dulcolax (bisacodyl) were listed as ones "not to be prescribed in primary care".

Doctors do not override policy as that is what they work to. If they are seen to be prescribing over the counter drugs regularly they will be pulled up by the CCG (now ICB) medicine optimisation teams and asked for the reasons why.

https://www.prescqipp.info/media/3731/patient-info...

https://www.prescqipp.info/umbraco/surface/authori...

Edited by pavarotti1980 on Monday 27th February 09:03

Thanks for posting useful information / advise. I have now resolved the situation, it was never about the £7 for the prescribed and recommended medicine. It was always about what is prescription and what is not, that’s clear for me now. My condition is nothing to do with constipation, it’s a secondary health problem I have with my colon and bowel following my recent prostate cancer treatment last year. My fear of course from symptoms is that my cancer has spread,
Colonoscopy for me this week to find out what is going on for me.

[chemistry]

This is a perfect example of politicians mucking up the NHS (albeit it involves the Welsh NHS and dentists).

Their solution to a shortage of NHS dentists is to force dentists to create 112,000 new NHS dentistry appointments and fine them if they miss targets. Result? There will be 112,00” fewer appointments for existing patients and large numbers of NHS decrypts will but back their NHS work (or return their contracts entirely(.

Genius.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64761201

[crankedup5]

chemistry said:

This is a perfect example of politicians mucking up the NHS (albeit it involves the Welsh NHS and dentists).

Their solution to a shortage of NHS dentists is to force dentists to create 112,000 new NHS dentistry appointments and fine them if they miss targets. Result? There will be 112,00” fewer appointments for existing patients and large numbers of NHS decrypts will but back their NHS work (or return their contracts entirely(.

Genius.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64761201

Agreed, a complete and utter horlicks. In. my home town we have a charity mobile dentistry visit occasionally. People with dental issues queue up in the car park waiting their turn to receive urgent dental treatment. People have resorted to pulling out their own teeth in the past and that situation is returning. I’m fortunate to be on a NHS dentist list where the dentist is still offering NHS service, but his books have been full for years.

[PurplePangolin]

chemistry said:

This is a perfect example of politicians mucking up the NHS (albeit it involves the Welsh NHS and dentists).

Their solution to a shortage of NHS dentists is to force dentists to create 112,000 new NHS dentistry appointments and fine them if they miss targets. Result? There will be 112,00” fewer appointments for existing patients and large numbers of NHS decrypts will but back their NHS work (or return their contracts entirely(.

Genius.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64761201

The government don’t want dentistry in the NHS. It has been their plan for decades - they are just orchestrating it in a way that they can blame the dentists for giving up their NHS contracts.

[chemistry]

PurplePangolin said:

chemistry said:

This is a perfect example of politicians mucking up the NHS (albeit it involves the Welsh NHS and dentists).

Their solution to a shortage of NHS dentists is to force dentists to create 112,000 new NHS dentistry appointments and fine them if they miss targets. Result? There will be 112,00” fewer appointments for existing patients and large numbers of NHS decrypts will but back their NHS work (or return their contracts entirely(.

Genius.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64761201

The government don’t want dentistry in the NHS. It has been their plan for decades - they are just orchestrating it in a way that they can blame the dentists for giving up their NHS contracts.

“The government” being the Labour led Welsh Parliament in this case.

[Teddy Lop]

Carl_Manchester said:

Teddy Lop said:

The real pith take is I'm watching the snooker and every single ad break has an NHS commercial telling me "if I don't feel right, speak to someone". They're using our contributions to effectively gaslight us at this stage it seems.

the NHS is a busted flush but it surprises me how many people don't phone 111 and talk to a GP, I usually get called back in under two hours. it's usually an hour to speak to a doctor via 111.

my local GP in Keston (G.London) was so ste that calling 111 became the default approach and that was four years ago, before the pandemic.

111 worked! Took the best part of an hour waiting and being asked silly questions but they booked a Dr at my surgery to call back following day at 11:20. As I'm working in a basement with zero reception I pop up at 11:10 and spend an hour waiting... Give up and resume work, only for phone to surprisingly ring 20 mins later. After a couple of mins Dr states this is not suitable for a phone appointment, I need to book a physical appointment and come see him. I ask how, he mentions reception like he's not even aware of the situation?? I point out the impossibility, he then says can you come now. Like right now. Well no, I'm at work and have a fuse board off the wall, can we do later. No he's busy. Tomorrow? No he can't. Eventually agree on 4:30.

So I've got x-rays and blood tests booked for my hand, and he agreed to add uric acid to the blood test which is something else I need a background level check on after a chat with a client who's a retired doc. Didn't get to discuss another important item as he said there's no time and I need to book another appointment. Or the January issue which is probably benign as it went away but is the sort of complaint that when a middle aged man mentions you demand he speaks to a doc about immediately. I don't know what the procedure after my blood tests/x-rays are done - 111 again I guess.

So that's 2 hours of my time, plus an appointment that while I'm grateful to have it wasn't urgent and would've been better not curtailing work and altering plans, two points of contact the NHS has had to pay for, to get a ten min appointment that wasn't enough, and I have to go through it all again I guess. But hey at least it's free right?

God knows how people in sht jobs they can't be flexi with manage.

[M1AGM]

It’s not free, far from it.

[pquinn]

M1AGM said:

It’s not free, far from it.

People think that because they don't get an invoice it hasn't cost them anything.

At least in German you know that you're paying for insurance and you get invoices so you appreciate that a cost is involved and your service expectations are built on that.

In the UK some people (mostly the staff) have deluded themselves that you should be grateful for the 'free gift' of an NHS service that most are actually paying generously for.

[Teddy Lop]

M1AGM said:

It’s not free, far from it.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/irony
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/satire

[M1AGM]

Teddy Lop said:

M1AGM said:

It’s not free, far from it.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/irony
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/satire

Apologies I thought you were being serious.