Medical checkup

I don't think the lack of a list of swimming pools by your GP or waiting lists for physio tell us anything about whether a GP is a good starting point for a preventative health check.

Many Irish surgeons are doing keyhole surgery with minute scars.
 
ClubMan said:
If one is fit and healthy with no history of medical problems (and ideally with no family history of certain diseases with hereditary links) then why bother having a health check/medical?
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It doesn't matter if you come from a healthy family or not, there is a lot of diseases out there that come silently, and it's better have a check up at least once a year. In Spain, companies are obliged to pay for a checkup once a year (it might not be as extensive as the original poster wanted, but include blood test, eye test, hearing test, and general health and life style questions) A simple blood test can point out something is not going as it should be. Another example, If you want to go on the pill, you have to have a blood test once a year also, because not all the makes are the same, and depending on the results the gyneacologist can decide which one is more suitable. Never heard of anything like this in Ireland. I still get checked once a year when I go home...I would recommend to everyone to do the same.
 
Max Hopper said:
Better to fly to Amsterdam and pay the private fee at a poli-klinik (which will cost about half the charge here and include analysis for pre-cancer markers).
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Max,

this is exactly the advice I needed - could you please expand on it?

thanks,

Mark
 
The Mater Private do a very good health check, called executive health check. It costs about €450, takes about a half day, but apparently is very good. Look up the mater private website and it should give details of what is covered on it.

I would be in the same boat, never sick in my life, dont even have a GP, but I have been thinking of having one done.
 
Cati76 said:
It doesn't matter if you come from a healthy family or not
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Of course it matters. Being generally fit and healthy, from a family with no hereditary history of serious disease, having a balanced diet, getting a reasonable amount of exercise and having no risky habits (e.g. smoking, excessive alcohol or other recreational drug use, promiscuous unprotected sex etc.) are all obviously good indicators that the chances of serious disease are most likely slim. No guarantee that this won't be the case but statistically it means that the chances are slim.
 
Max Hopper said:
a hernial surgery in Germany requires a 24 hour recovery (and a minute scar) while in Ireland the ensuing convalescence is six weeks (accompanied by a gash that would terrify Vinnie Jones).
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It is incredibly difficult to compare person to person, individual condition to individual condition. It may well be that the hernia repair needed the larger opening; perhaps this one was not amenable to keyhole surgery. Each person/patient and each disorder need to be assessed as they are; it is not easy to make direct comparisions unless you're doing an RCT, in which case you need access to hundreds of patients with loads of exclusions, so that you can compare. Medicine is scientific and can't be proven by anecdotes. Alas, the general public don't read the scientific data, and just go by the stories they hear.
 
woods said:
I think that VHI do not cover the anual check up type thing and BUPA cover 50%.
In Cork we go to The Health Screening section in Bons once a year. No need for a GP but it is not cheap.
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Woods,
Can you remember how much it cost and how long you were waiting for an appointment?

Thanks!
 
Lorz said:
Woods,
Can you remember how much it cost and how long you were waiting for an appointment?

Thanks!
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I have their price list here.
Private health screening €420
Corporate health screening 395
(for some reason this is 350 and 325 if you are referred by your own doctor)

Extras
cardiac stress test 150
Mammogram 124
Nutrition screen and consult 60
pulmonary function test 60
Dexa scan 88
Homosystine test was about €120 Extra.

Waiting time was about 2 weeks
 
Do they specify in detail the tests carried out under their screening packages?
 
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Given the preponderance of diabetes and heart disease in Ireland it is shocking that anyone over the age of 35 would regard a periodic physical as unnecessary. I tend to believe here that the opponents tacitly agree that the quality of testing available in Ireland is not 'value for money' (to wit ECGs and mammograms are 'extras'!?!).
 
ClubMan said:
Do they specify in detail the tests carried out under their screening packages?
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Comprehensive medical history and phisical conducted by a general practitioner
Lifestyle assesement to discuss your approach to work chalanges
Audiometry
Visual Acuity/Tonometry
ECG
Chest X Ray
Lung Flow Assesment
Urinalysis
Faecal Occult Blood
Blood Chemistry
Blood Haematology
PSA (Prostatic Specific Antigen.
 
