World International
Published Sep 23, 2008
Looks like the government is falling in line with Wales and Scotland with some free prescriptions, the plans are for those who have cancer will be entitled to free prescriptions
BBC news
Patients with long-term conditions will get free prescriptions in England under plans announced by the prime minister. Charges for cancer patients will be scrapped from next year with other conditions to follow afterwards, Gordon Brown told the Labour Party conference. It comes after charges were scrapped in Wales last year and are in the process of being phased out in Scotland.
Patients with long-term conditions will get free prescriptions in England under plans announced by the prime minister.
Charges for cancer patients will be scrapped from next year with other conditions to follow afterwards, Gordon Brown told the Labour Party conference.
It comes after charges were scrapped in Wales last year and are in the process of being phased out in Scotland.
karenG
1,049 Posts
the cost of scripts and who pays for what is my biggest bugbear in gp land..
we see large numbers of patients who demand scripts for stupid stuff; paractemol is the commonest; because they cant afford to buy it. yet they smoke 40+ a day! maybe if the ruling was, we can prescibe with its dearer than prescription charge, that might help.
there is no easy anwer. means testing is not the answer. But.. where I work we have a large immigrant population (102 languages spoken in my area!) who are from every country you can name. the majority of them are seen on the NHS. now my thoughts are- if I move to canada/france/germany/nigeria/India I would expect to pay for my health care. so why do people who are here from other countries, get free health care??? Just a thought.
many years ago I worked at moorfields eye hospital. I was told the catchment area for MEH is the world. It seems the catchment area for my practice has become the world.
so the cost of scripts is the tip of the iceberg!
ayla2004, ASN, RN
782 Posts
i did a placement in a&e and if we were discharging patients who may need regular analgesic i was intrusted to tell them and did so that to but paracetamol and ibuprofen from the supermarket etc. i did tell them what the max dose was and to take the ibuprofen with food.
i mean my trust probably buys paracetamol for 10p a packet(cause i've seen that brand in shops for 16p) and ibuprofen for slightly more but you can buy in supermarkets own brand of each for about 1-1.5 pounds for 2 packets of each.
Zana2
132 Posts
if I move to canada/france/germany/nigeria/India I would expect to pay for my health care. so why do people who are here from other countries, get free health care??? Just a thought.!
!
because they are residents/citizens of this country. They pay taxes. The fact that they were born in another country doesn't mean they should have a different treatment to me or you!
Any non-residents, foreign citizens, non eu citizens etc, do pay for their NHS treatment, either upfront or through their insurance.
The refugees/asylum seekers get it for free, I'd like to think that if you were in their position you would have access to healthcare.
XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN
1 Article; 3,017 Posts
because they are residents/citizens of this country. They pay taxes. The fact that they were born in another country doesn't mean they should have a different treatment to me or you!Any non-residents, foreign citizens, non eu citizens etc, do pay for their NHS treatment, either upfront or through their insurance.The refugees/asylum seekers get it for free, I'd like to think that if you were in their position you would have access to healthcare.
I have to say I can understand where Karen is coming from, it's not the foreign nationals who come to the UK to work and are entitiled to NHS care that are the problem, it's those who come to the UK because we have NHS care. I have recently seen in our emergency unit a patient whos son ha worked in the UK for a little while, she had come over here with a chronic problem and listed his address as hers, presented herself to the emergency unit with the chronic problem and after some digging around we worked out that she was only in the UK because the treatment in her home country was too expensive. This is just one case and I don't live in an area with a big immigrant population so I can only imagine that in these areas this is more common again.
And as far as those who should paying for thier treatemtn, you are right non EU national SHOULD pay for thier NHS treatment but they don't do they, I know our overseas payments officer has a really tough time getting the payments and this is even more difficult in primary care where it's up the GP's to get payment from the overseas patients.
