This ad could be seen as a great initiative – but really it’s also just another sign of a broken healthcare system.
In some area, the wait has grown to as long 14 days to see a doctor. And that’s just GPs. Hospital OPD appointments can be as long as a 2 year wait. Cost of private specialist options are beyond many, averaging €120-260*, depending on who you see.
The average length of a GP visit continues to get shorter. It’s down to around 13 minutes here. Which is great compared to UK (10 minutes) and US (7 minutes).
So, this ad bothered me. I’m an asthmatic. I have patients with asthma. Physical examination, measuring peak flows, adjusting medication, reviewing inhaler technique – these aspects are important and I just can’t see how this can be be done on a helpline.
Want some worrying stats?
- Almost one million people in Ireland are affected by one of the four main categories of chronic disease: heart disease, COPD, asthma and diabetes.
- Pre-pandemic, 76% of all deaths are due to chronic diseases.
- The leading causes of all of these are a mix of lifestyle-related factors like tobacco, alcohol misuse, poor diet choices and not enough physical activity.
Modifying this risk and improving quality of life means accessible, adequate, and affordable qualified healthcare to improve or prevent lung disease, heart disease, diabetes, or subfertility, just to name a few.
At present, GPs are left with the heavy lifiting iwth lifestyle medicine aspect of care – that they have to squeeze into only a few minutes. . By the time they get to that hospital appointment, the disease process needs increasing amount of medications or has caused complications.
We simply have a doctor shortage. More worryingly, this gap is sometimes filled by unqualified or exploitative alternative medicine. No wonder patients with asthma would consider buying an expensive salt machine when they can’t get access to better expert care.
(*Note that the cost of consultation reflects the consultants overhead. Indemnity costs are usually the largest overhead cost and in Ireland these are incredibly high, and are higher for some specialties than others.)
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