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How much do you pay for your prescriptions?

Hi everybody. I don't know if this has been mentioned anywhere else but I apologise for duplicating if it has.

Prescription charges. Well, they are currently something like £7.10 per item. I have to pay full whack even though I am disabled and am classed at the full rate of disability. Nope, no free prescriptions for me :mad: So, if am unlucky enough to get something like an eye or ear infection (I've had an eye infection over the last few weeks) I can end up paying out £14 + in a week just on prescriptions including my normal medication. However, did you know that your pharmacist is supposed to, by law, tell you if a medication that you have been prescribed by your doctor is available 'off the shelf' at a cheaper price. Most pharmacists are good and they do indeed give this information. But, with everybody being so rushed these days it must sometimes get forgotten for the pharmacist to ask. Sometimes it's not even a pharmacist who deals with your prescription but a counter assistant. What if they are new and have not been told about the offering of 'off the shelf' alternatives?

That eye infection I mentioned? Well a prescription is, as stated £7.10 at the moment. I got antibiotic eye drops, exactly the same as on my prescription for £4.64 from Boots. That's nearly half the price.

It's worth checking by asking.

Take care.

Kevan
Kevan - a disabled old so and so who, despite being in pain 24/7 still manages to smile as much as possible :)
«1

Comments

  • penrhyn
    penrhyn Posts: 15,215 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Its a good idea asking if its cheaper to buy the drug off the shelf rather than using the prescription.
    Its also worth asking for the generic drug rather than the branded version.
    That gum you like is coming back in style.
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    kevanf1 wrote: »
    Hi everybody. I don't know if this has been mentioned anywhere else but I apologise for duplicating if it has.

    Prescription charges. Well, they are currently something like £7.10 per item. I have to pay full whack even though I am disabled and am classed at the full rate of disability. Nope, no free prescriptions for me :mad: So, if am unlucky enough to get something like an eye or ear infection (I've had an eye infection over the last few weeks) I can end up paying out £14 + in a week just on prescriptions including my normal medication. However, did you know that your pharmacist is supposed to, by law, tell you if a medication that you have been prescribed by your doctor is available 'off the shelf' at a cheaper price. Most pharmacists are good and they do indeed give this information. But, with everybody being so rushed these days it must sometimes get forgotten for the pharmacist to ask. Sometimes it's not even a pharmacist who deals with your prescription but a counter assistant. What if they are new and have not been told about the offering of 'off the shelf' alternatives?

    That eye infection I mentioned? Well a prescription is, as stated £7.10 at the moment. I got antibiotic eye drops, exactly the same as on my prescription for £4.64 from Boots. That's nearly half the price.

    It's worth checking by asking.

    Take care.

    Kevan

    An unqualified counter assistant should NEVER sell you an over the counter alternative for your prescription unless they have checked with the pharmacist. Equally they should never be dispensing your medication, just taking the prescription and the money. This is for a qualified dispensing technician or pre-reg pharmacist (final year student) or registered pharmacist. :cool:

    If you have more than four prescriptions in three months you will be better off with a prepayment certificate: ask the pharmacist for an application form. You can hold off until you get your next prescription, ask for an official receipt (used to be A4 sized, so NOT the till receipt!) and claim the money back at the same time as applying for the prepayment certificate. That way you can have large gaps between prepayment certificates, getting a new prescription dispensed right at the start and just before it expires. ;)
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    penrhyn wrote: »
    Its a good idea asking if its cheaper to buy the drug off the shelf rather than using the prescription.
    Its also worth asking for the generic drug rather than the branded version.

    Legally whatever is asked for by the GP must be dispensed or sold - if that is a trade name then you should be supplied with the branded version. :mad: If your prescription (or you) specifically requests the product using its generic name then the pharmacy staff are allowed to sell you a cheaper clone. Can you tell I am a qualified pharmacy technician?? :p
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • I'll move this to the health and beauty board as it's not really green and ethical ;)

    MOVING THREADS FOR BETTER RESPONSES

    Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL]
  • Fire_Fox wrote: »
    An unqualified counter assistant should NEVER sell you an over the counter alternative for your prescription unless they have checked with the pharmacist. Equally they should never be dispensing your medication, just taking the prescription and the money. This is for a qualified dispensing technician or pre-reg pharmacist (final year student) or registered pharmacist. :cool:

    Oh crikey no, I wasn't implying wrong doing in that way. :eek: It often happens that a counter assistant will pick a medicine off the shelf and check it with the on duty pharmacist. I've never seen it done otherwise. I would hope and imagine that the assistant is also at least a qualified dispensing assistant :D

    Fire_Fox wrote: »
    If you have more than four prescriptions in three months you will be better off with a prepayment certificate: ask the pharmacist for an application form. You can hold off until you get your next prescription, ask for an official receipt (used to be A4 sized, so NOT the till receipt!) and claim the money back at the same time as applying for the prepayment certificate. That way you can have large gaps between prepayment certificates, getting a new prescription dispensed right at the start and just before it expires. ;)

    Yes, my wife has one. She has to have blood pressure, asthma and pain killing medication. She usually has something like 3 or 4 items every 2 weeks or so.

