Private prescriptions

Ms_Chocaholic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81892045#Comment_81892045

I must have rang 15 pharmacies today since realising as a result of this thread that private prescriptions vary in price between different pharmacies and each one was answered and my query dealt with, this included Boots. You must just be unlucky.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81893297#Comment_81893297

How did the prices vary? Was it a worthwhile exercise?

Ms_Chocaholic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81893573#Comment_81893573

The most expensive for 2 months worth of medication was £425, the cheapest was £98.68 so yes definitely worthwhile. I couldn't quite believe it.

One pharmacy I rang, the lady that answered didn't have much of a clue unfortunately and said it would be the NHS price of £9.90, I wish, I questioned it and said I didn't think she was right and she said to ring in on Monday and speak to the pharmacist lol.

modestbasin

Well the NHS has come through to bail out the private sector; my GP has put their neck on the line and trusted me. For which I am immensely grateful.

Thank you for the NHS pre-pay tip, that's already saved its cost.

For those that care, the price the NHS pays (for some values of "pay") is on the NICE website and there's sometimes considerable variation between suppliers. You can get a good feel for what you're likely to be charged, depending on whether your pharmacy is able to get stock from the cheaper suppliers. Some of my meds are 60p per 28, some are £10 - £40 and £90 online.

Ms_Chocaholic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81897879#Comment_81897879

Can you explain how you got private prescriptions transferred to the NHS please, was this a shared care agreement that your particular GP practice agreed to.

modestbasin

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81898163#Comment_81898163

Short answer - the surgeon wrote to the GP with a recommendation and I nagged the GP until they did it. The reason I'm so grateful to the GP is that the most recent surgeon's letter was sent Royal Mail and didn't arrive, so they had to trust me to tell them what was in it.

Long answer. When the consultant started making unhappy noises I asked for a GP appointment. The GP response was "why are you telling me?" and my reply was "because I wanted your opinion and I expect there will be post-op support needed" (*), to which the GP responded "we won't do that, all we'll do is support with any medicines that need prescribing". True to their word the GP has deflected all post-op queries to A&E but has supported with the prescribing.

(*) I should also have said "and this is a condition you've been monitoring for the last 30 years, how was it allowed to develop to this state?" but didn't.

I understand this is entirely normal. The nurses on the ward were encouraging patients nearing discharge to ring their GP and get meds sorted, certainly the bed next to me was actually able to get through on the phone and talk to his GP. I wasn't, GP phone line wanted me to call 111 and their website kept telling me to call an ambulance, much to the amusement of the nurses (until the frustration of going round in circles set my monitor alarms off, then they bundled me back to bed).

Ms_Chocaholic

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81900303#Comment_81900303

Thank you for sharing this. It's obviously clear that the GP was happy to agree to a shared care agreement with your private provider, many GPs don't so you've been lucky in that respect. Our GPs are a ****** nightmare (insert expletive to suit).

tonychipa999

I actually looked into before (was tempted by the prices too), and what put me off is that they’re basically a middleman, not a proper UK pharmacy. So you don’t really know which country your meds are coming from or how tightly it’s regulated. For vitamins or random OTC stuff maybe fine, but prescription meds felt like a gamble.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81897879#Comment_81897879

The NICE website lists what the NHS will pay the pharmacist for dispensing each medication, what the pharmacy is charged is independent of this. Many cases the numbers are about right, bigger pharmacies may be able to negotiate better discounts and in some cases the pharmacy will be paid less than they paid.

There is a process they can follow to raise an issue when there is a substantial difference between what the NHS will pay and what the cheapest the pharmacy can find it for so if NICE say they pay £10 and the cheapest the pharmacy can find is £1,000 they can raise it but if they're charged £10.10 they have to swallow the difference and if they get it for £8 they've made a nice extra £2.

Have to say I dont know how the private supply works from that side, if they benefit from the NHS volume purchasing or not. However what we are talking about is the wholesale price to the pharmacy and retail prices are normally only loosely connected to wholesale prices.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81976028#Comment_81976028

Proper UK pharmacy, like Boots?

As of August 2025, Boots UK is owned by US private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

Give an example of a "proper UK pharmacy" just in case anyone else is worrying.