MSE News: Superdrug to cut private prescription costs

roadster1

chalkysoil wrote: »

I asked mine about thyroid pills, I actually get them free but it's an 8 mile trip to drop the repeat prescription in, then 8 miles to collect it from the chemist, no bus service. As I'm on them for life getting them monthly is a major pain. He now gives me 56 days at a go but as they are so cheap in bulk I had the idea I could buy a 1000 at a time on a private prescription and save the mileage costs and time, but not allowed.

Lots of chemists operate a postal service for both private and NHS prescriptions. Lloyds online certainly do "We offer our Express Repeat Prescription service for your regular monthly items. Sign up online today and have your medication delivered directly to your home from our internet pharmacy" they even send a pre paid envelope to send you next prescription in.

roadster1

geordie_joe wrote: »

I expect it was. If you believe the statistics, 100 million men need something like viagra, but most get it from dodgy web sites and what they actually get is very different from what they were expecting. Advertising the fact that you can now get the real stuff cheaper would be a good thing.

Well said. Levitra, Viagra etc. is and have been for months, available for a few pennies less than was quoted on the original MSE article from another well known on-line chemists. Order 8 and they are post free as well.

dandelions

I'm currently working as a dispenser, and don't really understand this. The markup covers the cost of getting in stock, time spent dispensing it, time spent filling paperwork (all private prescriptions must be entered in a special record book by law), time spent checking it's appropriate for the patient and with the patients' other medicines. It's especially reasonable given that I bet Superdrug sells all its shampoo, etc, at a 50% markup for doing nothing more than getting it into store and onto shelves and then manning a till to sell it.

Why should pharmacies do this work for free? The NHS pays us per item to give every NHS medication out, but of course doesn't reimburse us anything for private scripts. We can't work for nothing - how would we pay wages?

Sagz_2

dandelions wrote: »

I'm currently working as a dispenser, and don't really understand this. The markup covers the cost of getting in stock, time spent dispensing it, time spent filling paperwork (all private prescriptions must be entered in a special record book by law), time spent checking it's appropriate for the patient and with the patients' other medicines. It's especially reasonable given that I bet Superdrug sells all its shampoo, etc, at a 50% markup for doing nothing more than getting it into store and onto shelves and then manning a till to sell it.

Why should pharmacies do this work for free? The NHS pays us per item to give every NHS medication out, but of course doesn't reimburse us anything for private scripts. We can't work for nothing - how would we pay wages?

It's called business!

If Superdrug want to use this as a loss leader then I, as a customer and MSE'er, am all for it.

Sam_26

Pharmacies get a discount on drugs, hence we get clawbacked by the government. I had a number of customers contact me today, would hayfever remedies be cheaper on private prescription.

The simple answer is they should be, as

1. Private prescriptions atttract no VAT

But the actual answer is no

1. The £2.25 mark up by Superdrug is fixed
2. They are working on their standard trade prices and not incorporating any wholesaler discounts.

On Viagra the standard discount from Pfizer is 8.5% to pharmacies. Are Superdrug passing this on?

A customer has cetirizine 90 tablets priced at over £8. Why bother when cheaper retail?

My customers have reported not always cheaper, especially for generics at Superdrug, due to what they perceive as the trade price!

atypical

Sam_26 wrote: »

1. The £2.25 mark up by Superdrug is fixed

What is this? Are you saying that Superdrug adds £2.25 to every sale, in addition to the trade price?

Sam_26 wrote: »

A customer has cetirizine 90 tablets priced at over £8. Why bother when cheaper retail?

Are you saying Superdrug charges over £8 for 90 cetirizine tabs? I can't see how they can justify saying their trade price is over £2.67 a pack when it's obviously a lot less than that.

baconbonce

A common method for pharmacies to price up a private prescription is cost price plus 50% (no VAT). It is worth phoning a branch of Boots, a branch of Lloyds, etc., as well as several independent local pharmacies.

baconbonce

Cost price is listed either in the Drug Tariff
or the Chemist and Druggist [registration and subscription required], depending on whether the medicine is generic (drug name, e.g. ibuprofen or salbutamol) or brand (Manufacturer's name, e.g. Neurofen, Ventolin, Malarone). A common method for calculation is cost price plus 50% or cost price plus a standard dispensing fee. If expensive, always phone around.