The graph above will change drastically when the Private Primary Care centres are set up with the Private Owners employing the GPs to work for them in the Centre. Profit will be the main priority and costs will rise. Then these Private Primary Care Centres will have diagnostic equipment like x-ray etc and you can be sure that the GPs will have to refer as many patients as possible to diagnostic in order to make a profit there too - but lets sit back and let it happen and then complain when it is too late to do anything about it. We are the stupid idiots unless we have shares in these centres.

I agree with anonymous of 28.01. The corporatisation of ordinary GP practice is insidious because we hardly know it is happening. In some towns nearly all GPs are now in a super clinic. It suits the doctors - they can have a four day week and they just roll in in the morning, punch in the short hours and leave their work behind them - no worries. Patients have to get to these clinics, often on the outskirts of the town and are almost pressurised to use the facilities to make the centre pay. The pharmacy in the centre has to share the profits with the company which owns the premises and presumably then has to charge higher prices. Haven't we seen enough of corporate greed with the banks and builders why allow it into our health service. 

Although I hold a Medical Card, my GP charged me €55 for a three-year driving licence medical, which took about 6 minutes.

My GP charges €50 and she gives me as much time as I need, she treats me with great respect and explains everything to me. I've even recieved an info cd in the post after one visit to give me more insight into my illness. I don't know where anyone can see a gp for less than €45??A health centre near me charges €65 a visit (and although I don't have the figures, I know its very little discount for families), and this for slap dash appointments.

Our gp in north Dublin charges 65 euro. there is two adults and three children. we spend between 400 up to 700 in one year if we are unlucky

You cant afford to be sick in this country. A visit to your G.P will set you back €50, then your prescription could set you back another €80. My father who is a Diabetic, was taken into hospital by ambulance - he was unconcious. He got a bill for €100 from the hospital yesterday for his 1 hour stay. All they did was give him some glucose to bring him round and then sent him home. This Governments Greed Knows no bounds and we the Tax payer have to pay for it. I bet if Mary Harney was taken to hospital, she wouldn't have to wait on a trolley for hours, she has private health insurance. Unless you have money in this country, your a nobody. We need a Revolution in this country

I was charged €50 for a full checkup including a full blood check etc and I was very happy with it.

The service was excellent and i was very happy with the treatment I got and with the service, which was very professional

I was charged 50 euro to have three stitches taken out after my gall bladder operation. I was previously at the doctor the week before but because I had to see the nurse to take the stitiches out it wasnt classed as a return visit...I could have went to work to have them taken out for nothing (work in a hopsital) but because I was out sick I didn't but if I had known she was going to charge me that amount I would have .....

I was charged €50 for a full check-up including a full blood check etc and i was very happy with it.

The service was excellent and i was very happy with the treatment i got and with the service which was very professional

My doctor runs a clinic centre - you don't know what doctor you will get and are charged 60 euro for 5 min, and that is child or adult . I think it is a disgrace in this climate and I can see why people use hospitals.

Nollaing, you GP was completely out of order there. He should not have charged you. John makes a good point; my GP increased his fee from 50 to 55 and has recently joined one of the 6-doctor bigger clinics. The advantage is that I can go to his female partner in practise for gyn-related matters rather than 40 miles into Dublin and the clinic is in the centre of our local town. There is a pharmacy as part of it right enough but I still go to my own famly pharmacist so there is no pressure there. The records are shared so if my GP is on holidays I don't risk goign to a locum who has no idea of my medical history. Kind Regards - Maura

50 euro to get put on anti - depressants. No blood pressure check despite the tablet in question being renowned for raising BP. No blood checks ad told to come back for a review in 2 weeks.  Some chance!

Can't afford to be sick in this country.

I attended my doctor recently and was charged €60 for the visit and another €10 for bloods - a total of €70. I have a friend a lab technician who maintains that there should be no charge for bloods. There is a sign in the surgery stating that attention was drawn to the fact that there is no charge for bloods but the policy in the surgery was to charge €25 for bloods. Is this allowable? Should we refuse to pay for bloods?

No Patient, whatever bloods are taken - be they 1 or 6 should be included in your consultation cost. Especially if a sign says so, there is no way would I be paying for blood to be taken. This is part of a doctors job

i am charged 30 euros to get my bloods done, which i am having done again tomorrow.between the doctors clinic and temple street i am totally worn out and poor.

I am very lucky to have a had a doctor for 30 years who does not exploit his patients. A private appointment, generally allowing 15 mins, including bloods, for a fee of €20/€25 up to the end of 2008. The practice has now been taken over by a relative and the charges is €40, again this included bloods. However, when a second family member made a visit in the following week there was no charge. When my regular doctor was on holiday I visited a doctor in another town and paid €25. My son, as a 3rd level student, was charged €20 by this doctor (2007). If these doctors can provide a service for such prices why do others charge so much more? Ans-exploitation!

Our GP practice in north Dublin is always first to put up the price of a visit. We are now charged €65 per visit. I also wonder in this practice what constitutes a review?? They seem to charge the same for a review. In addition to that if you require a work cert they charge you €20 even if you have had a recent visit to the doc. There should be price regulation for all types of GP visits throughout the country. I further object to the appointment system they operate as anytime my appointment has been for anything between 9 & 10 he has never arrived on time and this is after the out-of-hours HSE clinics were set up in North County Dublin so no excuse for being late as not on call.

The last time I visited my doctor was six months ago and it was 55 euro. I'm suppose to see him every three months as I have high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, but I have been turned down for the doctors card and I cannot afford to go to see my Gp every 3 months. Even though I am now classed as a single person because my childern are grown up I still have all the bills of a family home.

Hi, had my bloods done tues this time by the doctor because the nurse was booked out. The nurse charges 30 euros the doc charged 35 euros. Totally fed up, I am at home with my 3 kids who are all under 8 yrs. I am still giving money out to doctors at least one amonth that includes Temple st hospital as well.

To the poster 'we dont all have a n' - I thought diabetes, like epilepsy constitutes one of the list of lifelong conditions entitling you to free GP care for it?