Complainer
Registered User
- Messages
- 4,949
Not really. This was the angle that the person telling me the story was taking, but the GP is on a flat annual fee per patient, so he does not earn anything more from this patient's visit. It must be a real PITA for the GP to deal with these patients, not be adding any value to the medical treatment, and not be adding any value to their bank account.Jobs for the boys...
Last time I was there, it was overflowing with envelopes for applications for the loyalty cards, which is a different yoke all together.BTW The complaints stand in Superquinn was overflowing with forms last week.
I was thinking the same thing at first too, but it would not make sense to apply this to medical card holders only. If there was a medical reason, it would apply to all patients.I can see a point in it: the GP is a person's main point of contact with all medical services, and should have knowledge of what is prescribed for a patient. This protocol ensures that the GP gets that information.
It is particularly relevant for long-term medication for chronic conditions where the GP might then be asked to provide repeat prescriptions.
Now we're getting places. But still, the question is why foot the hospital docs have the right forms? Surely this is not a stationery issue?If I recall, hospitals don't have the facility to write medical card prescriptions (which are written/printed on specific forms), so the patient takes a plain-paper prescription to his/her GP to have it rewritten.
I was thinking the same thing at first too, but it would not make sense to apply this to medical card holders only. If there was a medical reason, it would apply to all patients.
Those hospital websites don't refer to the GP perscription as a 'repeat' or to the hospital prescription as a 7-day prescription. It is the difference in treatment of medical card patients and non-medical card patients that I can't comprehend here.The hospital prescriptions may be taken to any pharmacy and 7 days medication dispensed. The patient has that week to bring the prescription, or a copy, to the GP for repeats if necessary.
Thanks - this is starting to make sense. Do you know why can't the consultant issue a GMS perscription directly?A prescription that a patient will get from its consultant is classed as a 'private prescription' and when brought to a pharmacy for dispensing they are charged the relevant cost, however, if the patient has a medical card, then this person has to take it to their GP for the prescribed medication to be transferred on to a GMS prescription form, this is then taken to the pharmacy and dispensed to the patient free of charge.
So is this intended to be some kind of punishment for having the medical card?The difference is that the non-medical card patient is paying for their own medication.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I still don't get it. What is the benefit to anyone (doctor, hospital, patient, pharmacist, anyone) of making the medical card patient go back to their GP?The medical card patient has a week to obtain another prescription, hardly a punishment.
The greater convenience for the private patient reflect them paying their own way and that they probably have better things to do with their time, such as engaging in the gainful employment that pays for medical card prescriptions.
Really simply really it's to avoid efficiency.Maybe I'm missing something, but I still don't get it. What is the benefit to anyone (doctor, hospital, patient, pharmacist, anyone) of making the medical card patient go back to their GP?
Many thanks, gipimann, now we're really getting places!The division between hospital and GP is because of the funding of the services from HSE.
HSE funding is divided between Primary Care and Hospitals.
The GMS (General Medical Service), now called the PCRS (Primary Care Reimbursement Service) is the scheme which pays GPs who treat medical card & GP Visit card patients and pharmacies for supplying medication under the medical card or Drugs Payment Scheme, as well as other services.
Hospitals aren't funded from this scheme, so they can't be allocated a PCRS number so they can't use the PCRS prescription stationery.
Are you aware of any reason why the hospital could not get a PCRS number? As far as I can see, there would be no budget impact, as the hospital would just be perscribing the same drugs to be later perscribed by the GP.
No - it applies to holders of long-term illness cards as well.... This can't be a medical issue, as it only applies to medical card holders. Can anyone throw any light on why GP surgeries are getting clogged up copying out prescriptions for recent hospital patients
Ditto, but I do have a long-term illness card.I agree. I'm on long-term medication, and don't have a medical card...
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?