MRI scan waiting time?

snubbleste

The difference in going private is that you see a consultant much quicker.
The public ENT lists in Galway are scandalous - up to 3 years! There were 4500 people waiting for ENT in Galway a year ago.
Yet if you go private, the exact same consultant will see you within a few months.

donfers

snubbleste wrote: »

The difference in going private is that you see a consultant much quicker.
The public ENT lists in Galway are scandalous - up to 3 years! There were 4500 people waiting for ENT in Galway a year ago.
Yet if you go private, the exact same consultant will see you within a few months.

but why do you get to see a consultant much quicker on private health insurance if yoru case is deemed to be not urgent?

on top of that, let's see you are public and on a waiting list to see an ENT doctor or whatever and 2 years later you see him and he says "hmmm not sure what's going on here, I think you should get a few tests" - then is there another long wait for the tests? So basically from date of seeing GP to having test done you could be looking at 3-4 years, is that the case?

Unrealistic

donfers wrote: »

but why do you get to see a consultant much quicker on private health insurance if yoru case is deemed to be not urgent?

on top of that, let's see you are public and on a waiting list to see an ENT doctor or whatever and 2 years later you see him and he says "hmmm not sure what's going on here, I think you should get a few tests" - then is there another long wait for the tests? So basically from date of seeing GP to having test done you could be looking at 3-4 years, is that the case?

The consultant spends 30 hours per week receiving patients and divides his time 50:50 between private and public patients. That time is further divided so that the 30 hours per week is split as follows:

5 hours: Urgent (public)
10 hours: Scheduled (public)
5 hours: Urgent (private)
10 hours: Scheduled (private)

It's split 50:50 but if there are 2000 public patients per year and only 1000 private patients then private patients will be seen twice as quickly.

(Numbers made up for the sake of the example but the principle is correct as I understand it.)

donfers

Unrealistic wrote: »

The consultant spends 30 hours per week receiving patients and divides his time 50:50 between private and public patients. That time is further divided so that the 30 hours per week is split as follows:

5 hours: Urgent (public)
10 hours: Scheduled (public)
5 hours: Urgent (private)
10 hours: Scheduled (private)

It's split 50:50 but if there are 2000 public patients per year and only 1000 private patients then private patients will be seen twice as quickly.

(Numbers made up for the sake of the example but the principle is correct as I understand it.)

thanks for that - certainly is a big incentive to go private

what about post-consultant tests? Are they allocated on a similar basis?

CowboyTed

Unrealistic wrote: »

The consultant spends 30 hours per week receiving patients and divides his time 50:50 between private and public patients. That time is further divided so that the 30 hours per week is split as follows:

5 hours: Urgent (public)
10 hours: Scheduled (public)
5 hours: Urgent (private)
10 hours: Scheduled (private)

It's split 50:50 but if there are 2000 public patients per year and only 1000 private patients then private patients will be seen twice as quickly.

(Numbers made up for the sake of the example but the principle is correct as I understand it.)

I will tell you about my example... I went to my doctor in late Dec with a mole.
Nothing urgent, best get it removed...

Consultants appointment two weeks ago with procedure arranged afterwards. I was asked when suited... We agreed it was best for after Cheltenham but I could have done it last week.

The system is Two Tier... I pay for VHI... I would never give it up...

Is the system fair? No... Is there ways to not only make it fairer but more importantly more better? Yes...

For starters we take too much MRIs in the first place... I have had 3 on my back in the last few years.. All shows the same thing... But every new consultant wants to see a new one with out looking at previous ones...

What we need to do is computerise all medical records starting in primary care and working back into the hospitals... The HSE spends €250M a year on IT, a pilot project would cost €250k... Start small, simple solution... Roll out and lets make this transparent..

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it...

Mrs OBumble

donfers wrote: »

People say go private, but for those on the public system is it not the case that they'll have to wait six months before they are covered for MRI or CT scans - so unless you have been on health insurance for the last six months

If you're wanting private health insurance to cover it, yes you would have to wait whatever the threshhold time is until your policy covers pre-exsiting conditions. (I thought it was five years, not six months).

