Should smokers, drinkers, drug users and obese people be charged to see the doctor?

It's great to see someone praising our NHS. As someone who has worked for nearly 40 years in the NHS I know it has it's faults but I have no complaints at all about the treatment I have received, as a patient, both from my GP and various hospitals I have had to attend over the years.

So easy to judge people when you have no idea of what they are going though.

I totally agree, Jeanmark. We all deal with our problems in different ways, whether by smoking, binge (comfort) eating or drug abuse. I have to admit to having less sympathy with the latter possibly because I only see or read about the effects on innocent people who have been robbed, assaulted or abused by drug addicts and I don't know what led to the addiction in the first place.

Well CaroleAH, I worked with drug addicts for 13 years, most as a result of infection and never once met one, who decided at school, that is what they wanted out of life. I accept some turn to crime to feed their habit but I also recognise that desperation is a terrible thing to witness. That in no way implies I support what they do as most have a degree of understanding of their actions, but they do not necessarily get the support they need.

I agree Jeanmark and the tragedy is that younger and younger children are getting involved when they are used as "runners" for the big dealers. They are so young and impressionable and no doubt think that it's "cool" (or whatever the modern day terminology is) and don't realise that they are being exploited. When I worked in A&E many years ago it was the drunks who caused havoc; nowadays it seems to be a free for all with drug addicts, drunks and people carrying weapons and the staff have to cope with it all.

Hi Trish, thank you for the well balanced soap box opinion! Sometimes people just forget that everyone is different, their body make up is different, their personal and health issues can all create problems they may not wish to have.
I live with being overweight and have been so since a child due to suffering Hasimotos Thyroiditis which affects every part of my body mechanics and slows the metabolism down.
All my life has been a constant diet and exercise regime.
At my age now my metabolism is non existent. This has been exasperated due to yo yo dieting and I've recently found out that exercising too hard can cause additional problems with health and make you more fatigued!
Recently I needed a new hip due to Osteo Arthritis, I need my other hip replacing soon, would people be so quick to deny me surgery and remove the constant pain I live with I wonder? Unable to walk and move means I cannot exercise hence weight gain even though I eat minimum calories per day.
Sometimes I believe like you, that people should be a little more forgiving, I too pay my taxes.
Please people think first,
I thank you Trish.

I can’t edit that last statement and accidentky deleted part of the final sentence which was ‘...be bothered to help themselves and refuses offer or help...’

I can assure you piggy50, drug addictions is not a vice but an illness and it is taxes that pays for the NHS not National insurance.

I am all for encouraging people to adopt a healthy lifestyle but it isn't always a simple matter of choice. Those who believe it is simply a matter of 'pulling yourself together' may not have witnessed the misery some people have to endure because of a path they took when younger thinking it was the right way, only to find later in life it was not.

The principle of the NHS is 'free at there point of delivery' and this was based on the premise that no one should be denied health care based on their ability to pay and/or their life style. Being poor is not necessarily a choice and sometimes the only way they can cope is to do those things we are advised not to.

jeanmark,

Correction, drug abuse is not a illness if it was was it would be treatable quite easily. It is an addiction - a person has to want to come of drugs to be treated and it can take a while for someone to give up their addiction. The same with smoking and alcoholism.

There are other ways to cope if there wasn't we would all be addicts!!

Piggy50, I think it depends on how you define 'illness' and there are many diseases that are difficult to treat but nevertheless we attempt to treat them, or at least to try and control them.

Addiction is an illness if not a physical one, surely mental illness shouldn't be ignored because it is difficult to treat? I agree that an addict has to have the will to try and 'kick' their habit, but that shouldn't exclude them from being treated and treated with compassion. Many try for years before they succeed, I accept that some never succeed but they still need support to keep trying. Their illness may have stemmed from their addiction but many diseases stem from lifestyle choices and yet we do not question those?

