40,000 visit East Lancashire GPs for dandruff treatment

5:00pm Friday 3rd August 2012 in News

HEALTH professionals across East Lancashire are supporting a new NHS survey set to investigate the reasons why people head to the doctor instead of looking after themselves at home.

More than 51 million people per year visit their GP with minor problems which would clear up by themselves – or with a little help from an over-the-counter remedy.

Up to 40,000 GP visits per year are for dandruff, while a further 20,000 go to their local surgery for travel-sickness, and 5.2 million with blocked noses.

Health chiefs fear these unnecessary GP visits – almost one in five appointments are for very minor problems – are draining resources from caring for older, chronically-ill people, and having a knock-on effect of placing A&E and emergency departments under further pressure.

Dr Mike Ions, GP and accountable officer for East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group said: “More people are living longer with complex or long-term health conditions – this is great news for everyone, but it does mean we need to take steps so that we can focus more resources on these potentially vulnerable groups of people.

“We are not saying that people should not go to see their GP or use their emergency department and 999 services if they believe they are seriously ill. We need to understand how we can encourage them to help themselves for common problems.”

Comments(16)

BritainfortheBritish says...
5:49pm Fri 3 Aug 12

Would these people be immigrants and benefits claimants that get free scripts so do not have to pay for over the counter remedies .

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jogalot says...
6:03pm Fri 3 Aug 12

Doctors can damage your health. Try giving them up if you want to live longer. Seriously.
.
http://articles.merc
ola.com/sites/articl
es/archive/2012/07/2
5/ten-reasons-to-avo
id-doctors.aspx

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darwenTower says...
6:10pm Fri 3 Aug 12

There should be a minimum charge for all for prescriptions.

I've known people go to their doctors to get headache pills because they are too tight to buy paracetamol.

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Scooby says...
6:17pm Fri 3 Aug 12

I try and see a pharmacist if possible rather than a doctor. They know so much, are really helpful, never need an appointment to see one and paying a few quid for some over the counter medicine is miles better than £8 (is it that much yet?) for a prescription.

Pharmacists really do deserve more credit and recognition!

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mavrick says...
7:06pm Fri 3 Aug 12

Perhaps if Dr Ions concentrated on doing the job he was trained to do instead of one he is incapable of the NHS would be a better service.
People go to the G.P for advice and reassurance. Like it or not Dr Ions this is our NHS and those who seek to destroy it will be called to account.
I find it arrogant in the extreme that someone who trained as a doctor now spends a great deal of his time trying to be a NHS manager. Stick to your own job. Doctors are not Managers.

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BritainfortheBritish says...
7:37pm Fri 3 Aug 12

And yet the so called managers the nhs has cannot manage either .

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Faithless says...
7:51pm Fri 3 Aug 12

Then you get pharmacists and GPs of a certain ethnic origin in Burnley defrauading the NHS of hundreds of thousands of pounds and Dr Ions turns a blind eye to it. If I was Dr Ions I'd be embarrassed. No wonder the NHS has no money.

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Heretical says...
10:32pm Fri 3 Aug 12

Dear LET,

If you're going to rip off pieces from other newspapers I.e The Telegraph of 11/07/2012 The Independent, The Daily Mail etc.then at least have the decency to get it right!

It should read '40,000 VISITS FOR DANDRUFF ACROSS ENGLAND!' NOT EAST LANCS.

It makes a difference you know....your job is to report accurately.Have a go at it...you might like it!

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Cawoman says...
11:23pm Fri 3 Aug 12

I am sorry to say that I agree with comments above. Dr Ions should seek to carry on seeing patients as he is paid to do or if he feels he is not able to carry out that job, then he should stand down and let someone else do do it. My husband has recently been diagnosed with cancer and therefore, it means that neither him nor I, are now able to work - whereas, we have both done so since we were 16yrs since we both left school. We are rely on our very prudent Gp at the Brierfield Health Centre to give us the prescriptions that he needs as and when he needs them whether it be paracetamol or morphine. Being on benefit means that we also cannot afford paracetamol whether it be 10p anything more. We did not ask to be in this position, it is merely one we find ourselves in. I understood that the Pendle View Medical Practice employed a Manager. Perhaps If Dr. Ions wishes now to take on that role, he should save both his practice and the Pct monies by doing so and relinquishing his very expensive role as a "GP" along with his also expensive Pension Fund! I think not?

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asiancare says...
12:43am Sat 4 Aug 12

BritainfortheBritish wrote:
Would these people be immigrants and benefits claimants that get free scripts so do not have to pay for over the counter remedies .
stupid its got nothing to do with immigrants. do you never get bored. get a life.

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sen c ble says...
11:56am Sat 4 Aug 12

asiancare wrote:
BritainfortheBritish wrote:
Would these people be immigrants and benefits claimants that get free scripts so do not have to pay for over the counter remedies .
stupid its got nothing to do with immigrants. do you never get bored. get a life.
Sorry mate. This nutter hasn't got a life. Well he did till some 'immigrant' toppled him at everything he was capable of, and all because they were better and far superior than him!

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Yankee Clipper says...
12:05pm Sat 4 Aug 12

Heretical wrote:
Dear LET,

If you're going to rip off pieces from other newspapers I.e The Telegraph of 11/07/2012 The Independent, The Daily Mail etc.then at least have the decency to get it right!

It should read '40,000 VISITS FOR DANDRUFF ACROSS ENGLAND!' NOT EAST LANCS.

It makes a difference you know....your job is to report accurately.Have a go at it...you might like it!
Well said, Heretical. Readers should have realised long ago that all the Lancashire Telegraph knows how to do is pass off cheap and easy sensationalism as "journalism".

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StephenDes says...
1:50pm Sat 4 Aug 12

It doesn't matter what topic it is, some posters on the LET manage to turn every topic into a racial issue. Last time I looked, both white and Asian people had hair, and no group was singled out in the report, whichever paper it came from originally. Grow up.

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Izanears says...
11:54am Sun 5 Aug 12

BritainfortheBritish wrote:
Would these people be immigrants and benefits claimants that get free scripts so do not have to pay for over the counter remedies .
YES.

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Heretical says...
12:45pm Sun 5 Aug 12

If you actually do the maths of the piece you'll find that EACH GP in England (NOT EAST LANCS 'COS THE LET GOT IT WRONG!) saw 1 ONE PERSON IN A YEAR.
Or more accurately 5 people in one year per GP practice.

Hardly groundbreaking and there is just the possibility that may have had severe Seborrhoeic Dermatitis or Psoriasis or other scalp condition and thought they had dandruff...

Not a race issue,not earth shaking waste..not newsworthy just sensationalist twaddle.

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sen c ble says...
2:08pm Sun 5 Aug 12

Izanears wrote:
BritainfortheBritish wrote:
Would these people be immigrants and benefits claimants that get free scripts so do not have to pay for over the counter remedies .
YES.
NO.

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