Do UK GPs or psychiatrists get commission for prescribing certain medication?

ie more money the more prescriptions the dish out (anti-depressants and anti-psychotics specifically).

I've had doctors who have been VERY keen to prescribe me such medication no matter what I tell them even if I'm happy and content.

Parents
  • It's simpler than that. GPs have 7-10 minutes so medication is often perceived as the "right option", because the patient wants something done.

    Also most humans (and doctors are not exempt) have a mental picture of "normal" and if they have a patient who is not normal by their reckoning they feel it is their duty to treat...and meds are a "quick fix".

    In my country there is ongoing work on the use of talk therapy in schizophrenia. The usual rubric for treatment is to medicate to avoid the hallucinations experienced in psychosis. Turns out that a well trained person can help a person with schizophrenia develop strategies to deal with the voices without medication. But it takes considerable time and effort.

    In public funded health systems time is not an abundant comodity. I suspect many doctors wish they had more time...

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  • It's simpler than that. GPs have 7-10 minutes so medication is often perceived as the "right option", because the patient wants something done.

    Also most humans (and doctors are not exempt) have a mental picture of "normal" and if they have a patient who is not normal by their reckoning they feel it is their duty to treat...and meds are a "quick fix".

    In my country there is ongoing work on the use of talk therapy in schizophrenia. The usual rubric for treatment is to medicate to avoid the hallucinations experienced in psychosis. Turns out that a well trained person can help a person with schizophrenia develop strategies to deal with the voices without medication. But it takes considerable time and effort.

    In public funded health systems time is not an abundant comodity. I suspect many doctors wish they had more time...

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