I am amazed that Addiction is considered not to be a health problem in the 21st century. Addiction is most definitely an illness, and though many people manage to cope with life, without requiring a crutch, there are also many people who do require it. Addiction is not something that happens overnight, and it is not chosen. Addiction does not affect everyone, for some there is an internal 'switch' that pings off when they've had enough, but for other's that switch cannot be turned off. Science has proved this as a fact.
In my career, I met with people who had IQ's well above the Normal range, yet they had required help for Addiction. Intelligence would normally show a substance of whatever kind should not be taken, yet they do it. On the other hand, I met with people who had lost everything, through no fault of their own, like a car crash that kills a whole family, leaving no-one behind except for this one person. They endure pain beyond belief, but don't feel it necessary to have some sedation to help them sleep. Their level of resistance is entirely different, not stronger or more sensible, just different. The person who goes to the Pub each night, because their home is empty of company, has a greater chance of becoming addicted to alcohol, but it does not happen to all of them.
We cannot generalise about a person who is right or wrong, or what they begin with will shorten their life-span, because there are people who live to be very old indeed, who have smoked all of their adult lives, while another person dies prematurely, for having made the same choice.
Compassion is something we all need at some point in our lives as human beings. Better to give it, too. As who knows when we may need it for ourselves. Kindness doesn't cost anything, neither does love and support. If we all offered it to someone, there might never be a need for some people to need the crutch they find themselves taking and relying on. Just holding the hand of someone in emotional or physical pain can make It easier to bare. Like-wise, it could help us too, one day.

Thank you MrsH for also recognising addiction as an illness that should be treated with the same level as any other illness, rather than thrown on the scrap heap as being unworthy of care and compassion.

Hi,
As someone who does have years of experience in the Healthcare Sector, I can confirm there is Never a One Size Fits All.
Person Centred Care is what it is all about, and as such, each Person is an Individual who is treated as such.
The idea of this is quite obvious, because of each Person being Different from the next.
The NHS does accept Everyone for Who they are, and not which box they fit into.
I had the misfortune of needing emergency care in the early part of this year. There was Never a point where I was put into a box, to be treated the same as the Person in the next bed, or even across the ward. I was treated as Me. The NHS is a huge Back-Bone to health & well-being, and each of the Staff who appears in front of you will never consider you the same as the next person they see. I can vouch for the fact, by explaining how I had very similar 'symptoms' to the person next to me, but at every point we were treated completely differently. The same age, the same colour, the same back-grounds, the same amount of children and grandchildren. It would appear we'd come out of the same box, but we hadn't. I have numerous health issues, and so did the person to who I am referring in the next bed. However, that is where the differences lay - We did Not have the same health issues, just similar symptoms on the day of admission to hospital. That Person was treated with one set of treatments, and I was treated with another. I left hospital still requiring lots of care at home, while I said Good-bye to my new friend who would be staying in for longer than I had to.
It makes sense in the long term, for everyone to be managed in a different way, so the speed of recovery if possible, is met in the fastest way.
We ARE all different.

Mrs H
You have taken my point and explained it fully, but you have healthcare experience understand as I do person centered planning .However it was not until I started training in social care in my forties that my attitudes and understanding of peoples needs changed.Therefore I understand that those who are less understanding are those that don't fully understand the reasons and causes of addiction abuse and judge from a position of the outside looking in rather than inside looking out.
There are many things in life I don't properly understand politics,finance sport to name a few I have opinions based on what I see ,read and hear but I always try not to judge unfairly,Surely in matters of health and well being being non judgemental and kind is of the greatest importance. I am not trying to imply you need to have professional experience in health care to care just show empathy as Mrs H says it could you that needs help next.

Why means tested, how do you identify a minimum time for NI contributions (I assume you exclude children) and what do you perceive to be the going rate?

I also think we need to get in to the 21st Century and look at the benefits of cannabis, and stop making people into criminals wanting to use it for medicinal purposes. I personally cannot drink and I don't care to smoke thank you very much but I would certainly find having a cannabis muffin now and again very relaxing. Research was carried out and out of the three: smoking, drinking or cannabis, cannabis came out as actually having benefits whilst the other two are just harmful.

I've smoked all my life and was quite aware it wasn't great... I wouldn't be too upset if I were asked to pay.

The nhs need to start charging all the foreigners that come over here for 'free' health care! and also charge those who have moved out of the uk to live in other countries who come back over for free health treatment!

Tyjen, while I agree with you re foreigners who come here for the 'free' health care, I'm afraid I don't see anything wrong with those who have moved from the UK to live in other countries coming back to access free health treatment as they have paid into it just as those who have remained here have.

Fruitcake, I think if people leave this country to move abroad they should not be entitled to come back for treatment regardless if they contributed to the system before they left.

My views on people who have moved abroad being entitled to come back for treatment...

If they have lived abroad for more than ten years, then possibly not. However I do strongly believe those who have lived in the UK until government retirement age and then want to live the rest of their lives in a better climate should of course be entitled health care here.

Lionel, I agree with you and I understand that it is now recognised that BMI may not be an accurate measurement although waist size is. I decided long ago I wasn't overweight, just too short!