Silverdragon102, BSN
1 Article; 39,477 Posts
I have seen it in general practice many times, people who have never worked or paid anything in the UK expect treatment. I think you will find we don't mind when people pay towards the service but not the ones that come here just to abuse the system and when payment is gone for they come out and say haven't got the money and nothing you can do about it. This makes it harder then to the ones who have the right for treatment and find money is limited due to the abuse. I know the surgery I worked in to see a doctor/NP/nurse and not registered with the practice they had to provide a NI number or proof that they was in the UK with a valid work permit or EU passport otherwise they had to pay up front. I think it is sad that we had to get proof but everyone was so fed up of the abuse. I did live in a high immigration area and was very frustrating
cariad
628 Posts
this is a never ending topic, to me the problem in the uk is tha abuse of the system, the nhs ws formed to give equal care to everyone, but now, theres such a big culture of people who dont pay into the system ever and yet constantly take from it, including the immigrants who dont work. i am a taxpayer over here and pay into the medicare etc, but have to have a job to get insurance, and even with that i still have to pay part of my treatment. the locals are not happy that in this state there is a system for people with no insurance, apply for their treatment to be paid for them by the state, which is ok if its genuine, but as usual its open to abuse by the people who are drugtakers and pain pill abusers and people who choose to be homeless,,,yes the ones who come here for the warm weather and dont want to be rehabilitated back into society by the homeless shelters. and of course the illegal immigrants from mexico, as we border that country.
Fonenurse
493 Posts
I think maybe its something that we could rectify in the UK - maybe as others have suggested, we ought to advertise the cost of medication and hospital stays etc. People need to know the true cost of treatment. When I worked for NHS Direct I used to get so frustrated at all of those people who wouldn't take pain relief but demanded a dentist who claimed that they couldn't afford paracetamol or ibuprofen.
My concern about the new free prescriptions for cancer sufferers is that there are other groups who really could do with this assistance too, and it pits one group of needy people against others - not a good place to be...
Sister Fox
85 Posts
Of course we could always expand the conversation to include the abuse of the 999 service ....
Heard of one person who dialled 999 because they couldn't find their remote to turn the TV off so they could go to bed!
cheshirecat
246 Posts
Maybe we could also ask for a contribution to housekeeping charges in hospital, ie food. Also how many times have you worked on a ward, and people have asked for soap, toothpaste, combs etc. All provided by the NHS.
I get my diabetic meds on prescription, which I do not pay for, but if I need any painkillers etc, I would not dream of going to my GP. I just buy over the counter.
A few years ago, my husband a RAF pilot was involved in a sea rescue (Spanish fisherman with chest pain). When he was winched onto the helicopter he got really mad as he was taken to the 'wrong' hospital. Seemingly he was expecting a CABG on the NHS.
this may be how it is supposed to work but its not actually it works.
in the last 2 weeks I have seen a couple from Albania who have come here because they want infertility treatment and its free here! they cant afford it at home, and have been told they need ICSI which is very expensive. so they are here and requesting referral.. is this fair??
another man (who is working and yes paying his taxes) had brought his mother over from Romania for 3mths. she had diabeties and CHD. she needs a full work up and possibly a CABG.. which she can get here for free.. oh and its nice here, we will give her a house and some money and she wont have to work. so she is planning on staying in this nice country. she speaks no english and has no intention of ever working. is this fair when I have WW11 vets who cant afford to heat their houses??
I could go on but we in primary care are left to police the system and to try and work out who should pay and who shouldnt. I dont expect to go another country for a holiday and to access health care there for nothing- but we see that all the time. the Hammersmith hospital have huge problems with women arriving at heathrow while heavily pregnant and turning up to have babies.. then they go home again. again- is this fair?
the system is breaking down, at least in GP land it is. come and work where I do and I promise you will be banging your head against the wall at the abuse of the system within a couple of weeks!
I think we should be a little more hard hearted in this country. We are a national health system, not a world health system. We simply cannot afford to pick up other countries health problems.
Again, when we have cancer patients denied treatment because of money (and they have paid taxes all their lives) it is just not fair.
Fair enough if people come to this country to settle, work and bring up children then they should have access to the NHS. But health tourists? No, they should not be entitled to care.
because we are now resident in the us, if we return we are supposed to pay for any treatment until we have been back, i think its 6 months, so who chases all these visitors and immigrants to pay? if it had happened over here, then they would chase you to the other side of the world to get their money back, so why does the uk allow this abuse of their system.
