My Endocrinologist put her fees up from 100 Euro to 120 Euro just when everybody else is taking pay cuts, trs cuts, paying levy on wages etc.  What a coniving unfair thing to do especially as I only found out after the visit her fee had gone up.  No reason or apology.

any of the medical fees i paid recently were not reduced. my wages are reduced. consumers need a break. consultants and the medical profession appear greedy. they forget that the patient also has to pay for medecines. the first 100 euro has to be paid out of patient's reduced net wage and is not a one off fee. generally medecines are for life.

200 EURO for E and T visit. One would hope that this consultation is accurate and minimises additional expense. Some consideration of a patients income as a result of the current economic situation should be taken into account.

My daughter had an ongoing cough for just over a year. I went to my GP a number of times & was eventually told quite abruptly that it was allergies and to make sure I kept my house clean and didn't let her near animals (we live on a farm!) I had to strongly insist that I wanted to be referred to a paedeatrician, who then charged me €120 x 2 visits on top of all the GP visits! I happened to get a cancellation and was seen within 2 weeks, but I could have been waiting up to 5 months. She's not allergic after all that, and two doctors did very well out of my daughter's ongoing discomfort and my overdraft.

Why can I not just go and visit a paedeatrician or any other type of "trician" without the rest of them getting their share of my hard earned cash??

Just paid €150 for what wasn't more than a 7 minute ultrasound scan followed by €130 for a second consultant, never mind the €50 for the doctor who made the referral! All cash. In the current economic climate in Ireland these high fees are totally unacceptable.

Went to my GP with an urinery tract infection,after two visits at 50 euro and three visits at 30 euro and four antibiotics later was referred to a consultant,was charged 170 euro for a ten minute chat then had an ultra sound at 180 euro.The fact that i am unemployed and the medical profession seem to be  taking no pain at all makes me mad

My 3 year old daughter was referred for a hearing test as she has speech problems.  Paid the consultant €180.00 to look in her ears, nose & throat and tell me he could see nothing.  My GP had already done this! He then told me the audiologist who would do the inner ear test wasnt there that day and I had to go back a week later and pay another €80.00. On top of this paying €60 fortnightly for speech therapy as there is a 2 year waiting list with the HSE.  And like everyone else our household income is down and bills going up.

€220 for a Neurologist!!

I paid €150 to see a Rheumatologist who is not covered by my private health insurance. The doctor did warn me of this, but as she said he was the consultant who specialised in Fibromyalgia, I felt, for my health's sake that I should go to the doctor recommended by my doctor. The question is, why is he not covered by Private health insurance? I've been unemployed due to illness for a long time now and luckily have illness benefit and a medical card, but feel uneasy not having private medical insurance, because of all the health problems I've had in the last few years. I  don't want to be told I' have to wait a year to see a rheumatologist. (a friend of mine was told she had no cartilege left in her knees and yet has been waiting since last December for a consult on her medical card..) Even paying €700 a year just for myself in private insurance,( which i can ill afford) I still got caught  with the consultants fee in this case.

Normi what a nightmare! It's like they know when it comes to your kids you'll spare no expense, so they'll bleed you until you're dry!

Markie, that's outrageous that it took four antibiotics before they deemed  you a serious enough case to warrant a referral.

Don't know if I can continue with this thread - it's making my blood boil. I don't want to end up with high blood pressure and have to go to the doctor!

I am genuinely terrified of getting sick in this country.

