Hospital bill - WWYD

[Dk20]

Not an AIBU but want to know WWYD.

In Ireland, we've been allowed to have socially distanced garden visits if someone lives less than 5km from you.

Me and ds visited dsis and her ds. The kids were playing in the garden, they bumped into each other while running and my dsis ds fell and cut his head. He had to go to a&e which resulted in a hospital charge for them.

Dsis has said not to worry as accidents happen with children, but I feel like I should pay for at least half of the hospital bill. In my situation WWYD?

Op to get back.to your original post. If you child is in preschool you should have brought them to go or caredoc and you don't pay for a and e. Caredoc (ooh gp) is free for under 6's.
They couldn't deal with my child's issue the other day so I collected a letter on the way from them and I didn't have to pay the 100

@thewooster

Mumsnet is a UK site. Some of the vitriol aimed at English posters on here is terrible.

I'm not sure I agree with this.

I mean, it's a site ... many people use it from a variety of geographical locations. I agree most are UK-based.

Not on this thread, but elsewhere on MM, the myopia about anything outside their own immediate experience does amaze me.

I don't generally see 'vitriol' aimed at English posters.

I do find it irritating how little some (stressing some!) UK-based posters seem to know about Ireland in particular.

Our GP is very lax about the charge, though. The receptionist often says, "oh, pay it next time you come" and leaves it open until -- whenever. (This was my son's experience, and mine when I first moved here.)
They would never refuse service if you haven't got the money.

@switswoo81 thanks, they did try calling caredoc first. They told the nurse that the child had a head injury and was bleeding, nurse said she would get doctor to call back. An hour later there was no call back yet and the child wanted to go to sleep, so they couldn't wait any longer and just had to bring him to a&e before he fell asleep.
I hope your DC is ok now

I think buying the family a takeaway would be a good option OP.

I wouldn't be averse to us in UK having to pay a small fee to see GP/go to A&E. It might stop all the time wasters. Look how empty A&Es are at the moment (although of course some people who should be going to GP/A&E aren't, which is not good).

People in every country in the world make assumptions about countries and cultures they don't live in. What else can you do? You can't know everything about everywhere

There was a thread a while ago about how lots of people not living in the UK assumed we all stopped at 4pm for afternoon tea. Offensive? Worth getting het up over? It's just different

Perhaps send her some flowers and him a get well gift instead.

I didn't know about the charges either. What happens if you need an operation, do you have to pay for it?

If you need an operation and don't have insurance you go through the free public system but you will have to join a long waiting list.

I have insurance and I still have to pay on top of that. The a&e charge is only waived for a medical card or a gp letter (which you will have paid €50 for. A consultant will be €175 plus whatever tests are not covered by your insurance plan. I recently spent nearly €1000 for tests and appointments for my DD and, like I said, we have insurance. I have also been asked more than once to pay cash to a consultant 😮.

It's not a great system but it is easy to get an appointment and, with insurance, the waiting times for procedures is short.

OP I would not expect someone else to pay my a&e fee for an accident so I don't think you need to in your case either.

In terms of cervical smears I have been having them since I was 20! I'm irish and when I was younger I was told that you went for a smear test 1-2 years after you became sexually active. So as I said at the age of 20 I rang my university doctor and booked a smear test, all good and he told me to come back in 2/3 years. So when I was 23 I did the same and booked a smear test! I was then called at 25 for my free one.

@Dk20 that's a pity . Head injuries are so time dependent.
Ironically they rang us back in ten mins and we weren't against the clock but it was a Sunday morning.

Having insurance in Ireland gives you a CHOICE...you don't HAVE to go private. If a list on the public system is too long then you can use your insurance to pay for private care.

If you need an operation and don't have insurance you go through the free public system but you will have to join a long waiting list.

Waiting times are variable depending on location and condition so may not be long. Anything medically urgent is done quickly.

I live in Ireland. The ease of seeing my doctor is untrue. No appointment needed, just turn up, usually no more than 3 in the waiting room. He doesn’t have a receptionist and will take calls off patients in the middle of surgery hours. He’s brilliant. Mind you the 50 Euro charge is a deterrent for many.

Well, I have learned something new and I'm grateful for that.

Ochon I have a potentially fatal heart condition. I was told it was urgent and I would have my treatment within 2 months. 9 months later still didn’t have an appointment. And this was after a year on waiting list to get the diagnosis in the first place. So no, urgent stuff doesn’t always get done quickly.

My father died of the same condition at 46 due to being on a waiting list.

I now live in UK - went to the doctor here and had the operation within a week. I know which I prefer.

Also I had private medical insurance in Ireland and it was of no benefit in my scenario.

On the other hand my father in law received excellent care for his cancer and waiting lists were short. I don’t think the Irish health system is awful by any means or that the nhs is flawless but I’ve had extensive experience of both and feel a lot safer here than there.

bored same system with my irish doctor and I loved him. However wasn’t keen on paying €60 just to get my prescriptions renewed and then the charge on top. Pointless appointments.

@ColonelNobbyNobbs - Glad you got sorted. How long ago was it? The waiting lists here have improved. Generally, medically urgent cases are seen quickly but there can be problems in certain areas.

I didn't know this about Ireland, but then again I don't live there or visit there so really, why would I?

I am surprised how bloody defensive and rude some of the Irish posters are though!!

@PinkSpring - I didn't know this about Ireland, but then again I don't live there or visit there so really, why would I?

There is no reason why you should know this about Ireland and nobody would expect you to know it. Not knowing is fine.

What is irritating is the assumption, which has been demonstrated by some previous posters, that Ireland is the same as the UK. When this attitude (and ignorance) is repeatedly evidenced on this site, it gets annoying and people will react. You never see this assumption that France or any other country is the same as the UK.

Thanks Ochon all fixed now (hopefully). It was 2016/17. The issue was that cardiology was overrun and I kept being deprioritised and there weren’t enough specialists etc.

@NaturalBornWoman
My ds is aware of the social distancing rules and knows to keep his distance from people if we are out walking etc. He had also been told prior to the visit that we were bringing our own food and drink, he could not take any food/drink from dsis, that he wasnt allowed inside their house if the children ran in to get a toy, and that he couldn't even go in to go to the toilet - that he would have to wait until we were home again. All rules were communicated to him and he understood and followed.

Unfortunately as part of his autism he has poor spatial awareness and poor co ordination and misjudged the space and his footing when running and the two children collided.

"In my part of England you normally have to wait 3 weeks for an appointment unless you are really ill, so not everyone can get an appointment in a couple of days."

I wasn't going to bore people with this, but I think I have to now.
My GP in Wales had a system where you could only book an appointment for exactly 2 weeks from the day you were asking for it. My GP worked Tuesdays and Thursdays so I couldn't request an appointment on a Monday even if I was willing to wait 4 or 5 weeks because it was a long term thing, it had to be exactly two weeks so if no options two weeks from Tuesday I had to go back on Thursday and try again. Phoning in the morning didn't work as so many people would be calling at the same time. It was just computer says no.

I got my last appointment because I was at the nurse for something else and she managed to get it for me.

In some places it's EXTREMELY difficult to get an NHS GP appointment. I have an inner city GP that has too many patients.

Im living in Ireland. I wouldn't pay for another child's health care in this situation. But if your dsis cant afford it and you can help then that would be a different story. But I certainly don't think you have any responsibility to.