to think that no wonder the NHS A&E depts waiting time is bad, there are so many timewasters.

[CalicoBlue]

I just spent the afternoon (3 hours) in Urgent Care/A&E with DS. I have not been to A&E in over 12 years and was really surprised at all the reasons people were there for. Granted if it had not been the weekend I would have gone to my GP, but my son's condition meant he needed to be seen today.

We were sat very close to the welcome window, so I heard every new person come in. There were so many people there who should not have been. The nurse kept asking people if they had seen their GP, so many said no.

One girl said that she had been there last week had been given antibiotics for a water infection and it had not gone so she wanted to see the doctor again, the nurse said that she should have made an appointment for her doctor and that urgent care was not to come to instead of the GP. There were at least two that had lost prescriptions given by their GP so wanted UC to replace them and would not take no for an answer. It went on an on, another person came in with his father who had an ongoing leg problem, the nurse tried to explain that he needed to see his GP, but he did not have one as he was on holiday and wanted to get his leg sorted before he went home again, they did tell him that they would not see him and he would not get the operation he said he wanted on the NHS.

I estimated that at least one third of the people coming there could have been seen by their GP. There were lots who did need to be seen, and lots of sick kids, but they had to wait so long. I felt quite guilty for being and taking up the doctors time.

It isn't £10 per month. You have to have the money to pay out for the prepayment in the first place.

I pay for mine by direct debit

Many poor people don't have bank accounts.

Direct debits can come out of post office accounts

Benefits and pensions these days aren't given out in cash as a general rule

And if you're that broke you'll have an exemption card due to your financial situation

I agree a lot of people go who don't need to and waste a&E's very precious services. But it is difficult, I've found more so recently that it is incredibly hard ton get a gp appointment, i needed one last week started trying on thursday couldn't get through and by 9 every day every single nurse/dr and call back was taken at BOTH my local surgeries. Went to minor injuries.. there was a 4 hour wait! had my 5 yr old so couldnt do that went again and was seen was told i need to see a gp so had to keep trying and in the end got one the following thursday a week on from when i started.

What REALLY annoys me most in a&e however is when people complain about the wait who are clearly quite well in themselves/able to wait, and don't register what's going on behind the double doors nearby where ambulance patients are being wheeled in. I once was behind those double doors.. i listened to a woman next to me pass away.

Fine, you obviously know how to manage your money better than some people I know. Meanwhile I know people who do not fill all their prescriptions, as they can't afford it.

Then I suggest they make sure they claim all the benefits they're entitled to, and find the 33p a day to retain in their account to pay for a prepayment card. Otherwise get an exemption card.

Shouldiworry - You are simply lecturing me on how people should manage their money better. You are ignoring the fact I am saying that already there are people who don't get their prescriptions filled as they can't afford it.

And yes, people would die if you had to pay to go to A&E. I have major health problems and as I have already said am reluctant to go to A&E when I should. I am currently on statutory sick pay of just over £50 a week. I will get other benefits...eventually. But a £25 visit to A&E would stop me going.

Not lecturing just pointing out what help is available

Prepayment certificates and benefits that take months to come through.

I work for the 111 in Scotland and honestly you would not believe what it's really like. We take 2/3 thousand calls an hour on our busiest days (sat/sun/bank holidays) and about 75% of them are ridiculous.

Today I had calls ranging from someone unsure on how to remove fake nails to potential strokes. Sadly the ones who waste the health service are the most demanding screaming for a doctor to visit the house etc.

So many people these days want everything handed to them.

And yes I've name changed.

For those who bang on about introducing private companies into the NHS, do you realise that GPs are actually that? They are paid by the NHS for certain services performed. They are self employed, and run their surgeries as they wish. That is why there is such divergence between services provided. Some do home visits, some don't. They run their own appointment systems, that why they vary there too. That's why they charge for completion of certificates and forms ( some of which I sign for free for my patients if I can, I am actually within the NHS).

itsgettingworse I know what it's like, I used to work for NHS direct.

I remember someone screaming at me because I wouldn't put her through to the OOH service because her kids had nits.

My prepayment certificate takes 5 days to come.

Textfan - GPs do home visits to the elderly and seriously infirm between 12 and 2 and after 4.30. They also do their paperwork - letters of referral etc and keep up with their professional knowledge. Larger practices may open longer hours but all practices have to balance the same range of tasks. You think it's so terrible - go in to practice management. i'm sure you could sort it all out simply by making them try harder

Mariamin - I don't know the answer, I was asking. Have you got any evidence?

No, I haven't got statistics or research to back this up. But as someone o statutory sick pay and not yet receiving any benefits, £25 is nearly half of my weekly income. I know I wouldn't have the money to pay that. And I have just come out of hospital.

Many people who get seriously ill struggle financially. There are lots of sudden costs, alongside a reduced income. And any benefits take at least a few months to process. Don't underestimate how tough it makes life.

Half the reason people can't get a GP appointment is because they're taken up with people demanding same day appointments for the slightest things.

Woke up with a sore throat - instead of taking some paracetamol and seeing how it goes they get on the phone to make an appointment.

Verruca? Forget over the counter stuff, I'll make a GP appointment to get it checked out.

So why isn't there phone triage before giving away all the appts?

Mariamin is absolutely right. The system doesn't make it fair for people who have health conditions and need to take time off of work for health issues, or need to leave work because of their health.

If you have to leave work because of your health and need to claim benefits, it takes about 4 weeks for the claim to come through. Disability benefits can take longer.

When you're on sick pay, you're still expected to pay your bills and your still expected to pay for prescriptions if your health condition doesn't qualify for exemption for nhs perscriptions.

If you had to pay to access nhs facilities, there would be a lot of people who are on sick pay who simply couldn't afford it.

I had cancer, I was on sick leave for 6 months. Yes I didn't have to pay for prescriptions, but I didn't get any help financially and had to pay bills ect on statatory sick pay. Becasue I was employed and my salary was good, I had to live off of stat sick pay and couldn't claim anything else such as working child credits to try and top the stat sick pay up.

People on sick pay struggle to pay bills and get no help financially. So charging to acess nhs facilities is no solution at all IMO!

Yes GP's are self employed - however they work for the NHS. Selling off the nhs to private companies would mean they could basically do what they want, because technically the NHS pays GP wages at least the NHS can dictate and give guidelines as to how the GP surgeries operate

And if you have put in for one then you can ask the pharmacist for a form to reclaim the costs against your pending card. So say you ordered one today, picked up your prescriptions tomorrow, you can claim those costs back. Ask your pharmacist