I’m not sure what you mean by that, but it does sound funny!
He impassively explained that high blood pressure is inevitable as you age because your blood vessels get stiff and diet/exercise will make no difference. Gee thanks doc.
He then said that he would prescribe some eardrops that were out of date because he could see no sign of infection in my ear. I said that it came and went and I had used the old ones to get rid of it during a flare up recently (because I could not get an appointment) but needed a new prescription as I am using out of date meds. The other doc would just give me a new script. He said well see the other doc.
No patient bedside manner and totally lacking any personality. Also millennial or generation z so I assume he was inspired by Clunes’s performance to study medicine. They are just getting anyone in to get b*ms on seats.
Ah, I see! If I were you I’d change my GP, and if that’s not possible, go to a different practice. Of course, that depends whether or not you live close enough to several to be able to choose.
Our closest (good) practice only takes new patients and not patients who are already registered in the area. So that means having to deregister (a potential risk). The other doctors at the practice are quite good and they are well organised but just short of staff these days as is the case everywhere. Several GPs there are getting close to retirement and are only part time now. It seems the new ones being trained are just not so good. Certainly Gen Z & millennials have a poor attitude. Perhaps they are fast tracking training.
Your options seem to be rather limited then, it seems. Perhaps you could in future ask to see a certain GP (not the Doc Martin) even if it means waiting longer.
Trying to be helpful, I’d also suggest subscribing to Simply Health. Apart from paying you a proportion of various health-related costs (dental work and new glasses for example), the have a telephone GP service from which you can obtain advice if you seem to be having to wait for your own GP. Marge has used this recently (on my behalf actually) quite successfully.
This is where the Locum gets rich!
A fully qualified Medic, a Locum locates him/herself close to a big population area.
As any of these Medical Centres finds a sudden need to fill a gap, due to a Doc going sick, or an overload of patients, up pops the Locum, ready to Negotiate his payment to fix the emergency.
A contact of mine tells me that two or three times the going rate is not unusual for these Locums (Loci?).
Yet another trap door for the NHS.
Thanks - is this something you have to pay for?
On reading JBR’s post I applied the old maxim ‘nothing’s for nothing’ and searched for information. The link below gives all the information required. I wonder though, if like a private health plan I had a while back, subscriptions increase rather a lot as your age increases? Possibly worth it though the way things regarding health are going at the moment:
It’s probably worth taking out insurance when you are young because after a while there is nothing they will agree to treat as it’s all “pre-existing”. So in the end you pay in so much and then they up the premiums anyway. All a con unless you have a corporate policy that is part of your job.
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The private health insurance I had was not through any corporate policy, I paid for it myself personally. While ‘younger’ the monthly premiums were reasonable in the context of a ‘just in case’ amount. The one way these health insurances do outweigh the NHS are when it comes to the amount of time before treatment can be provided. I had one operation, not a major one, that was needed urgently as I was in so much pain. I would have had to wait six weeks to see a consultant under the NHS. Having health insurance I saw the same NHS consultant within two days and the day after that I was operated on by that same consultant to relieve the pain. That pain was so bad originally I was passing out but still I couldn’t get it sorted by the NHS. One other time I used the health insurance for basically the same reason. Then as I became older the premiums increased considerably, not due to pre-existing conditions or because my health was any worse, but just because I was getting older.
Then I had a heart attack and was treated by the NHS as it was an emergency. As a result of that it made me realise that I would possibly only ever need emergency treatment as I was a reasonably healthy person. The premiums had by then reached £100+ per month (12 years’ ago now), which was rather a lot to find to cover just one person, also knowing premiums would increase still further, I cancelled the policy.
NHS treatment then in an emergency was brilliant and really couldn’t be faulted in any way. Now though that’s a different matter, so I have read and seen on the news but that’s something I will have to chance.
I agree with that & have researched it all, several ways.
Best advice I had, which was given, about 12 years ago, by the Specialist who was treating my wife at the time, was :-
If you think you need to go in for an op, start by getting the name of the right Specialist, then go see the specialist, to agree price, timing & quality of room, etc.
That part is just like any other costly deal, household fixes, whatever!
