Patients puts off as GPs being paid to prescribe statins

Patients are being put off amidst concerns over GPs being paid to prescribe statins. The potentially life-saving medication that can lower cholesterol to avoid heart attacks and strokes is often scrutinised by patients over financial incentives GPs reportedly receive for handing them out.

There’s apparently a widely-held belief among Brits that the statins they’re given aren’t needed because of GPs being paid to prescribe statins.

Is this just a case of mistrust over GPs being paid to prescribe statins, or should patients be worried about what they’re GPs are telling them to do?

GPs being paid to prescribe statins leads to mistrust for patients

The upshot of the study results is that GPs being paid to prescribe statins has led to mistrust for patients who are being given them.

The study encompassed some 880 patients across several countries, including the UK, and here patients have been questioning whether they really need statins or not given the financial incentives scheme.

Those patients who are symptom-free are perhaps the more likely to question the issue as well.

Safety and efficacy of statins questioned

The safety and efficacy of statins has been questioned in the past, of which some of the statements previously made about reported side-effects linked to use of the drug were reportedly withdrawn from research papers.

Some of the side-effects reported in the past include serious problems like diabetes and memory loss.

Should people be worried about GPs being paid to prescribe statins?

Ultimately, the course of treatment or action a GP should take must be with the best interests of the patient at heart at all times. If the issue of GPs being paid to prescribe statins means that some doctors are cashing in on the financial incentive without suggesting alternative courses of action, such as lifestyle changes, we have a serious problem.

But, would such a situation really occur? Surely, GPs will always have the best interests of their patients in mind at all times.

That’s their job at the end of the day…

That being said, if ever there is an issue of negligent treatment arising from financial incentives to dish out drugs, legal action should always be taken.