Printout of cost to NHS

[1dontunderstand]

I don’t think IBU but here goes:

I think every patient should be given a printout of how much their care has cost the NHS.

Every GP visit
Every vaccine for them or their child
Every midwife/health visitor
Every blood test
Every ambulance or A & E visit

I don’t think people have any idea how much their health care costs

I work for the NHS. Every week I am expected to see 20 hour long sessions, so I have to book in 25-30 because we know every day every clinician will get at least one appointment either DNAed or cancelled at such short notice we can't do anything else with it. The cost to the service and the NHS as a whole is sickening. It's not like we need that empty time either to cope, on the rare occasion every attends it's absolutely fine. Some people just don't care. They just don't.

Something should be done though about missed appointments.

It's not enough to just stick up a generic notice in the waiting room for everyone who is actually there to read.

IMO when patients miss an appointment without notifying the service they should get a letter sent out explaining the cost of that appointment.

Don't make people feel bad for the service they rightly use and are entitled to use and pay for via tax. Show the consequences to the people who abuse and pisstake by costing the NHS money and preventing another patient from being seen.

And before anyone says 'and how much will that cost to do?' not much. The clinician who was supposed to be seeing that patient can do it in seconds. And hopefully over time it would reduce the number of missed appointments.

I know I cost a fortune, I don't need telling!
One of my drugs alone is £6000 a year
Another is £7800 a year
That's before bloods, other meds, GP appointments, being seen by 2 consultants... I'm very grateful

IMO when patients miss an appointment without notifying the service they should get a letter sent out explaining the cost of that appointment.

What about the people who didn't know they had an appointment? Or the letter notifying them arrived on the day of the appointment or days after the appointment? Or those who tried to cancel but weren't able due to online systems or that called up to cancel and it wasn't noted. These are also regular occurrences. (There have been several threads about them)

Although it's much easier to keep blaming patients rather than address a system as huge as the NHS.

What about the people who didn't know they had an appointment? Or the letter notifying them arrived on the day of the appointment

Exactly this my mum had letters arrive about appointments after the date, also they would move appointments about to various different times and then they would end up at same time as the original appointment.

If we start charging for missed appointments, then every appointment better we'll be on time, not my problem whatever reason It is which with GPs it's them walking in door for a day that that starts at 9 at 9.30 and yes I have seen it happen.

You can just Google it if you really want to know.

Memorial

Not a whole hour?? Wow. I bet the GP was off playing golf or drinking coffee eh?? Shame on them

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But not everyone can wait for over an hour. They may have other commitments later in the day such as work appointments, collecting children form school, etc.

We all understand that delays Halle . However no one should be penalised and recorded as DNA if they have to leave after waiting an hour, regardless of what the GP was dealing with.

Surely you understand that?

Now I think of it I did get a breakdown of cost for the one time we used our private healthcare. It was a top consultant and it was high

It did make me think yeh that’s expensive but if you need the service it can’t really change your behaviour

Unless you charge a high amount at initial point of access then I can imagine it would put some people off before getting sicker

Next time the coughing child is actually in resp distres and needs oxygen and admission or the chest pain is a heart attack and needs an ECG drugs and admission or the low mood is acutely suicidal and needs a bit more time and referral to crisis (which can take bloody ages) or the old lady walks in having fallen bleeding all over the floor or the abdo pain is an acute abdo needing 999 or or or.

Whilst most people accept this and understand delays happen, this still doesn't justify recording it as a DNA when someone having to leave after an hour to collect their child or get back to work. A morning's supply cover for me at school costs my schools a lot of money. I can't just leave the children on their own into the afternoon so I have to get back if the supply cover has to leave at lunch time.

I've been the one needing a longer appointment whilst an ambulance was called for me as I was so poorly. But even so, whilst I understand the reason for delays, I don't understand why some medical staff can't understand they not everyone can wait for an hour or more to be seen and that they will need to leave without being seen. That shouldn't be recorded as DNA. You need a new code for this situation if DNA is the only current choice - something for: did attend but appointment ran so late they couldn't wait any longer.

The problem is that with lots of people it would change the behaviour because it would come with guilt tripping about NHS use.
It's already happening. There are thousands of people not going to doctors because "it's under stains and we need to protect it" when they need to go before things become worse.
That's my main issue with issuing this information to everyone rather than letting people find out if they want to.

I had an appointment today and he was 10 minutes late despite me being his first patient

Well it certainly wouldn't make any difference to the majority of us who can't even get an appointment. I know how much a GP appointment costs because I've paid privately the last time my ds needed one and I needed one.

And look how it turned out. We are indeed stuffed by the costs of caring for an aging population.

Sir Humphrey was right:

That was 😂 I think I might go back and binge watch yes minister.

It is incredibly expensive to care for the elderly. I plan on taking up cigarettes, gin and other disreputable behaviour when Im older. I suspect the state will of embraced euthanasia by then and will gently bump us off anyway.

I might take up extreme sports when I retire. If I have to die attached to an oxygen cylinder, I'd far rather that it was halfway up a mountain than in a care home.

It isn't recorded as a DNA. One person on here said they thought they might have been when they couldn't wait. I dont know a single practice that records people that couldn't wait as DNA. We record those who actually do DNA FGS they don't come or phone or cancel.
Talk about a straw man....

The people who aren't mindful and appreciative, wouldn't care if you provided them with a list of what it cost, they'd only care if it started coming as a bill.

You will just guilt trip the sickest people (ie those on the most expensive medications).
Far better to target the dicks who repeatedly DNA (then moan that they have to wait for a rearranged appointment ).

No, those who aren’t appreciative often don’t appreciate it because they had shocking, negligent, nonexistent “care” that in some cases has shortened their life significantly.