Would you pay higher taxes for NHS drugs for all? Poll discussion

sinizterguy

Errata wrote: »

No problem. Perhaps the nation just thinks it's 40% sicker? I understand that a third of all patients present with somatisation.

The internet is a wonderful place. A place where you can read about any condition you want, manufacture the symptoms in your head and present them to your doctor as if you really have them.

I am not sure about GPs, but a third sounds a bit high - but there are quite a few out there.

The worst are the patients who turn up, relate their symptoms, self-diagnose the condition as well as the treatment for it. Makes you wonder why they visit a health professional in the first place since they think they know more than the person they are being seen by.

rogerj

The UK has some of the worst cancer and CHD survival rates in Europe.

A third of us will develop cancer at some time in our lives. It accounts for 25 per cent of all deaths [Cancer Research UK web site]
But the biggest killer is coronary heart disease [CHD] 275,000 a year have a heart attack [DoH website]

This accounts for around two thirds of the UK population;
but when it happens don't expect the same drugs or level of treatment as other countries in Europe. We can't afford it...Why?

Now consider the cost of the war in Iraq... £7 billion
I]ANGER AT £7bn COST OF WAR By Toby Helm, Telegraph Chief Political Correspondent[/I

But for the cost of this [lost?] war we could get all the life saving drugs and treatment we have a right to expect.

sinizterguy

rogerj wrote: »

The UK has some of the worst cancer and CHD survival rates in Europe.

A third of us will develop cancer at some time in our lives. It accounts for 25 per cent of all deaths [Cancer Research UK web site]
But the biggest killer is coronary heart disease [CHD] 275,000 a year have a heart attack [DoH website]

This accounts for around two thirds of the UK population;
but when it happens don't expect the same drugs or level of treatment as other countries in Europe. We can't afford it...Why?

Now consider the cost of the war in Iraq... £7 billion
I]ANGER AT £7bn COST OF WAR By Toby Helm, Telegraph Chief Political Correspondent[/I

But for the cost of this [lost?] war we could get all the life saving drugs and treatment we have a right to expect.

I agree with you on this. The money should have been spent fixing things at home instead of fighting someone else's war.

DavyBoy_2

SunnyBrighton wrote: »

The term Epilepsy covers situations where it IS caused by diet - it happened to my daughter when at 13 she started drinking diet coke - removal of those toxin-laden soft drinks, along with homeopathic treatment, cured her.

Fair point Sunny, but Epilepsy covers situations where it CAN BE caused by diet, as well as other reasons, such as hereditary, injury, infections etc... Just wanted to clarify that! I am glad that your daughter has managed to find the cause of her epilepsy, and has cured it, but in my wife's case, she's practically had it the whole of her adolescent and adult life, with no changes in diet to account for it. Most likely, it was caused by an injury. Now, no amount of diet is going to stop her symptoms, nor cure it. No amount of medication will cure her, but the meds she takes do greatly reduce the symptoms, and at the end of the day, if she can function in society like the rest of us, without fear of having an episode, then I'll take the shafting by Glaxo et al any day!

SunnyBrighton wrote: »

Paracetamol may stop you feeling the pain of a headache, but it doesn't 'cure' the headache.

But Iboprofen can stop you feeling the pain, and cure the headache by relieving the swelling in your brain. Also, I suffer with moderate backpain after a car accident; co-codamol is highly effective in letting my body cure the pain itself, by giving it the ability to move without pain, and stretch out the muscles and back as it needs to.

SunnyBrighton wrote: »

Nothing is clearcut - but it would seem that diet has a huge effect on our health.

This I certainly don't dispute!

teddyco

MoneySavingPharmacist,

You made the comment:

"The prescription charge bears no relation to the cost of the drugs - if you pay, you pay the same if you have a prescription for atenolol, which costs pennies per month, as you would if you have a prescription for Glivec, which costs £1500 per month."

Are you aware of the dangerous side effects of Gleevec (Glivec)?

Gleevec (Glivec) had worldwide sales of $1.2 billion in the first six months of 2006.

The cancer drug Gleevec could damage the heart. A study confirming this was conducted following reports that 10 leukemia patients taking Gleevec developed severe congestive heart failure. The study found that the drug kills heart muscle cells.

Heart failure can, of course, be just as life-threatening as the cancer that Gleevec is intended to treat. Not only are many cancer drugs ruinously expensive - with some varieties costing upwards of $100,000 USD a year - but they can also cause serious side effects such as fatal strokes and blood clots