From Nellie Maçon.
FURTHER to Senator Paul Routier’s reply to my letter (JEP, 22 January), Social Security have left it to the discretion of the various doctors’ surgeries whether they make a charge (albeit ‘nominal’) or not for each appointment for those on the low-income allowance, so for many, these appointments are not free.

It would also appear that some doctors are unaware that they can request even further ‘free’ appointments for their patients and consequently people are not getting their entitlement. A cost of £3 or £4 per appointment may not seem very much, but it is when you are having to live on, say, £79 a week and are having to go to the doctor once a month.

We were assured that no one would be worse off under the new system than they were under HIE. This is definitely not the case. While I accept what Senator Routier says about some repeat prescriptions being too expensive for poorer people who did not qualify for HIE, surely the funds available from Social Security to provide them with free prescriptions would have lasted far longer if they weren’t being wasted on people who can well afford to pay for them.

Hopefully, Deputy Gorst will examine this whole subject when undertaking his review.
Beau Regard,
Plat Douet Road,
St Saviour.