Selfish/thoughtless NHS users

missbiggles1

DomRavioli wrote: »

Please don't also forget that there are zero mental health conditions funded under this - i know of too many people who go without medication because they struggle to afford it (everything from clinical depression through to paranoid schizophrenia and everything inbetween, and a lot of people are on multiple meds).

There are precious few people who can't afford £9 pm for all their medications!

photome

jack_pott wrote: »

Provided that your prescriptions are issued monthly you can get a whole year's meds for £87.30 by buying three 3 month PPCs.

Takes a bit more planning though compared to a yearly pic.

I still don't see why either everyone pays or no one pays

paddedjohn

I'd like to see free scripts scrapped for benefit claimants , £10 if working and £5 if on benefits would be fair I reckon.
People on benefits already have their income upped to that of an employed person so why the extra benefits of free scripts/free school meals/free dentist etc etc.

Rosemary7391

I'd rather see people charged/inconvenienced for abuse of the system, rather than use. At the moment we effectively charge the average person for seeing the GP via the prescription charge. It's all very well saying £10 isn't much, but £18 is more and probably more realistic when you consider that.

Cyclamen

I favour a system that penalises missed appointments if people dont have a very good reason. Perhaps one warning then a financial penalty. Paying for each visit could become hugely expensive for people with ongoing health conditions and may put people off going who really do need help.

I don't mind receptionists screening to see if people could go to nurse or pharmacist.

It's tricky with paracetomal on prescription.. when you can only buy two packets at a time. If you online food shop and cant go out that may not be enough for the week especially if more than one poorly person in the house. I'm talking long term poorly folk so perhaps we could have a system so we can buy big boxes at a time?

My bug bear is the 'postcode lottery' for health care. I just don't understand how it can be so different in areas of the same country.

DomRavioli

missbiggles1 wrote: »

There are precious few people who can't afford £9 pm for all their medications!

Having been there - Working temp shifts as and when, earning too much for help, but spending literally all I have on a mortgage, bills, transport and private therapy because a 2 year waiting list isn't good. £50 a week on therapy adds up.

Thousands do it every month. Also PPCs aren't well publicised, and most MH meds can leave you mentally drained, with zero memory and in some cases a lack of capacity.

GlasweJen

I'm in Scotland so the point is moot up here but I've had a transplant and will be on medication for life, I also have life threatening allergies and need adrenaline with me at all times. I receive PIP as I'm paraplegic and have lots of complications related to the transplant such as blackouts and nerve pain. I have 14 items on my repeat prescription, none of them minor like paracetamol. I also get adrenaline once a year or when I use an epipen. The anti-rejection drugs make me prone to infections so I have antibiotics at least once every 6 weeks over and above my normal drugs. I can only work part time due to my illnesses and have professional and family carers to help me out. Before Scotland had free prescriptions I had to pay (had a pre-payment card).

My mum has an underactive thyroid, she works 16+ hours a week plus cares for me 35+ hours and does mum stuff like running committees and watching the grand children. Before everyone else in Scotland got free prescriptions she didn't have to pay anything.

Even she said the system was unfair.

TeamPlum

LilElvis wrote: »

I never said it wasn't. What I did say is that there are many other medical conditions which require drugs to stay alive but for which the patient has to pay. Without his medication my husband cannot eat, as in not a mouthful. Fortunately he hasn't had a serious attack in a very long time but it could prove fatal at any time. His longest stay in hospital was 6 months, the majority in intensive care, near-death twice and leaving weighing less than 7 stone and morphine-addicted. Does that sound life-threatening enough to qualify for the same dispensation afforded to diabetics when it comes to prescription charges?

Well, no actually. It doesn't.

I'm a hospital dietitian. Not eating is not in itself fatal. He could have a feeding tube (NG or PEG for example) to keep his nutrition adequate. Of course I don't know what the actual condition is, because you've not said, but there are ways around not eating.

And by the way, having a PEG, in my area means you don't pay prescription charges.

DD265

This year I have had 2 contraceptive reviews and I had a sum total of 4 appointments when I had a cyst removed from my back; so no visible illness on any occasion. Of those 6 appointments, 3 have been with a doctor, and the remainder with a nurse.

I reckon I sit in the waiting room being annoyed with retirees for taking outside-working hours appointments, and they sit there being annoyed with me for being at the doctors when I'm perfectly healthy. :rotfl:

Morglin

jack_pott wrote: »

How do they decide which chronic conditions warrant free meds and which don't?

These are the illnesses/diseases/criteria that would entitle a person to free prescriptions, regardless of income:

"People with certain medical conditions can get free NHS prescriptions if they hold a valid medical exemption certificate.

You can get all your NHS prescriptions free if you have a valid medical exemption certificate because you have:

a permanent fistula (for example, caecostomy, colostomy, laryngos-tomy or ileostomy) which needs continuous surgical dressing or an appliance;
a form of hypoadrenalism (for example, Addison’s Disease) for which specific substitution therapy is essential;
diabetes insipidus and other forms of hypopituitarism;
diabetes mellitus, except where treatment is by diet alone;
hypoparathyroidism;
myasthenia gravis;
myxoedema (that is, hypothyroidism which needs thyroid hormone replacement);
epilepsy which needs continuous anticonvulsive therapy;
a continuing physical disability which means you cannot go out without the help of another person; or
cancer and are undergoing treatment for:
- cancer;
- the effects of cancer; or,
- the effects of cancer treatment.
You can only get a certificate if you have a condition on the list. If you are not sure about the name of your condition, check with your doctor. Doctors may advise you about free prescriptions. However, it is up to you to find out if you are entitled to an exemption certificate."

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/1126.aspx

Lin