Pay for the pot?

[Ian B]

I think some people might get DCI symptoms, and worry about whether they could afford the cost. This would increase denial of symptoms and risk permanent damage.

The cost of recompression therapy is not as much as the cost to the NHS of looking after a paralysis victim.

Anyway, I'm happy to see my tax and NI contributions going to something useful.

[Jules]

given the amount of tax and NI I already pay then I have paid for treatment already!

[Reeve]

Originally Posted by Julia C

given the amount of tax and NI I already pay then I have paid for treatment already!

Too right, I currently pay the equivalent of 1/3 of income in taxes at source be it, income tax or NI. Then I pay tax on petrol about 80% of fuel price. I pay VAT at 17.5%, council tax, insurance tax, clothes tax, plus I get taxed on expenses claimed through employers and to cap it all off I had a bill of the IRS last week for £1,100. I pay enough taxes in this country without having to worry if I'll be charged for a trip to the chamber (god forbid). And when I die my daughter will have to pay inheritance tax on the measly amount of money I've left her.

Lots of profanities & jumping up and down.

gareth.

[Andrew H]

In New Zealand, accident care is free but you pasy to go to the GP or for prescriptions. The cost of decompression treatment is bound to be ludicrous, and people would skip need treatments which were needed. Should we also pay for lifeboat rescues?

Andrew

[Diving Daisy]

Originally Posted by Julia C

given the amount of tax and NI I already pay then I have paid for treatment already!

Yeah! Several times over!

[Steve S]

No way, alot of divers may not be able to afford HT so would have to get some form of insurance to cover that possibility, then the problems would really start

do you dive past 30m?
have you ever had HT in the past?
do you dive at a well known midlands site?
cover will not be provided for deep slate quarries?
all dives must be in the no stop limits

more of the same

Safe diving,
Steve.

[Helen F H]

I started this thread simply because there has been talk of charging for doctors consultations to stop the time wasting that is currently draining the system of millions each year. I am always inclined to stand back and wonder where it all will end, and what we will end up paying for in the future. I have to pay if i miss my dentist appointments, so it has already started really.
The question of making us pay for our treatments will bring us to an amercian type system, where it all works off insurace.
I dont want to pay for any pot treatments now or in the future, but i am sure it will be discussed by the powers that be at some point. Hell, they already refuse to give cancer patients the expensive drugs, or couples IVF treatment depending on where you are in the "post-code lottery". Im sure all of these people feel they have paid for the treatment they want.

[Richie]

I don't like the idea of paying for reco treatment directly nor in the UK would I go for compulsory insurance since we have the NHS but if a mechansim could be found, as they have in Sharm ,for a contribution be made to support local pots then maybe the long helicopter rides endured by some would become a piece of history.
Or....... make nitrox use compulsory, provide tax breaks for multi gas computers and sling all DCI sufferers into cold water at appropriate depth to do it the hard way.

Its a multi faceted argument - should the cost of a "self inflicted" sporting injury be borne by the sufferer or NHS or should all care be state provided if that is the system in force.

Having taken my brother to hospital after a climbing accident (minor) the response from the radiographer was hysterical laughter - much more fun (bro didn't laugh much).

Dunno after all this, perhaps an insurance premium in each club sub, (I hate the idea of being tied to a club or organisation) or a 1p levy on each fill, (£5 on trimix)........

No doubt some bureaucrat somewhere will work on it soon.

God its depressing

[jim oldham]

Some of our club went to Murryfield and were asked this very question and also asked "would get better treatment if seen privately?" Most thought the answer was yes, but were told that if seen privately, where this happens, it would depend what type of insurance you had. You would get the treatment you paid for, not necessarily the treatment you needed. I shudder to think what would happen. Ask anyone who has had an accident abroad and found out that their insurance is inadequate, and don't tell me that is their fault; who the hell can understand the small print.

For all its faults, and my friends in the NHS tell me, it is still free at source and we should take comfort and have pride in that. It is an idication that we are a civilised society. (Well mostly). Please don't anyone rant about asylum seekers; I think most folk are aware that the Mail stories are exaggerated crap.
Jim

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by Porg

I started this thread simply because there has been talk of charging for doctors consultations to stop the time wasting that is currently draining the system of millions each year.

Like you I read reports of NHS time wasters. But my experience is that this is just not a big problem. If someone turns up with a trivial problem either it is quick to sort out and does not waste my time or there is a bigger problem underlying the reason that they presented for in the first place and the challenge is to sort that out.

On the whole the first ports of call on the NHS are either your GP or the local A&E dept. Both are, or at least should be, equiped to deal with trivia quickly and move on to the more important stuff. The NHS is under all sorts of pressures but they are more to do with organisation and resources than patients time wasting.

A quick plea. Please don't do as a certain medical correspondent in the Oct Sport Diver suggests "to effect this quickly, go to Casualty and jump the queue by feigning a heart attack". Use your GP where appropriate and if it is a diving problem ask one of the medical referees from the UKSDMC.
Cheers