Next, weigh up what you have in savings, against what you can borrow, bearing in mind that you might be able to use money that the tax man might grab, by way of inheritance tax, etc., after all, if you can use money that the tax man would take anyway, why not?
On the borrowing side, rates are not too bad at the moment.
Just a thought!
Recently I had the need to assess all that inheritance tax really means and was astonished to find how it works. Anything I might have saved for my retirement while working, bearing in mind I had already paid the minimum 20% income tax on it would be taxed at a further 40%, that meant in total 60% tax! I was hoping there might be ways of making this fairer but all loopholes it seems have been closed. The only option is to use any savings in ways you have suggested. After all anything you spend it on is for your benefit and there’s no tax on that. Other than of course, the other very unfair tax, Value Added Tax, and for the same reasons already stated.
Yes. You don’t get owt for nowt in this world.
However, we think it’s worth it. I think it’s about £32 a month for us both.
Whether it’s worth it depends really on how often you’re likely to claim for health-related expenditures.
Best look it up for yourself: https://www.simplyhealth.co.uk/
(Sorry. I see Baz beat me to it.)
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Absolutely. I agree with you 100%
It seems to me that this country is based on ‘how much can we tax you for’, forgetting any rewards we might deserve.
Yes, if in doubt, spend it!
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I’m afraid that our GP system in this country appears to be beginning to fail!
Yesterday, I attended a private consultation with a cardiologist who suggested that, among other things, I should have the insertion of a loop-recorder (a long-term recording device implanted under the skin. He asked me to request an urgent e-referral from the GP before he could do this.
Consequently, I telephoned the GP this morning. Predictably, the receptionist told me that I’d have to speak to a GP (by telephone), but that earliest she could arrange this would be on the 5th January!
Private medicine in this country is exceptionally efficient.
What a shame about our general practices, whose priority seems to be bureaucracy.
That’s even before you start thinking about Care Homes.
Care Homes, with their great, recent, reputations for managing your older years, can whip away any savings you have in a very short space of time.
@Tedc , Yeah, it seems that the whole system is set up to
pick our bones clean before we shuffle off finally ?
Of course the super rich are exempt from this and are able to
pass their wealth on with no problems !!
Donkeyman! 
Yup that’s the way the cookie crumbles ( unless you are super wealthy of course )
IHT ( inheritance tax) once only falling on those who owned stately homes now encompasses many ordinary people because of the rise in property prices .
Moreover the allowance £325 k has not gone up for 10+ years and is frozen until 2026 .
Meanwhile houses rise at a ridiculous rate .
This of course hits people who major asset is their home which in many parts of the country easily supersedes £325 k
So everything after that goes in straight away at 40%
You can give away £3000 per year
Or you can give away as much as you like but don’t die for seven years .
It depends if you trust your relatives
You could do this if you could be sure they would give it back if you needed it for eg nursing home fees in later life .
If they are married and break up you might find your child’s partner goes off with your money .
It’s a minefield .
The Uber rich can put their money into trust for their children which falls outside of IHT .
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There is a way of a single person leaving £500,000 in property or for a couple to leave £1,000,000 without paying inheritance tax.
This is an additional amount to the £325,000 Nil-rate Band allowance on property. The Additional Residence Nil-rate Band applies only if you leave your property to a direct descendant. A person or couple who has not had children so have no grandchildren either cannot make use of this additional allowance.
The government’s rules state that only ‘direct descendants’ of people who have died can benefit from the new main residence nil-rate band. Direct descendants are described as:
• Children and their spouses or civil partners
• Grandchildren and their spouses or civil partners
• Great-grandchildren and their spouses or civil partners
• Stepchildren
• Adopted children Foster children
• Children who were under the guardianship of the people passing on their estate.
This means that nephews, nieces, siblings and other relatives will not benefit from the new allowance if a home is passed on to them.
From my own personal experience it’s always best to take advice from a solicitor or a person fully qualified in these matters, there are many ways the unwary can be caught out.
For anyone who’s interested in knowing more the link below from Which? explains it more fully:
Apologies JBR for going off topic, I thought it best to point out the above details
rather than any OFC member be unaware of this.
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Thanks Baz, well worth looking at!
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