# Cost of xray, A&E or doctor?



## wbbs

Anyone know if this info is correct, if I go to A&E and get xray it costs €100 for A&E charge, if I go to my doctor and they give me a letter to go to A&E and get xray do I just pay my doctor costs or must I pay again for the xray?   Some people have told me that it is cheaper to go through the doctor as there is only the one charge but just want to be sure, ir all adds up!


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## Slim

wbbs said:


> Anyone know if this info is correct, if I go to A&E and get xray it costs €100 for A&E charge, if I go to my doctor and they give me a letter to go to A&E and get xray do I just pay my doctor costs or must I pay again for the xray? Some people have told me that it is cheaper to go through the doctor as there is only the one charge but just want to be sure, ir all adds up!


 
Yes, correct. If you are referred by your GP there is no charge for attendance or Xrays etc. If you are admitted there will be charges;
"If you stay overnight as a public patient in a public hospital, you are an in-patient. From January 1 2009, in-patients are charged a standard fee of €75 per night, up to a maximum of €750 in one year."


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## wbbs

Perfect, thanks a million, not something that will require admittance but no point paying more than I have to.


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## OMD

GP refers to A&E if it is an accident or an emergency. Hospital doctor decides what investigations are required. Even if GP feels an X-ray is required the hospital doctor may not so you may not get your X-ray. If condition is neither an accident or an emergency then the correct action for the hospital doctor is to refer you back to your GP for investigation or in some cases to a hospital out patients.


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## Northie

Hi OMD,
Unless things have changed in the very near past, this is not always the case. 

I can attend my GP with for example a suspected sprain\break. He can refer me directly to the XRay Department in my local hospital for confirmation of what's wrong.

My husband did damage to his foot playing football recently and this is what he did.

Teh xray confirmed no break but the foot was still giving him trouble, GP refered him for an orthopedic consult. He is under going treatment today. Never went near A&E.


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## OMD

Northie said:


> Hi OMD,
> Unless things have changed in the very near past, this is not always the case.
> 
> I can attend my GP with for example a suspected sprain\break. He can refer me directly to the XRay Department in my local hospital for confirmation of what's wrong.
> 
> My husband did damage to his foot playing football recently and this is what he did.
> 
> Teh xray confirmed no break but the foot was still giving him trouble, GP refered him for an orthopedic consult. He is under going treatment today. Never went near A&E.


In fairness you are describing a different scenario. I was responding to the posters wish to be referred to A&E and avoid A&E charges. I was trying to point out, that while being referred by his GP would avoid the ED charge he would not necessarily get an xray done. I did say that the A&E doctor may well refer him back to his GP who could then go on to organise investigations (including an X-ray if he deemed it medically necessary).


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## wbbs

Thanks for replies but I have no fear that I will not get the xray, it is similar situation to sports injury, the doctor can do nothing and I know from speaking to another health professional that an xray is needed to confirm broken or not, either way the doctor is not going to be able to do much.   By the way I am not out to dodge a charge, I simply want to keep the cost as low as possible obviously.   I actually already went to A&E initially but as my injury was not considered 'serious'   I was advised that my wait could be very long as more important cases kept getting seen ahead  of me, I waited as long as I could, paid a lot for parking, pain killers had worn off, starving, so I eventually left as I had a commitment I could not miss.    They have sent me a bill for the 100 but as I was not treated I have returned it with explanation, another health professional has since told me the correct route would have been through the doctor and it would have saved me money and if there is no improvement within couple of days then I will be heading for doctor.


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## becky

You could still come up against the same wait time, as you are what is referred to as the walking wounded.

My brother use to be a jockey and had to spend hours in the ED to get the all clear to ride the next time.  At the time he would have been prepared to pay but that wasn't the issue

He'd bring a few newspapers/books and just wait it out.  He felt Tuesdays or Wednesday were the better days. 

A lot of A&E's have now hired GP's with an interest in sports injuries to deal with this type of work but they only work certain days.  In Limerick, it's Tuesdays and Friday.  The normal doctors will deal with it but if an emergency comes in......

So if I was you, I'd try and find out if there is a service like this at your local A&E department.


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## Slim

becky said:


> You could still come up against the same wait time, as you are what is referred to as the walking wounded.
> 
> My brother use to be a jockey and had to spend hours in the ED to get the all clear to ride the next time. At the time he would have been prepared to pay but that wasn't the issue
> 
> He'd bring a few newspapers/books and just wait it out. He felt Tuesdays or Wednesday were the better days.
> 
> A lot of A&E's have now hired GP's with an interest in sports injuries to deal with this type of work but they only work certain days. In Limerick, it's Tuesdays and Friday. The normal doctors will deal with it but if an emergency comes in......
> 
> So if I was you, I'd try and find out if there is a service like this at your local A&E department.


 
Good point. If you are being referred for xray only, you might ring up Xray and ask when you might drop, with drs' letter of course. Many hospitals do not have a logjam at Xray but at ED. Tuesday - Thursday mornings would be favourite to get through ED more quickly.


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## wbbs

Definitely no special service there for sports injuries etc.   Will ring beforehand, on the day I was there 2 people came in with dr's letters for xray, one was a wrist, other a knee (walking fine), both were seen and long gone while I was still there so there must be some other queue for just xrays I presume.


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