NHS Cutbacks

lady_L

Has anyone else fallen foul of recent NHS cutbacks in Northern Ireland regarding drug treatments for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers

36square

What exactly has happened? Have the treatments been completely withdrawn?

warmhands.coldheart

I remember hearing recently that a Mr. Brendan O’Hare from a Castlederg surgery made a dramatic announcement. His quite astonishing figures have revealed savings of £311,000 in five weeks on prescriptions by issuing non branded drugs. Now I thought this was already a practice "Pardon the pun" used in most if not all GP Practices? Obviously Not!! No brainer really. just look in the supermarkets, you can buy Paracetamol for 15p so whay pay £2.00 for a packet of Branded Paracetamol. Same must be the case for the more common prescription drugs.

PS. I'm on a prescription for Arthritis and haven't noticed any changes!! I do however not agree with Free Prescriptions.. It's a drain on the NHS resources... Why do our politicians make decisions they see as Vote Winners rather than sensible hard decisions!
I think all drugs/medicines like Paracetamol, Ibuprofain, cough mixtures and other general "cheap" medicines should be paid for by everyone. They cost pence really! Keep prescriptions for the specialist more expensive medicines.

lady_L

Sorry I wasn`t very clear in my original post I`m not talking `normal` pain relief drugs. The drugs in question are prescribed by consultant after the patient has passed several criteria tests to establish their suitability then they are put on a waiting list many months long having done that the NI health service has withdrawn these drugs from use ,they are available in Scotland,England and Wales thus discriminating against NI again

warmhands.coldheart

lady_L wrote: »

......they are available in Scotland,England and Wales thus discriminating against NI again

Prescriptions cost over £7 in England. Is that not discriminating against the English?....

sleepymy

lady_L wrote: »

Sorry I wasn`t very clear in my original post I`m not talking `normal` pain relief drugs. The drugs in question are prescribed by consultant after the patient has passed several criteria tests to establish their suitability then they are put on a waiting list many months long having done that the NI health service has withdrawn these drugs from use ,they are available in Scotland,England and Wales thus discriminating against NI again

It's not discriminating against NI, we're building a separate health service, it's about what funding is within the NI structure. I'm plagued by debilitating chronic migraines (pretty much every day for several years now). The mainland are having great success with botox injections, I can't get them in NI and am not allowed to get them on the mainland.

metalgal

I agree with the use of non branded items. I take celebrex for arthritis, and I can only get celebrex, no generic form. I take the generic Efexor XL and it does not matter a jot to me its the same drugs just without the fancy ink on the box. The worst case is the oesomprozole (sp?) i take for my stomach, i used to take lansoprazole which was generic, but this new one comes in the fanciest packaging with pictures and all sorts on it. It annoys me as me and my husband are constantly worrying about him losing his job in the health service, yet i get fancy packaged drugs for nothing. I would rather my husband have a job than get free medicine.

I was talking to my pharmacist about this a few months ago, my DD takes levothyroixin. She is only 19mo (no thyroid developed in utero) but takes the tablets, crushed up from when she was 2 weeks old. there is another child in the area with the same condition, but they have a different doctor who prescribes the liquid form of the thyroxine. My DD's medicine is approx 1/8 of the price of the other child's. This is down to simply having a different doctor, it is not an issue with taking it as we had crushed the tablets and then dissolved it in her milk.

lvjc2

I wonder is Lady L talking about the really expensive things, like TNF inhibitors I think they're called.

lady_L

l ivjc2 has it in one these are serious drugs for people wh se tolerance of other drugs have reached their limit and they have no other options or hope

andiescottie

Hi there, I have been on anti T.N.F treatments for 4 years now. Fingers crossed (metaphorically speaking) for anyone still waiting for treatment. However anti T.N.F does not work for everyone, nor is there any way of checking if it will work. I waited 3 years for my treatments and am now permanently disabled. I sometimes cant help but wonder how I would be today if I hadnt had to wait so long to try anti TNF. Now the options that are currently available do not seem to work for me. I really hope that anyone waiting for these meds will get treatment soon.

It would be fab if those brainy bods in charge of NHS budgets would be able to sort out the postcode prescribing. While we lag behind with treatments for arthritis, we are ahead of most of the U.K. with cancer treatments. As a former nurse turned full time patient I wish it was easier for our rheumatology consultants to have access to drug trials.

The only thing I can suggest is if you have been on a waiting list for anti T.N.F and are being told that you cant have it due to funding in N.I. is to make a complaint to your local health trust C.E.O and to our Health minister.

warmhands.coldheart

Now we know where all our NHS funding is going
OK these people need help but at what cost.. it seems £1370/day !!!!! These specialists must be on some money!!