But you can just pay for the scan yourself, without involving health insurance in the mix. And it's certainly what I woudl do.

donfers

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

If you're wanting private health insurance to cover it, yes you would have to wait whatever the threshhold time is until your policy covers pre-exsiting conditions. (I thought it was five years, not six months).

But you can just pay for the scan yourself, without involving health insurance in the mix. And it's certainly what I woudl do.

You are correct, I think it is 5 years for pre-existing conditions and 6 months for routine tests

I assume I would be covered under the 6 month rule as there are no pre-existing conditions that I am aware of.

However that brings me to another question, let's say the routine scan or test revealed some condition or other, then I guess the health insurance wouldn't pay out as they'd classify it as a pre-existing condition, whereas if the scans and tests were clear then they would pay out - is that correct?

_Whimsical_

donfers wrote: »

You are correct, I think it is 5 years for pre-existing conditions and 6 months for routine tests

I assume I would be covered under the 6 month rule as there are no pre-existing conditions that I am aware of.

However that brings me to another question, let's say the routine scan or test revealed some condition or other, then I guess the health insurance wouldn't pay out as they'd classify it as a pre-existing condition, whereas if the scans and tests were clear then they would pay out - is that correct?

I don't think so unfortunately. I think if you're having tests related to a pre existing complaint then those are not covered regardless of what they uncover.However you'd need to ring up and ask your insurer to be positive.

Mrs OBumble

Yah, most people don't have tests for nothing :-)

Note that it's pre-existing, not pre-diagnosed.

donfers

Hmmmm....this isn't very clear to me

pre-existing condition = the insurer doesn't pay

pre-existing complaint i.e. I have headaches, let's have an MRI to make sure it's nothing serious, scan all clear = surely then the insurer covers it

_Whimsical_

donfers wrote: »

Hmmmm....this isn't very clear to me

pre-existing condition = the insurer doesn't pay

pre-existing complaint i.e. I have headaches, let's have an MRI to make sure it's nothing serious, scan all clear = surely then the insurer covers it

You're best to ring up and find out or if you're feeling lazy inquire over on the Insurance board. Personally I would be very surprised if any insurers policy positively favoured the customer in this or any other circumstance. I would say that "condition" refers not only to a diagnosed illness but also to any symptoms that you have already seen your doctor about ,the cause of which may or may not show up in particular tests.

snubbleste

snubbleste in October 2013 wrote: »

Does anyone know the length of time you have to wait for an MRI scan in the public health system, Galway? It is a routine check.

Was told it is 9-12 months for a routine non-emergency MRI :eek:

snubbleste

snubbleste wrote: »

Was told it is 9-12 months for a routine non-emergency MRI :eek:

Checked again and it's between 14-18 months for a routine MRI in the public health system :eek:

El_Dangeroso

You're better off saving up to pay for it privately, it cost €250 in Merlin park

snubbleste

Another update.
UCHG have decided to operate the MRI scanner at weekends. At weekends :eek:
It's to reduce waiting times apparently and possibly the recent case where a man needed an urgent MRI at a weekend and had to be transferred to Dublin to get one - at a costs of thousands of taxpayer €s

_Whimsical_

snubbleste wrote: »

Another update.
UCHG have decided to operate the MRI scanner at weekends. At weekends :eek:
It's to reduce waiting times apparently and possibly the recent case where a man needed an urgent MRI at a weekend and had to be transferred to Dublin to get one - at a costs of thousands of taxpayer €s

Wow sense at last!Thank God for that.
The recent case of a man who had to be sent to dub for an MRI over a weekend, requiring a dr and nurse to travel with him by ambulance, an emergency neurosurgery team on standby depending on the results of the mri was expected to have cost in the region of 40 k according to the City Tribune last week.Had the mans case been time critical it would also have possibly cost a life.
It could all have been avoided if they'd just switched their own machine on and called in one radiographer.
There is some appalling mismanagement going on,they seem to be learning the very very expensive way.