This is what preventive medicine is about:
preventive medicine, branch of medicine dealing with the prevention of disease and the maintenance of good health practices. Until recently preventive medicine was largely the domain of the U.S. Public Health Service or state and local health departments, but it has become an important consideration of health maintenance organizations, private practitioners, and other health care providers. Preventive medicine encompasses such activities as research into causes of disease; vaccination against those diseases for which the causes are known, e.g., poliomyelitis, influenza, and measles; studies of environmental deterrents to health; and instruction in public health and hygiene. See also eugenics.
(Answers.com)
What it is NOT about is the provision of unnecessary invasive and expensive tests to healthy individuals who do not belong to an at-risk population. That is the domain of Private Medicine, which will provide services that the 'worried well' ask and are prepared to pay for.
 
There is very little in the way of screening that a healthy 40yr old needs. As someone else pointed out there are certain diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol that are initially asymptomatic and can cause serious problems if left undiagnosed. Some of the tests being mentioned as part of the routine screen (pulmonary function tests for example) seem entirely unnecessary unless you have some symptoms (or if you are trying to scare someone into stopping smoking). Most of the routine tests can be easily done by your GP. It seems like a bit of a money-making racket to me really.

If you have a family history things change of course and if you are over 50 you should think about having a colonoscopy. A visit to the doctor may also help you get some motivation to make lifestyle changes (diet, smoking, exercise, alcohol) that you might not think of normally.

Have a look at this website for some basic (but sensible) recommendations

[broken link removed]
 
Thanks Woods for that. I'll check it out.

Strees is a major cause of illness. A recent report found that a significant number of people feel that their quality of life has declined in recent years, with over 50% feeling that they 'never have enough time to get things done'. This is most likely due to increasing numbers of people working and an increase in commuting times.

People have more spare cash than spare time, 50% of work absence is due to stress, work stress doubles the risk of death by heart disease.

So, if you're one of the 50% who regularly feels stressed or has to deal with angry customers on a regular basis - then a health check is perhaps a good idea - whatever the cost!
 
Lorz said:
A recent report found that a significant number of people feel that their quality of life has declined in recent years, with over 50% feeling that they 'never have enough time to get things done'.
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Can you please provide a link to that report? Because according to this 2005 Economist quality of life survey Ireland has the highest quality of life of the countries surveyed.
 
Quote:-
cushioning, elements of the old, such as stable family life and the avoidance of the breakdown of community. Its score on all of these
factors are above the eu-15 average, easily offsetting its slightly lower scores on health, climate and gender equality.

How many families have an almost daily argument about one partner working ridiculous hours and missing out on valuable family time? Children in bed when they get home, children being dropped to creches in their pyjamas and having breakfast with other children in the creche rather than family - I suspect a lot.

Breakdown of Community - unless you're middle aged and living in your estate for 10+yrs, how many people here know their neighbours name, what/where they work? Would you even know what your neighbour looks like or do you refer to them as Blue Punto lady? Community spirit is long gone!

My stats were from a poll compiled by Irish Health.
Ref [broken link removed]
 
Lorz said:
So, if you're one of the 50% who regularly feels stressed or has to deal with angry customers on a regular basis - then a health check is perhaps a good idea - whatever the cost!
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If a stressful job is causing you health problems then a health check isn't going to make them any better. The solution would be to change jobs or to change any other risk factors that may be predisposing you to having health problems.

I'm not trying to suggest that people shouldn't have check-ups but there's no point in wasting money either. The same people who spend hundreds of euros in private clinics are then going out at the weekend and drinking 10 pints and smoking 20 cigarettes. Maybe I'm wrong. It could be that these checks could have the hidden benefit of scaring people into changing their behaviour in which case it would be money well spent.
 
Gearóid,
A health check isn't going to make ANYONE better - it's purpose is to diagnose any health problems which you may have. Stree may or may not affect your health and if your health check indicates you have a health problem which is stress related and your job is very stressful, then the obvious decision is to change jobs!
 
Lorz said:
Quote:-

My stats were from a poll compiled by Irish Health.
Ref [broken link removed]
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Online polls are notoriously unreliable, not to mention the fact that there is an automatic selection bias as those responding to the poll are probably anxious about their health (hence visiting a health-related website)
 
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