to think that the NHS should carry out this procedure?

[risingstar]

my dh has a largish cyst on his leg. he has had it for some time and eventually went to the doctors a month ago. Dr confirmed that it was a cyst (and nothing worse) and told him to booked him in with another GP at the surgery who would remove it.

so the day is today, i drop him off at the doctors.

doctor takes a look and tells him that because it is on his leg, it cannot not be removed on the NHS and his only option is to go private. Bearing in mind that the doctor is capable of doing this ( it would take a maximum of 10 minutes) and dh is actually at the appointment booked to do the procedure and therefore the doctors time is already taken can anybody explain how this is saving the NHS money by not doing this procedure? not to mention that the skills the GP has that makes him capable of carrying out the procedure has been paid for out of the taxes that we all pay.

It's time people recognised that there is not an infinite amount of money in the NHS for non essential treatments and they need to get used to paying for these things themselves or take out some insurance to cover it.

I am also appalled at the statement that the GP should do it because "his training was paid for by us". You don't expect to get free legal advice or accountancy advice from a university trained professional, so why expect it from a doctor.

Many doctors have spent years after qualification working long hours for peanuts in the NHS as so called junior doctors, but in fact being responsible for treating NHS patients whilst their consultants were away at their private clinics. They have more than paid for the cost of their time at medical school.

Eating with one hospital doctor in McDonalds, he remarked that the pay being offered for BigMac employees was more than he was earning at the time.

So get over it and pay for the treatment yourself.

YANBU. I have just had a mole removed from just near my armpit. Was purely cosmetic apart from catching it a few times with the razor. Was in and out in 15 minutes.

I sometimes wish they had "price lists" for such "uneccessary" procedures. so that you can go to your usual gp practice and have the small procedure done without too much hassle.

Now I'm feeling guilty as I had a skin tag removed after 11 years as it was left from the piles in dd's labour. Then to make it worse they sent me to the private hospital as they'd fallen behind with the operations due to the weather. They also found I had internal piles and severe constipation so it did help in a lot of ways at getting the route of the problems.

But if my surgery charged £15 -£50 for removal of a cyst or skin tag, I'd be quite happy to pay that and get it over and done with.