Veteran athlete loses treatment costs relay
I was treated by my usual osteopath who is highly qualified and has treated some of our top international runners. We agreed that a short period of ultra-sound might speed up recovery.
Ultra-sound is administered by a particular piece of physiotherapist’s equipment. I requested, and received, a brief note specifying information for a physiotherapist who declined to treat me without a GP referral.
Running injuries are not the GP’s field.
Why must I pay 40 for what amounts to a ‘sick note’ before relating to the physio what I want done? Pay for the same treatment twice, once unnecessarily? This system applies neither countrywide nor, it would seem, in Britain or mainland Europe.
Why don’t all physios make their own sports injury diagnoses initially, using the knowledge of their patients, particularly when they are experienced? Surely the patients’ information is the basis of treatment in all walks of medicine?
The present system is patronising and costly. Perhaps there is an explanation not apparent to me or others in sport. With medical costs rising arbitrarily, it is reasonable for the public to expect answers.
Joe Coyle,
68, Riverview,
Drogheda,
Co Louth.
