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AIBU?

To think the NHS could/should trust us to make our own referrals in some circumstances

133 replies

Normalisavariantofcrazy · 12/05/2014 20:23

In the same manner that I can phone the school nurse and say 'can you do a hearing test for my dc' and she toddles off to the school and does one, why should I as an adult not be able to do that for myself but instead need to make a GP appointment before seeing a nurse to check my ears to then be referred to audiology?

Same thing for continence services, one PCT I lived in it was a self referral service, this PCT it's a GP referral service. Again with this one why is it not also automatically linked into gynae? So you have your baby, they then put you on a list to get a letter 12-18 months later inviting you to a check up and advice service if you want to take them up you do if not no harm no foul. With that I wonder if a lot of things can be nipped in the bud with early physio intervention and also means again no embarrassing chat with the GP so possibly a higher uptake on the service.

There are other areas where this could be implemented too such as running clinics in the same manner as sexual health clinics - so diabetes, asthma and blood pressure checks could be run as self referral drop in services.

I realise a lot of this is probably finding restricted but you know when you have a thought and you want to mull it over?

AIBU with this?

OP posts:
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Theodorous · 16/05/2014 09:06

I stand corrected! I may just go shower now

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Gripneededfast · 16/05/2014 09:10

Insulted by autocorrect

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Theodorous · 16/05/2014 09:11

I know this will out me but I actually have a Theodorous. Names after a relation. How has he managed to get through years of school without this being detected? He quite likes it, I just checked.

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Heebiejeebie · 18/05/2014 10:33

Côte, that was rather my point. You said that spending per head on healthcare was a 'better comparison'. Of what? The USA spends $8000 per capita, Canada $5000, Burma $4. I'm struggling to understand how that helps this discussion.

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CoteDAzur · 19/05/2014 10:36

That's not a point.

I don't think you realise that per capita spending is generally how countries' expenditures are compared to each other, whether you are talking about healthcare, defence, or whatever.

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Heebiejeebie · 19/05/2014 13:25

I don't think you realise that per capita means per person, or if you do then your post contradicts itself.

You said
I think the better comparison is spending per capita, not proportion of GDP. Many countries' GDPs are much lower than the UK's but they choose to spend more of it on healthcare. And less on invading other countries, for example. It's about priorities.

'The GDP is lower but they spend more of it' - implies a larger proportion (spend as a percentage of GDP) rather than a larger amount per person?.

Bangladesh spend per head is less than US - most likely because they're much poorer or because their priority is invading other countries ?

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CoteDAzur · 19/05/2014 14:27

As I said, you obviously don't know that such government expenditures are compared between countries in terms of spending per capita.

Comparing countries' healthcare spending per capita makes sense because a person's healthcare needs throughout his life does not change enormously according to the country he lives in, whereas GDPs vary significantly between countries.

Looking at spending as % of GDP figures will show you a country's priorities in allocating its spending - invading countries vs education or healthcare, for example. Spending per capita figures will give a better indication of the relative quality of healthcare in each country.

I do know what "per capita" means, by the way, having studied economics and then gone on to writing country & industry reports for institutional investors for a living.

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Heebiejeebie · 19/05/2014 19:41

Thank you for explaining (and for providing your credentials - I see that I definitely picked the wrong person to have an economics debate with). In my slight defence I am aware of per capita spending (and did quote some figures earlier). Whilst I have you to myself, do either per capita or adjusted for GDP spends tell us much about healthcare system efficiency?

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