Prescription charges??

[Loosehead]

Now like a good citizen I pay �6.85 for a prescription, even when what I have is worth about �1.50 anyway, I noticed in the queue in front that virtually no one else was paying. I looked on the back and there are various reasons to not pay. Season ticket, contreception, Dole dossing etc etc anyway what I want to know is do they just take your word for it? they did not seem to be asking for any proof. So am I being too honest? Can I just pretend to be a dole dosser and not pay? Don't get me wrong, I already pay thousands in national insurance so I think it's unfair to have to pay again. Should I just move to Wales? How come the Taffs don't pay?

[Oleanda]

I have a "season ticket" and have to show it every time I collect a prescription. I guess some pharmacy assistants are not as vigilant about these things as they ought to be.

[Ethel]

They certainly do not just 'take your word' for it. My chemist allows you to register your details, so you don't have to prove free entitlement every time.

Random checks are made, and people are prosecuted for making false declarations. The pharmacy then has to show the staff took all reasonable care.

Don't forget some medicines will cost much more than the prescription charge.

[jno]

I have a season ticket. My local chemist knows my face as as I'm there every couple of weeks minimum. If I go somewhere else, though, I'm not always asked to show my card, it's true. That usually just means a lazy or untrained sales assistant, and you see them in shops everywhere. (Not talking about Dot Hawkes, of course.)

As to whether I should pay - well, I take 400mg of allopurinol a day. But they don't make them in 400mg tablets so I have to buy 300mg + 100mg, and pay for two prescriptions. If you're in that sort of position, I can understand why you might feel a bit resentful about the charges.

[spudqueen]

I used to work for the Prescription Pricing Authority who collect all the prescriptions from the chemists and pay back to the chemist the value of goods he has dispensed. The chemist can lose out here if he dispenses a trade name when there is a generic drug as the price of the generic drug is all that is paid out. Anyway, all prescriptions were sorted into three sorts, those that have been paid for, contraceptives, and those where people have declared that they get a free prescription for whatever reason. There are checks done on this third lot to establish that the people who have not paid are entitiled to free prescriptions. When I worked there one in ten were checked, though this may have since altered. As Ethel says, people who have falsly declared that they are entitled to free prescriptions are prosecuted.

[spudqueen]

Oh - and I forgot to mention that not everything is worth about �1.50 - some drugs are actually very expensive, you can't always tell which are expensive and which are cheap.

[Loosehead]

I was mainly referring to the income support/unemployed etc, they did not seem to ask for any proof they are entitled to free prescriptions.

[Loosehead]

Thanks spudQ, I am aware that lots of drugs are more than the prescription charge, I was merely stating that mine are about �1.50 if I could actually buy them over the counter. I know because by doctor once wrote me a private prescription and low and behold the naffing chemist then added an admin charge and I was back to square 1!

[sense4all]

Yep we fall in the 'lucky' one in five who have to cough up too. I knew I had heard the figure and offer the BMA link to back up my statement!

http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/FundingPr escriptionCharges

[redcrx]

even when the size of a small bungalow i have to show my maternity exempt card.

i sat in the reception at GPs the other month and a Portuguese woman was asking if she could have her script for free. They said no, she said well can i have a discount, they said no but you can buy a 'season ticket. She said, that looks ok, but can you do discount for cash and can i pay you next month as i dont have money at mo.

[shylock73]

Sometimes it`s best to ask the chemist if they have the equivelent t medicine but cheaper than NHS prescription. ie, Ibruprofen instead of Tramadol. Always ask first.

[mrs_overall]

Further to red's answer - my dentist got a new receptionist and she was a stickler for proof of entitlement to free treatment. I laughed to myself when she asked a woman who was hugely pregnant to prove she was pregnant, and she then asked a woman with a little boy (age about 5) to prove the child was under 16.
I have no gripe against the Welsh but it p's me off that they get free prescriptions, same as the Scots get free University tuition. Don't get me started on that one!

[bednobs]

are you sure your prescription costs about 1.50? There arent mant drugs that do - what is the name of your medicine?

[Loosehead]

Allupurinol, it's been out for about century, well out of licence! to be fair it was about 8 years ago when they looked it up.

[jno]

chemists can shop around. I notice that one of my allopurinol tablets is British and the other one's Irish (Ranbaxy Ireland, and Ranbaxy itself is Indian). So it can be hard to say what a drug 'costs' - it depends where it comes from. I don't know of any cheap, over-the-counter equivalents - if you hear of any, please let me know. Being out of licence just means Indian companies can copy it, it doesn't mean it's any cheaper to produce.

[bednobs]

i absolutely and unresevedly apologise loosehead, allopurinol is about �1.80 for a months supply! You are completely right and i am completeley wrong!

[bednobs]

and as regards to the last part of you question asking why welsh dont pay, its because their devolved government have decided to use some money to lower/reduce the prescription charge dfor everybody. As there is only finite money, this inevitably means that something else wont get funded. its just that their govt have decided the prescriptions are more of a priority than something else

[cazzz1975]

my partner has an underactive thyroid and although his thyroxine is free he has to pay for his tertroxin (which helps his liver convert the thyroxine) he has to pay 25 pounds for 3 month supply, which due to tertroxin being unavailable as its being repackaged he now pays 43 pound for a lower quality similee until its available again

[Loosehead]

np Bednobs, with your obvious knowledge in the area, can I buy allupurinol over the counter in France/Spain/ Ireland etc If so how much? any other ideas how I can just pay the true cost of the stuff?

[bednobs]

sorry - don't know. i usually just refer to www.bnf.org which gives you all the prices of all the medicines prescribed in the uk

[gallapunk]

I don't know if it still applies any more, but some time ago, when I had some medication on prescription, my doctor told me it was cheaper to buy it over the counter and that the chemist isn't allowed to tell me that, but I was allowed to ask him/her if it was cheaper and if so, I could buy it instead of having it on prescription. It was about 20 years ago, but I did ask the chemist, it was cheaper and the chemist let me buy it rather than pay the prescription charge.