Irish people. I work in an Irish Pharmaceutical company. What you don't realise is that a lot of your GPs are paid by the drug companies to give " A sample of their prescriptions", meaning, they not only get paid by you but they earn money off supplying information on what they prescribed for you. Only in Ireland does this go unchallenged because your Government ignores the competition law in favour of the big multinationals;)

I think that the consultants can basically charge what they like. Personally I have been seeing my consultant privately for the last 22 years & he is really excellent. I didn't mind the cost so much when it was only a couple of times a year but as time went by the disease (Crohns)has got worse so for example so far this year I've had 8 visits at 120 euro each time & next one in 4 weeks time. I am extremely lucky in that both myself & my husband have well-paid jobs but I do think for a life long illness there should be some scaling down of fees. My GP is more realistic, recently I had to have 5 visits for b12 jabs, the first time he charged 50 euro but then only €10 for the rest. I don't resent the consultant, quite the opposite because he is always availble for phone consulations etc; but I do have a major gripe with the government for reducing the tax relief on aleady heavily taxed income for health expenses. I also don't understand why someone decides that the long term illnesss scheme only covers certain illnesses & not others. That €100 a month for drugs would really help people with the consultant & GP visits.

After waiting a number of hours to see the consultant for about 45 seconds I got charged 170 euro-my health insurer rang me to check the charges against the claim the private hospital submitted-only to discover that he charged them an additional 90 euro for 'reading the result' of a test-I had been handed the results in an envelope to give to him (his clinic is opposite the hospital). This stated at the bottom that the results were within normal ranges. Excuse me if I'm being naive but I thought the whole purpose of seeing a consulant would have included taking test results into account. I was annoyed with the health insurer for not challenging this-no wonder my premium has jumped so high. In future, I'm going to ask the G.P to order the test and send the results to him-50 euro to ask for the test and 50 euro to read 'within normal ranges'. I think if people vote with their feet and stop paying these guys (consultants) extortionate rates for remedial tasks that they might get the message and stop being so greedy. I also think health insurers have a responsibility to start saying no for add ons that should be included in consultation fees.

Mary Harney likes to give the impression that she tackles vested interests and appears all for private medicine-if things keep going the way they are the only people able to afford them will be herself and her colleagues. I would have no problem paying these outpatient fees to a public hospital but it sickens me that the only choice most of us have is to pay private insurers and be the subjects of absolute greed in private clinics to see the same consultants that should be across the road earning their public wages!! It's in their interest to operate a go slow when in their public roles and the consultants contracts have done nothing to address this.

Was charged E220 for 20 mins and was referred for a mri, asked how much this would cost as i do not have health insurance told 720. Said I could not possibly pay this but yet still got appointment which was done as a public patient of my my private consultant within 2 weeks of seeing said consultant.

God help the poor person who was waiting for same on public list. This consultant also books 3 appointments for same time and when i was waiting for half hour and mentioned same during consultation was told "ah sure only one might turn up". I feel appointment should be on time and certainly no waiting for longer than 5 mins or at least an apology for being kept waiting in view of charges being paid.

I paid 125 euro to a dental consultant, cant remember his high faluting title, who looked at my tooth and recommended an extraction. All this took just 10 minutes.

Was referred by my NeuroSurgeon to a Neurologist and a Pain specialist as after 5 operations to remove 4 cervical discs and try to repair one I am still in AGONY from my neck to the tip of my left fingers. Saw the Neurologist (€180) who sent a copy of his report to the Pain Specialist, then the Pain Specialist (another €180) who, after a 5 minute consultation told me he would schedule a Nerve Block. Now, 15 months and much pain later, I am still awaiting the Nerve block. My Neurologist is terrific. He has seen me in such pain that HE has decided to refer me to a different Pain Specialist who I now hope will see me and schedule a real nerve block very soon, although I will more than likely pay another €180 or so.

The whole medical profession is a means of extorting maximum fees for minimum effort. It is a cosy cartel of rip-off merchants who were trained at the expense of the Irish taxpayer.

I got a plumber to fix my kitchen sink and washing machine (30 minutes) and was charged over 340 euro. The cardiologist who takes care of the plumbing in my dads heart charges half that.

On my last visit I was charged 150 euro - an increase of 50% on previous fee for return visits. He justified this by saying that VHI had made a new deal with hospitals to cover more if not all hospital charges.