My Gp, sees a minimum of 5 people pet hour @ 60 Euros a visit, so on average that equals 300Euros an hour and 8 hours equals 2,400Euros per day so for a 5 day week he earns 12,000 Euros & were in a recession, no the rich just get richer and the poor get children. It would make me feel more ill going to an overpaid greedy man like him.

                                                       Yours Trully,

Your GP also pays huge tax, prsi and income levy not to mention the fact that he had the brains, dedication and work ethic to make it to med school and graduate.

why is there no option to vote no on this? I would have voted no if the option was there but seeing as it's not, I didn't vote.

I had some bloods taken a few weeks ago.  Cost €50.  Results in 2 weeks I was told.  3 weeks later (after I had called on numerous occasions to see if results were in) I get a letter asking me to ring surgery to make an appointment.  I did so, my results were there and could I go in for them I was told.  I enquired about any cost (not expecting there to be any) and was told it was €50!  So €100 in total.  Well at the moment I can't even afford the €50 so my results (and any possible illness) will not be known by me for a couple of weeks.  Personally I think this should not be allowed.  It is technically a follow up of the first consultation.

God be with the days when the doctor visited the sick patient at home. Then the environment and other issues could be judged. Now it is a stress in itself to see a GP. You have to get the call in at 9.00 or you wont get an appointment that day. It is not like you are getting an appointment for getting your toe nails painted and it is not urgent. The contact between GP and patient is minimal and you are always conscious of the full waiting room outside and that the Dr is wishing your were gone and he could go home. I remember when I was a child the doctor visited us and it was a very pleasant visit for him and us. There was a family relationship and the Dr knew each person. Not as profitable of course. Asking a GP to visit the house now even in an emergency is met with derision. It is DOC on Call. One of them told me over the phone I had the flu and in fact a few minutes later when my teeth started chattering I ignored his advise and went to my local casualty where I was eventually on second visit diagnosed with pneumonia. No delay with Xray or lab or ECG BUT 3 hour wait for someone from the Medical team to see me. Then called in for a CAT scan as there was a suspicion of malignancy! thank God it was not. I am not the better of it yet. I would like to emigrate to a country with a health service and a proper government. Canada is supposed to have a great health service we hear from Tom Keane. I notice he is not going to move here with his family to benefit from the World class service he is organising with the HSE. 8 cancer centers with 4 of them in Dublin. A joke..is he a graduate of UCD along with Brendan Drum...jobs for the boys and to hell with the patients in the northern half of the country. Shame on you all. Greedy lot. Sack them both and the HSE and Mary Harney Progressive Democrat whose party deserted her(or she destroyed) but Fianna Fail left her in Government as Minister for Health and so they should to take the blame for the mess she has made.

I don't think it's fair to blame the GP,s  It's not their fault they are millionaires or even multi-millionaires, it's sick peoples fault, they keep giving him their money!

Disgruntled patient I wish I was allowed to give you the contact details of our family GP - he is the best I have ever known!

I changed my GP approx 18 /24 months ago having been with her for about 20yrs ! I developed a condition 11 yrs ago and although of course she remained my GP she hardly ever 'if at all' refered to it when visiting her for a different reason ie 1 of the kids being sick or even myself with an ear infection .She would never ever ask how was I getting on with my other continuing condition ! This condition I speak of changed my entire life so it wasn't something that is ever going to heal now but she was very involved in it's continuing changes . Now I'm with another Doctor in a clinic but have not required him for my own needs so far but very happy for the kids. Regards, Ruby (God that name is terrible but my own is taken already lol )

Some parents are faced with the reality of having to hold back on taking their sick children to see a GP because of the fees.

Now this is an absolute disgrace. Children should be allowed to go to the GP with no charge incurred for this, at point of delivery.

The current system discriminates against people on the grounds of wealth. At the very least it should not discriminate against any child under 16 years.

Zebedee

Agreed, as hot a topic as this may be at the moment, I think all children under 16 should have their own medical card.

Visting the my GP excellent as he is is just too expensive I always try to find a cheaper over the counter cure.

Gustra, your maths are simplistic in the extreme.

There isn't a GP in the country who sees 200 patients a week or earns € 12,000 a week, not one. I am a GP and my practice is typical. We offer 15 minute appointments (not ten). For every 2 hours I spend seeing patients I spend one to one and a half hours on paperwork/phone calls/ practice organisation for which no one pays me. I see 20-25 patients per day. I charge €50 (unchanged in 3 years) I discount heavily for return visits and multiple family attenders. A significant number of fees are never collected. My overhead (premises, nurse, secretary, practice manager, rates, light and heat etc etc etc) all have to be paid for out of what I earn (they consume almost 50% of turnover). I have to employ a locum every time I need a day off or a holiday. I have to fund my own pension.

The state has cut my fees (AND the supports to run my practice) by 16% in the last 6 months, reducing my personal income by 25-30%.

I spent 6 years in college and then 4 years training to be a GP. I was 32 before I could raise the deposit to buy my first house (having started medical school at 17)

I am not looking for sympathy. I still have a well paid job in these recessionary times. But I worry every day how I am going to be able to contine to fund my practice and its services at present, as any small business person is doing.

If it makes you feel better, have a rant. But at least do so with some proper grasp of the facts

M

Think Twice, get this I only go when I absolutely have no choice.  Infact to be honest I am nearly better when I eventually go/  Why, simply because they seem to think that a prescription is the answer to everything.   I am not a tabletholic .  Had an occasion to attend a consultant years ago, American trained, etc., here in Ireland.  The approach so very very different. I was treated as an individual who actually had common sense.

What a difference.   I was given the opportunity to naturally recover from the illness and I remember commenting to my husband if I had been taking medication for this complaint we would now be standing here saying how wonderful the medication was.  Infact my own body healed itself by just being given the chance.  I know this approach does not always work in lots of cases but it might just work if given a chance to in a lot of situations.   Irish Doctors/Consultants, etc., start treating your patients as grown up people who do infact have some common sense if you want to explain something to us.  We do have brains you know. After all you are the people who prescribe the antibiotics and then blame the patients because you are unable to fully explain the problem.

ce

My G.P. in north Dublin is fantastic. On repeat visits he charges me reduced rates. Also, he gives time to all his patients and would see a MAXIMUM of 4 patients per hour, many of whom are medical card holders. A lot of our GPs are very dedicated, caring people not just in it for the money. That has been my personal experience.

GPs can charge whatever they want. They are not government employees. They merely take on GMS lists on contract from the government. If you don't want to pay, then don't go....find a cheaper or better GP. If you have a medical card, then you take what you get.