I have no objection to being seen by a nurse rather than a GP. I mostly see nurses anyway. Blood tests, medical reviews, Diabetes reviews etc. not a problem. I also don't have an issue with being triaged first. If I don't need to see a Doctor to be treated, I'm all for that. It's the continuing degradation of patient care in favour of making more money for the Group that gets me.
I wasn't aware until recently that the dispensing chemist, in my case the Doctors Surgery, receive 90p per item dispensed, plus are reimbursed any cost incurred for dispensing on top of that. Any balance of the prescription charge then goes back to the NHS. So even though many patients are exempt because of age or medical condition, the dispensing chemist still receives at least 90p per dispensed item.
Not a huge amount, I know, but I'm taking 5 different drugs daily related to my diabetes, so that's £4.50 per fortnight just for me. our surgery has in the region of 9000 patients on their books and if just a small proportion, say 10% (not being generous here even though the age demographic of the area is quite high) of those patients are on 4 different medications a day, that's a very rough estimate of over £1600 per week in dispensing payments, which is double what they were receiving before this new policy of dispensing only14 days worth of medication.
I can see why they decided to reduce prescribing medication from 28 days to 14, but it's a pain in the ar$e having to order then collect only 14 days worth, especially as I need to finish work early each time (can't go lunch time as they're closed 11:45 to 14:00).
Yes, I could use one of those collect services so I don't need to go to the surgery personally, but that's not the point - the point is the drive for profit over patient care.
