Dr Hilary Jones - Ireland has no health service

[LadyEloise]

I'm cross. I'm very cross !
How can an educated man, a medic, state that the country next to his has no health service on national television.
A country that shares a border with the UK ( Northern Ireland ).
In reply to Piers Morgan about countries using different strategies to cope with the pandemic, Dr Hilary Jones says that Ireland has to do what its doing because it has no health service.

That is simply not true.

We have the Health Service Executive, with about 100,000 employed in it. Much of it is free. GP visits and prescription charges are means tested. All children under 6 and pensioners over 70 have free HP care.
He did apologise on Twitter but I think, to reach a wider audience he needs to go back on the show and state the facts.
Our Prime Minister is a medical doctor.
We have a national health service. There is a free Breast Check, Cervical check,Immunisations for children and teenagers, Bowel screening etc.

What a shame neither of the two presenters , Piers or Susanna Reid could refute his claims at the time.

Don't mention the length of school days or summer holidays!

I think there is an extra year in Primary school in Ireland? 8 years. I think it is 7 years P7 in the UK before secondary.

Yes it is eight years/six years. Primary schools off all July and August. Secondary finishes late May, state exams are in June (all other classes off). Transition Year is 4th year secondary - lots of time 'growing up', (And ski trips in Italy as we are now discovering).
DD2's boyfriend and siblings went to private schools, we give him a hard time for being posh.

holdmenow deis schools get free school lunches for primary schools. It's pretty good too. And secondary schools get heavily subsidised hot meals as well as tea and toast for breakfast. This is in the West of Ireland.

One of my children had free orthodontic treatment through the HSE. The care was fantastic and easily as good as the other child we had to pay for.

So it's not a bad place really!

@smithesque that I am aware of...but there’s not many deis schools on the scale of things... I teach in one, and those lunches leave A LOT to be desired imo!! All of our children still bring in their own packed lunches.

Adding to this post rather late I am afraid. I was watching this at the time and commented to my Irish DP. He agreed with Dr Hillary! We have numerous friends and relatives over there, including some single parents, and they ALL have to pay €50 for a visit to the GP, including children. I think that they have to pay for prescriptions too. They then claim some of the costs back via health insurance.( I think that my MIL gets some dispensation as she is over 70 but she has paid into her insurance system all her life.)
FWIW the education system over there is far superior to that in the U.K. but I think that the free meals are only available in the more deprived areas of cities and they are certainly not nationwide.

Almost half of the population in Ireland has a medical card. Free GP visits, prescriptions.

Nobody thinks not paying is better than paying @Mushypeasandchipstogo !!
But when your gp refers you to a hospital that is free. So having held a medical card and now not holding one, being referred on is the same iyswim.

I just checked the HSE website - over 30% of Irish people have a medical card.
If you don't have a medical card you can access some services/ medicines that are free.

The medical card was always a link to other services, like free school bus, back to school allowance and similar. My treasures are long past school age, but I assume this is still the case.
I think the state of emergency is encouraging a lot of enya on the radio.

Yes, i am in a more secure place now but leaving cert fees, junior cert fees, they are waived for medical card holdrrs i believe.
Im so grateful for what was available for me and kids when i left psycho x!

@Want2beme shop around for your health insurance, there's ones that will fully cover outpatient mri's and ultrasounds.
I pay 55 for the gp but my kids are under 6 so free for now. I have private health insurance too, mainly because the waiting lists are so long in the public, I can claim back 70 euro of the 150 consultants fee.

We have numerous friends and relatives over there, including some single parents, and they ALL have to pay €50 for a visit to the GP, including children. I think that they have to pay for prescriptions too. They then claim some of the costs back via health insurance.( I think that my MIL gets some dispensation as she is over 70 but she has paid into her insurance system all her life.)

Under 6's get free GP visits for the last 7 years anyway, (and government have planned to roll it out to under 12s') as do anyone who's on a medical card (about 30% of the population - eg. OAPs and those living with lifelong conditions and disabilities) Anyone on a medical card get free healthcare.
The drugs payment scheme caps any medications bill to €124 a month. You can claim 20% of all medical appointments back from Revenue.
All antenatal and maternity care is free. So is breastcheck and cervical check.

So no, it's not free, but tbh, that can be of benefit. I won't go to the doctor unless I'm genuinely so sick that I need a prescription for. I can usually get an appointment within 48 hrs. If I don't need all the medicines prescribed, I don't avail of them thus not wasting medications.
Overall, it's not that bad. My mother grew up with the NHS and immediately got a medical card when she moved to Ireland and still cannot fathom that I don't leg it into the doctor with every sniffle like she does. She's a bit of a time waster, and she wastes resources as well - like an inhaler she's never needed that costs €100 is a standard on her prescription for the last 10 years and she always gets one every single month because "it's free" No it's not mum, Taxpayers like your DD pay for it!

There are also various medications available on the long term illness scheme or the hardship scheme for free.
Someone who works, does not have a medical card and has diabetes will get all their medication and equipment for free for example.

An Irish friend has more than once mentioned the hefty cost of GP visits, etc.

But can you imagine the outrage here, if any party suggested that we pay for visits to the GP or A&E, or that better off oldies should pay for prescriptions?

What party would dare to think of it?

People often bang on about ‘the Scandinavian system’ being so much better, yet a Swedish friend tells me that everybody pays for such things in Sweden, even her dad who was over 90 and not well off, had to. There’s also a small charge for the ‘board’ element of hospital stays. Bit the charges are very moderate, and there’s an annual cap for anyone needing a lot of prescriptions.

IMO the NHS can’t last much longer with the sacred cow of ‘free at the point of use’. Not without a fair rise in general taxation, anyway.

We have a friend in England who refuses to pay for a flu jab, is that not free?
We use hospital Saturday Fund a lot,and always get back more than we pay in.

THey're free if you're in a certain age group, or have a condition like asthma. I pay for mine as I don't fall into these groups. Worth every penny.

All covid testing is free in Ireland, the system is ramping up. This includes a phone triage. According to newsnight a lot of GPS in the UK are in plastic aprons,which is astonishing.

It probably stems from ignorance that there can be anything other than the nhs or an American health system... it’s like they systematically can’t believe there’s any middle ground

The whole nhs/welfare state post war was amazing (I love Call the Midwife). But different countries do things differently, and most have a health system!
If anyone is unfortunate enough to meet my daughter she will have scrubs, hazmat, visor, crocs etc. She's very impressed with the way hse is being organised, and would like a nice payrise and promotion please!

I have viral exacerbated asthma and no medical card. I requested a call back ystrdy and i got one 90 mins latee and she answered all my questions.. i feel clearer if not exactly reassured.

No charge thankfully.

@TheYearOfTheDog If your registered with your GP, if you feel really bad you can request an on call GP pay your GP later. You can also avail of the HSE waiver scheme not many know about it. I worked in patient accounts. You can write to HSE Dublin 12 with your circumstances to request a waiver on costs.

Nearly half the country have a medical card. I've always paid to see my GP except when I was pregnant. It's only in recent years that I've had health insurance through DH's work. I think it's great.

I saw my consultant last Friday and have to have surgery and I'm booked in for it the week after next unless the HSE end up using private hospitals for treating those with covid 19.

Didnt someone link the 30% had a card?

Thats just over a quarter. Not half.

I would think any elective surgery might stop soon, and private hospitals nationalised as a temporary measure?