Irish healthcare in disarray
Mrs Phelan needed a mammogram recently and toddled off to our local doctor. After being relieved of €60 she was told she would get an appointment in the post.
With all the recent issues regarding breast cancer you think they would now have this somewhat under control.
Appointment arrived last Friday check the date, yes it is 2010, are we living in the dark ages here?
Anyways money changed hands, job done, Mrs Phelan is healthy as a horse.
Dont depend on the Irish health care system to save your lives though.
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It’s embarrassing how brutal our health system is, it seems new roads are more important than people’s lives.
Pat
Our health system is screwed and with the way things are going with private healthcare under Harney’s leadership, I reckon the health insurance market will to go down the tubes as well.
If the public sector can’t cope now, what chance has it when the private sector collapses
Your wife’s mammogram appointment is a disgrace but then what else have we come to expect from our beleaguered health service?
Is that real or just a typo?
Wow, I feel better now. I thought Italy was the worst place in the world for issues like this…. Big shame.
What would happen if she showed up at 14.34 on the appointed day? Would she have to go to the back of the queue again because she was late?
Did you hear the latest one about the National Treatment Fund? This is where if you have been waiting for consultants appointment or surgery for more than three months you get to see a consultant through a private scheme. You may though end up seeing the consultant you have been waiting publically to see – absolute farce.
I’m glad all is well with Mrs Phelan and that you were in a position to make the farcical appointment obsolete. Scans and diagnostic tests don’t come under the National Treatment Fund. For those without insurance or the ability to pay it’s very scary to think that this situation is going to continue for a very long time.
And if anyone mentions the wonders of Breastcheck to you Pat – it’s only a screening programme for a certain group of women (under 50 or over 65′s can go elsewhere) – so as you will know it’s completely irrelevant for doctor referred mammograms and worried women and their families.
I like the fact that even though the appointment is in 2 years time , the can tell you that it will happen at exactly 14:33 !
Paul
But sure, don’t worry Pat.
We’ve plenty of houses so it’ll all be OK….
Shambles is right!
God to hear Mrs Pat is in good nick!
Yes, the Irish Health system is in desperate need of proper funding and management. People need also to be aware of their rights as patients. We can all make a little difference by going to the following site and signing the petition:
http://www.activecitizenship.net/content/view/56/78/
It’s at least a start!
Pat,
I understand exactly why you paid; but did you have to?? Did you look at any alternatives? One of the many reasons why the health service is shit is that they KNOW that most people will pay… and avoid them having to provide a service.
Did it cross your mind that a lot of people who cannot pay will be dead by the time their appointment date arrives?
There are alternatives; such as go to A&E and say you have a pain in the breast. You’ll get seen and the child doctor who sees you will refer you to a specialist toute suite. Nasty but it works.
In France there are shops, run by radiologists, where you can get a mammography/sound scan while you wait, for €100? How much as yours? Why don’t we have such shops?