Public hospital positive experience

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ClubMan

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Since there is no "Not Letting Off Steam" forum I am posting this here.

Our two year old had a bit of a health issue over the last few days. Things seemed to worsen yesterday and we were not sure about the seriousness of the situation. Due to the symptoms he was exhbiiting we eventually (c. 1AM this morning) called the VHI NurseLine 24/7 (we are members though my employer's scheme), they asked about the symptoms and concluded that it would be prudent to take him to A&E, they verified that Temple Street had an A&E unit on call so we grabbed a taxi and headed down. We checked in at reception and were seen within 5 minutes. He was examined and treated within 30 minutes and then observed for a while. Once they verified that he was fine he was discharged and we headed home. Just thought that it was worth reporting this positive experience of the public health service to balance some of the (mostly genuine but some, I'm sure, exaggerated) bad reports.
 
We have been in Tallaght children's A&E quite a few times with our three. My experiences there have always been good. We have never waited more than 30 minutes and have had the child in question brought to a ward within 6 hours when needed.

I have been to A&E a number of times and have never waited more then an hour. Most of the time I have skipped past other people who were waiting there but they should have gone to their GP as their condition did not warrant them attending A&E, so if they have to sit there for a week that’s their problem.
When I hear about someone having to sit in a waiting room for 12 hours when they attended with an infected cut or some other minor non critical ailment my first thought is “Good enough for them”.
 
Purple said:
Most of the time I have skipped past other people who were waiting there but they should have gone to their GP as their condition did not warrant them attending A&E, so if they have to sit there for a week that’s their problem.
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This may be more of an issue with children since it's often hard to know how serious the issue is especially when they cannot communicate clearly (due to age or the ailment). In our case we already had a GP appointment for today but on foot of the VHI NurseLine advice decided that attending A&E was the most prudent course of action. I guess that any decent A&E triage system should weed out patients that don't actually need any A&E treatment proper? I presume that the first person that we saw was a triage nurse? But I agree that there are probably a certain number of patients in A&E at different times who really don't need to be there at all. And in some cases it may be difficult to get a GP at all hours of the night/morning resulting in people attending hospital A&E perhaps unnecessarily.
 
ClubMan said:
But I agree that there are probably a certain number of patients in A&E at different times who really don't need to be there at all
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And often these same people don't bother remitting their invoice for treatment. And then they complain about hospital services.

But glad you had a good experience ClubMan.
 
ClubMan said:
This may be more of an issue with children since it's often hard to know how serious the issue is especially when they cannot communicate clearly (due to age or the ailment).
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I agree; it's hard to know with small children so it's better safe than sorry.
As with other posters I'm glad it all turned out OK.
 
I sat there for 4hrs with a broken ankle (3 years ago) - i didnt think that was very cool to be honest.
 
Did you take note of all the drunk people and all the people who shouldn't really have been there?
 
He he! Nice one Purple - i was more concerned with the pain to be honest! If there was a guy next to me with a bottle of whiskey i'd have reached for it myself! It was a saturday afternoon so it wasnt too full of drunks which i imagine night time probably is. All the same, 4hrs in that sort of pain isnt the way i thought my BUPA/PRSI would look after me. Still, alls well that ends well.
 
elefantfresh said:
All the same, 4hrs in that sort of pain isnt the way i thought my BUPA/PRSI would look after me.
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Private health insurance has no bearing on how you get through A&E triage as far as I know. It has no bearing on the actual medical treatment that you get either as far as I know. It may get you certain private/semi-private accommodation and allow you to skip certain waiting lists though.

Interestingly Temple Street had some of our details on file from a previous consultant visit on a public basis for a separate issue. They asked about private health insurance but said that it was for statistical purposes only and did not take policy details etc. We did not get a bill or pay any charges. I have no idea if we will be invoiced by post or something. Any ideas?
 
Dunno about your case Clubman, but i was in and out of the hospital for 6 months with various consultants, docs, physios etc and never received even one bill. I assume my BUPA covered this as i had to give my details on arrival at A&E. Hope to God i dont get a bill now!
 
We did not get a bill or pay any charges. I have no idea if we will be invoiced by post or something. Any ideas?
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Depending on how efficient their accounts department are expect an invoice within the next 4-5 weeks. I think its 60e. If you dont get one with in that time frame I would say its likely that theyre not going to bill you.

(thankfully) I havent had reason to go to temple st with either of my 2 kids but from my own experiences in tallaght, beaumont, mater and JCM in blanch Ive had some A&E visits billed and others not.
Contact sports cause a lot of wear & tear. :(

As for hospital visits, I went to my GP with a suspected fractured wrist about 3 months ago, he gave me a note for tallaght A&E, went in to the hospital at 9am on a tuesday morning, straight down to the XRay ward, 4 people ahead of me, out at 9:30am.
 
Yeah - €60 seems to be the A&E charge but I would have expected to be asked for this at the time. And I wasn't sure if the rest of the treatment carried out would be charged. I guess we'll wait and see.
 
I have to say no matter how much giving out is done about "adult" hospitals when it comes to our childrens hospitals in this country i think they are second to none!!! With regards to their facilities, treatment of patients, nurses/doctors positive attitudes and their ability to operate in a quick and efficent manner.

Glad to see somebody post a thread about a good thing that happened to them
 
My experience of A&E last year is that the bill for €60 is issued by post, as the staff don't like handling money at night (and patients / parents of patients may not have the money at that time). I visited A&E on a Sunday, bill arrived by post the following Tuesday!

There are no further charges for A&E-related treatments (x-rays, tests, etc), everyone is treated the same (a true health service?!). The public/private divide only comes into play if the patient is admitted.

The €60 charge doesn't apply if you're referred by a GP, so perhaps the VHI nurse 24/7 service meets this criteria?

Glad the mini-clubman ( :D couldn't resist!) is okay
 
I agree that children's hospitals don't seem to have the waiting/service issues that adult hospitals have. I know of several extended family members with bad experiences of adult A&E but without exception have never heard any complaints about children's care. And our own experiences of Temple Street and Crumlin have been excellent - reasonably quick service and superb medical care.
 
gipimann said:
The €60 charge doesn't apply if you're referred by a GP, so perhaps the VHI nurse 24/7 service meets this criteria?
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I don't think that they referred us - they just checked that Temple Street had an A&E that was open at that time of the morning. I guess that we'll see if the charge arrives by post presently and then see if VHI covers it* or just claim tax relief on it.

* Update: looks like [broken link removed] which we're on does cover the €60 A&E charge (up to two a year).
 
Forgot to post back that the invoice for the €60 A&E charge did arrive in the post a few days later. Our VHI policy will cover this.
 
A few months ago I suddenly developed hives that spread like wildfire and then started blistering - I called the Vivas Nurse line and was told to get down to A&E. It was 1 am on a Friday and I was really nervous about waiting around on such a busy night. I needn't have worried. I was seen within 15-20 minutes by a very pleasant nurse and doctor who diagnosed me with chickenpox (how I managed to avoid it for so long is beyond me!)

I was so impressed by my treatment, the healthcare workers I dealt with were both friendly and extremely competent. I felt like a bit of an eejit going down there with chickenpox but they were quick to explain that getting it as an adult can cause nasty implications without immediate treatment. They both took their time to get to know my circumstances and to answer any questions I had. Ten days and about one hundred XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX later I was all better, all thanks to the Mater!
 
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