The last doctor i saw ,about 3 years ago got nasty when i refused to take statins.Then the chief doctor reprimanded me for not taking stains and aspirin.I said take a fish oil tablets and a garlic tablet every day .He never said anymore
He is trained and paid to sell you something...a bank advisor will be promoting the products his organisation is trying to sell that week. That is his job.
Yes but some doctors don't do their jobs properly.In fact once you reach 65 retirement age they could not careless.I've heard of yourger people receiving bad treatment .Before i retired i received excellent treatment from the N.H.S.But it has all gone down the pan as far as i'm concerned.
I disagree too. My mother (87) has the most amazing GP and the surgery is excellent. She lives in an area favoured by pensioners and neither her nor any of her elderly friends have ever come across that attitude, @david1241. Here, too, my former neighbours were all in their 80s and all received excellent care. I acknowledge that the care at GP surgeries/hospitals is hit and miss, and I'm sorry to read that you think people are 'written off' at 65 and also sorry if you have found that to be the case, but I think (hope) that that is the exception rather than the norm.
Hello You are very lucky to have good doctors who care about the elderly.I'm only going on my treatment or lack ot it.
I totally disagree. Doctors do not receive backhanders from drug companies. It would be completely unethical and completely against prescribing guidelines and they would be struck off if they did. I am not a doctor but I am an independent prescriber and we have to be immensely careful about contact with drug companies. Even something like conference sponsorship is strictly controlled and has to be registered. Having said that, I know that one of the QOF standards GPs have to meet for diabetes is for 80% (I think) to have total cholesterol <5.0. If they meet the target the practice gets money. But that doesn't go into the GPs pocket it goes into the money to run the practice and continue developing services. Please don't make it sound as though a doctor is just out to make money out of us, they aren't. And you always have the choice to take a drug or not no one is going to force you, how could They? I don't take statins myself because I just don't want to right now based on my blood results. My GP tries to persuade me every visit but says it's my choice which it is. I don't think it's fair to make that sort of comment and possibly influence people new to diabetes who may be reading this forum into thinking their gp is all about their money and not their health.
Free lunches? golf days? free pens, notepads etc?
Not any more they don't. The ABPI rules changed about 7 years ago. It was thought that giving out pens with Viagra or whatever written on it could affect the meds prescribed...the only lunches allowed now are if there is a learning element attached. I often go to dinners but there is usually a 2 hour presentation before dinner. Golf days are no more either though they did used to happen. You can get sponsored for conference abroad but even then you have no.free time, electronic attendance monitoring, taken to the restaurant on a bus in the evening and not allowed to make your own arrangements. I am sure it did used to happen in years gone by but it simply doesn't any more.
I know the surgery gets more money if they put me on statins. I don’t know how much, is it more than the cost of the actual pills? If it helped my surgery I’d be willing to accept the prescription and not fill it - or would it be recorded if I didn’t and stop their payment from going through? I’d love to know more about how all this target driven funding works. I’ve been requested by my practice nurse to have my hospital-ordered phlebotomy done at my surgery rather than the hospital clinic as they get more income if I do.
It's all to do with something called the quality outcome framework (QOF). This is a series of targets set down to improve the care we get. If a surgery meets a QOF and there are lots of different targets to meet, they get extra funding. It's not a target specifically for giving you a statin for example so getting a prescription wouldn't help them meet the target. But if that prescription reduced your cholesterol below target level ie 5, and 80% of their diabetics did that, then they would meet that particular target and would get that extra bit of money. As for your blood test end of the day it's your choice where you get it done, they may well get paid per blood test they do but if it's easier for you to go to the hospital then go there. Hope that explains the targets a bit I feel like I've waffled on!
Nah, that’s good to know. Thank you! I’d like to help my surgery get max funding if I can, it makes no odds whether I go there or the clinic to have bloods taken. The only difference is a walk-in clinic at the hospital v appointments at the GP, so as long as I’m organised enough I’ll go to them.