    Annoyingly, I used to be able to get 200 pain killers (I have arthritis) on one prescription. Over the last 6 months my doctor has cut this down to 100 per prescription :cry: Which means it costs me double now for my 'scrips. I've worked it out and a pre pay certificate doesn't quite save me anything.... I wish I could cut down on the medication but I can't.
    Kevan - a disabled old so and so who, despite being in pain 24/7 still manages to smile as much as possible :)
  • kevanf1 wrote: »
    Hi everybody. I don't know if this has been mentioned anywhere else but I apologise for duplicating if it has.

    Prescription charges. Well, they are currently something like £7.10 per item. I have to pay full whack even though I am disabled and am classed at the full rate of disability. Nope, no free prescriptions for me :mad: So, if am unlucky enough to get something like an eye or ear infection (I've had an eye infection over the last few weeks) I can end up paying out £14 + in a week just on prescriptions including my normal medication.

    Write to your MP. The only way the system is going to change is if enough people complain about to the people who can change it.

    kevanf1 wrote: »
    However, did you know that your pharmacist is supposed to, by law, tell you if a medication that you have been prescribed by your doctor is available 'off the shelf' at a cheaper price. Most pharmacists are good and they do indeed give this information. But, with everybody being so rushed these days it must sometimes get forgotten for the pharmacist to ask. Sometimes it's not even a pharmacist who deals with your prescription but a counter assistant. What if they are new and have not been told about the offering of 'off the shelf' alternatives?

    That eye infection I mentioned? Well a prescription is, as stated £7.10 at the moment. I got antibiotic eye drops, exactly the same as on my prescription for £4.64 from Boots. That's nearly half the price.

    It's worth checking by asking.

    Take care.

    Kevan

    There's no law that I know of that says I have to inform patients that their prescription would be cheaper over the counter. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the department of health thought it was fraud and depriving the NHS of prescription charges (The DoH have some very strange ideas at times!)
    Fire_Fox wrote:
    Legally whatever is asked for by the GP must be dispensed or sold - if that is a trade name then you should be supplied with the branded version. If your prescription (or you) specifically requests the product using its generic name then the pharmacy staff are allowed to sell you a cheaper clone. Can you tell I am a qualified pharmacy technician??

    Only if you are supply against that prescription - an OTC sale is nothing to do with a prescription. I regularly sell generic products OTC when the GP has prescribed a brand. People are far less willing to spend their own money than the government's money.
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    kevanf1 wrote: »
    Oh crikey no, I wasn't implying wrong doing in that way. :eek: It often happens that a counter assistant will pick a medicine off the shelf and check it with the on duty pharmacist. I've never seen it done otherwise. I would hope and imagine that the assistant is also at least a qualified dispensing assistant :D

    Counter assistants are unqualified although they may well have gone through some in-house training, formal or informal. A dispensing technician must have a recognised qualification; I have a BTEC ONC in Pharmaceutical Sciences but I think that's been superceded with NVQs. Mine took two years of day-release study to achieve and is equivalent to two A levels. In hospital pharmacy at least, a qualified technician can check a pharmacist's dispensing before it is released. Retail standards vary but legally a pharmacist must have been involved in the process at some point.
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • Fire_Fox
    Fire_Fox Posts: 26,026 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Only if you are supply against that prescription - an OTC sale is nothing to do with a prescription. I regularly sell generic products OTC when the GP has prescribed a brand. People are far less willing to spend their own money than the government's money.

    Interesting - I was taught differently tho I bow to your superior knowledge! I was told that we could only sell a branded 'P' medication unless the patient specifically asked otherwise, as there may be a reason (e.g. allergy) why that brand was specified by thee GP. Admittedly I have not always adhered to that, depending upon the individual circumstances. I suppose it's because I am viewing the transaction as supplying against the prescription? :confused:
    Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
  • Swans1912
    Swans1912 Posts: 1,658 Forumite
    I pay nothing as i live in Wales!:-D
  • WPC
    WPC Posts: 89 Forumite
    I'm also very lucky and don't have to pay as I live in Wales : )
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