Medical Consultants

R

roundstone

Guest
Wife went to consultant today. had a preliminary examination in his "Rooms" lasted about 10mins was charged €130. Is this par for the course?
 
Yep.

They are allowed to use one session a week to see private patients in their health board offices and they can charge pretty much what they like - having negotiated fees with VHI etc. Wonderful, eh? No overheads, all profit - AND a salary of 160K as well. Why oh why didn't I do medicine??
 
I too was charged €130 and the same by an "Alternative"
practitioner who couldn't help but was charming. The
problem was solved medically and worth every euro.
Different strokes for different folks.

A recent survey of Medical Consultants showed that:

50% charge €100 . Of those charging >€100, some said they
charged €150 and others that it could be €175.
30.5% charge €75 - €100.
12.5% charge €50-75.
7% charge not available.

Many said they charged less for follow-up consultations.

Best advice is - ask fee when making appointment and shop
around if there's time. Some is refunded from VHI et al
and more by using Med 1 Claim Form to Revenue which is
claimable at the marginal rate.
 
Why oh why didn't I do medicine??
Click to expand...
Good question. YOu make is sound so easy - Why didn't you?

Hi Roundstone - Did your missus inquire about the likely fee in advance?
 
consultants

... personally I don't think that is bad value compared to your gp ... 2 mins =50 euros.
 
Rainyday-
negative, anyway I suppose choice in Midlands fairly limited.
 
Radiologist charged me € 80 euro for twenty minutes. Surgeon charged € 100 for twenty minutes with follow up of €70 for fifteen minutes . Don't have a prob. with any of the fees - I can always go public !!

Washing machine repair guy charged me € 50 for five minutes work - that pissed me off !!!
 
"Washing machine repair guy charged me € 50 for five minutes work - that pissed me off !!! "

What was his travelling time to get to and from you ?
 
Type

I do not want to pry but each consultancy area charges differently. What area of consultancy did your wife have to visit? You see it also depends on the complexity of the issue and not just the area of talent.

For instance Urologists , Neuro and Cardio will charge about 30/40% more than an Ortho. Reason being Ortho's do a good deal of litigation work and they will get through a good deal more patients from Casualty and Emergency than those who deal in the more complex matters.

They need to keep queues short to keep the volumes up!
 
He does calls in my area two afternoons per week but to answer your question more specifically he called to me after he had visited a house about three hundred yards away - he said he had other calls to make in the area but I don't know where exactly he went having left my house.
 
negative, anyway I suppose choice in Midlands fairly limited.
Click to expand...
She would always have had the choice not to attend a private consultant, if she was convinced that they did not offer value for money.
 
> Re: Re:

Yeah, but how long would she have to wait to get hold of one of these guys
 
It would be highly unethical for any medical or paramedical person to give a better service to private rather than public patients. However, the waiting lists can be much shorter on the private side and it's often worthwhile to have the initial consultation privately and transfer to the public side later, when you have the diagnosis etc.

Why didn't I do medicine? Just stupid I guess! :\
 
Consultants have a lot more to lie awake worrying about at night than most people, including the high risk of being sued. I think they deserve the money they get although I don't like paying it.
 
Agree Toby. But isn't it great to have a belly-ache?

I posted the above on Monday and it didn't appear.
Seemed to have been banned and I couldn't understand why.

Wrote to Brendan about it. Posting again to see if it appears this time.
:D
 
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