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I work for a pharmacy and wanted to let you all know of another way to get prescriptions cheaper.
Most people dont know but you ask the doctor to give u a private prescription. This means that he prints it on the white piece of paper instead of the green. Medication such as antibiotics are usually alot cheaper this way. Most antibiotics cost about £3 for a course. you pay this instead of paying the nhs charge of £7.10
Obviously this doesnt work on all medication but most antibiotics and you have to ask the doctor to do it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sally1980
Hi there,
I work for a pharmacy and wanted to let you all know of another way to get prescriptions cheaper.
Most people dont know but you ask the doctor to give u a private prescription. This means that he prints it on the white piece of paper instead of the green.
Do you have to pay the GP for writing out a private prescription?
I work for a pharmacy and wanted to let you all know of another way to get prescriptions cheaper.
Most people dont know but you ask the doctor to give u a private prescription. This means that he prints it on the white piece of paper instead of the green. Medication such as antibiotics are usually alot cheaper this way. Most antibiotics cost about £3 for a course. you pay this instead of paying the nhs charge of £7.10
Obviously this doesnt work on all medication but most antibiotics and you have to ask the doctor to do it.
Try it next time u visit th gp
As I understand it, that is actually a breach of the GP's terms of service and they shouldn't do it. Basic rule - if you see a GP as an NHS patient you get an NHS prescription. To get a private prescription you should be seen as a private patient - though malaria prophylaxis and erectile dysfunction seem to be exceptions.
Doctors can write private prescriptions for drugs not available on the NHS, but as MSP says above, the doctor is breaking his terms of service if he gives out private prescriptions to NHS patients on NHS time.
The prescription charge, after all, is basically the NHS fee for seeing the doctor!!!!
How to find a dentist. 1. Get recommendations from friends/family/neighbours/etc. 2. Once you have a short-list, VISIT the practices - dont just phone. Go on the pretext of getting a Practice Leaflet. 3. Assess the helpfulness of the staff and the level of the facilities. 4. Only book initial appointment when you find a place you are happy with.
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I dont know about all the rules and regs behind it but i do know that alot of people who come to my pharmacy do this. Particularly with antibiotics and the doc doesnt charge.
Anybody ever buy Imodium or Diocalm Ultra to stop diarrhoea?
Don't waste your money. The only active ingredient is loperamide hydrochloride. Ask your chemist for unbranded Loperamide tablets, and you'll save as much as 75% for exactly the same medication.
If you have regular medication lilke as nose sprays or asthma inhaler etc then ask your gp for 2. I always ask for 2 of that nose spray or 2 inhalers. You ONLY pay for the item not the quantity of the item! So if you only get 1 and you know you will need another ask for 2.
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I get 3 months prescriptions for all my meds. I never ask for a months supply of my long term meds. That would cost me 3 times as much. This seems to work out cheaper than 3 month or anual prepay certificates. I tried to get longer scripts but my Dr said 3 months was the maximum i could get at one time.
For those who still use the anti-histamine tablet branded as 'Piriton', there is a generic available otc from pharmacists under the name 'Chlorphenamine 4mg tablets'; these cost me about 4p per pill vs Piriton @ 10p per. (Chlorphenamine Maleate is the active ingredient in 'Piriton')
I get 3 months prescriptions for all my meds. I never ask for a months supply of my long term meds. That would cost me 3 times as much. This seems to work out cheaper than 3 month or anual prepay certificates. I tried to get longer scripts but my Dr said 3 months was the maximum i could get at one time.
Everybody at my GP's surgery was been informed earlier this year, that all prescriptions will in future be for 1 month supply. I have 3 items per month so this has been working out at around £23 per month. The pharmacy gave me Form FP95 about pre-payment charges - I didn't realise how much I could save with one of these things.
One phone-call to the number, and I'm now set-up with DD for £10.25 per month for 10 months - which will cover me for regular meds plus any extra ones like antibiotics, painkillers etc. - so a really good saving of well over 50% (not counting anything extra) .
Should have done it ages ago - but you live and learn .
Will somebody please tell me where life's 'clutter delete' button is?
Please remember that if you suffer from one of a number of specified chronic medical conditions, that means you can get an exemption from prescription charges. The conditions and how to apply are listed at http://www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/medex.htm. This applied to England only as there are different arrangements for Scotland and Wales (don't know about NI though).
In all probability if you suffer from any of these conditions, either your Dr or pharmacy will have informed you about this. But I'm surprised to find on a forum I'm a member of for one of these conditions, which I have, that some, especially those newly diagnosed, don't know about it.
Furthermore, once you have the MEDEX, you get exemption from charges for prescriptions medications for conditions other that the one you have qualified for.
Once you have a private prescription from a UK registered GP, you can take it to any pharmacy to be dispensed. There are now several online pharmacies which tend to offer prescription medicines at lower prices than many conventional chemists. Examples of these are pharmacy2u.co.uk and MedsChemist.com (also meds.co.uk). Always make sure that the online pharmacy is UK reg with the RPSGB and displays the RPSGB logo on their site - I think there are many 'dodgy' sites out there but the two mentioned here are legit. Hope this is of some help.
Which article was wrong, needing correction? I knew about Grapefruit and its juice affecting the levels of certain medications. I take one such med so I know. Where did you see the info about not taking meds with any fruit juice can you tell me please?
My daughter has just had her spleen removed. Although she has free prescriptions at the moment that won't last forever and the current advice is 250mg of penicillin V twice a day for life. Is the 1 month max prescription set in stone somewhere or is it just down the the doctor? And if it is a regulation then patients are being ripped off since 1 month seems to be 28 days of medication, so 13! not 12 prescriptions per year.
After reading in the post above than antibiotics are cheap to buy I looked on the net and found edrugnet.co.uk although I do wonder about the legality. Reading between the lines of the FAQ I guess they have a Dr who writes a private prescription if need be. Anyway, the price of penicillin is £13.25 for 150 caps compared with £7.10 for 56. Not a large saving, 4.95 vs 7.10. Is this an expensive site? It seemed as cheap as any to me although I've not bothered to register meds.co.uk to see if a private prescription would be cheaper (why you have to register just to see the prices.....).
Which article was wrong, needing correction? I knew about Grapefruit and its juice affecting the levels of certain medications. I take one such med so I know. Where did you see the info about not taking meds with any fruit juice can you tell me please?
Sainsbury's not checking for exemption certificate
I have been recently twice to a Sainsbury's pharmacy for medication. I have a medical exemption certificate (option E on the prescription form), and thus a plastic card that gives me free prescriptions.
Anyhow the person behind the till should ask to check for this, but twice now has not bothered. So if I was dishonest I could get away with not paying at all!
They are also suppose to check for Warfarin, which they do not seem to do.
I have been recently twice to a Sainsbury's pharmacy for medication. I have a medical exemption certificate (option E on the prescription form), and thus a plastic card that gives me free prescriptions.
Anyhow the person behind the till should ask to check for this, but twice now has not bothered. So if I was dishonest I could get away with not paying at all!
They are also suppose to check for Warfarin, which they do not seem to do.
People may get away with it for a while, but the counter fraud people do carry out checks which can result in penalties. To be honest my staff don't ask to see proof of every exemption as we don't have the time.
Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps. Take care over copyright. Use excerpts and links rather than copying long text. This site asserts copyright on all comments posted on the board.
Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps.
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