'You didn’t die as a child? Pay for your prescription' blog discussion

LilacPixie

The whole system needs a massive shake up. I have a blood disorder and need weekly injections of one medication along with monthly injections of another. Each Vial counts as 1 item on a perscription which at the moment would cost me £5 per item or £25 a month (i'm in scotland). One of the complications however is a reduced immune system so I often get throat/chest/ear infections as well. I usually buy a yearly prepayment certificate which in effect pays for its self within 2 months.

At the moment I am currently pregnant and therefore i'm exempt from perscription charges until my baby reaches one year old.

Now this may seem contraversial but why is there a blanket exception on pregnancy?? At the moment obviously I benefit from this but really why should I?? My condition is not made worse by pregnancy, it can make the placenta deteriorate quicker after 40 weeks but no amounts of medication will change this so why should I me exempt while pregnant but not once my baby reaches 1??

Madness

Dorrie

Does certainly look like it needs changing. I never really understood why pregnant women got free prescriptions either.

I get free prescriptions because I have an underactive thyroid (should point out that if I stop taking the tablets I will, eventually, die so it is a serious chronic condition). As others have pointed out, why should I get all my medications free? Okay, I'm quite happy not to pay, and should also point out that I use eye-drops because I get 'Dry Eye' which my doctor says is linked to my thyroid (although it does get worse in hayfever season).

Other conditions, such as CF and diabetes, should be added to the list, and I cannot understand why something like this takes so very long to be sorted out.

Lexis200

It does seem to be a very unfair system. I've had renal problems since I was 4, resulting in a transplant 10 years ago. Obviously I've been on drugs basically my entire life, at times needing more than a dozen different medications per month.

Luckily (well sort of), I have exemption through tax credits at the moment, but they won't go on forever - unlike my renal dependence on drugs.

If you have a long-term illness that requires medication, I really feel drugs relating to the illness should be subsidised. Surely that's what the NHS is meant for?

martinsgiftstogo

hardpressed wrote: »

The list certainly needs revising. I have every sympathy with people who need life long medication but why should somebody taking thyroxine get all their medication free when another patients with cancer, heart or kidney problems have to pay. It's most unfair.

I get free prescriptions because I need to take thyroxine. While I agree the I shouldnt get ALL prescriptions free I also have Lymphoedema which I can only get free treatment for if I live near a centre that provides that - so I would have to pay for private treatment, which I cant afford so get no treatment for this at all.

As I understand it - the people who get free prescriptions for Thyroxine get them because there is no alternative treatment. Without thyroxine I would go into a coma and eventually die so I think I SHOULD get thyroxine for free.

I agree with you that ALL people with life-threatening illnesses should not have to pay for their prescriptions.

Incidentally - I only have the thyroxine free - I pay for any other medication I might need for non-related conditions, buying generic versions at the pharmacy - but how many other people do that?

MikeFishcake

I have an NHS medical exemption card because I have to take tablets for my epilepsy every day. However, despite a few people saying otherwise, I just can't bring myself to get a prescription for things like hay fever, because it just seems like i'm abusing the system.

always_amazed

I feel so sorry for doctors and pharmacists faced with carrying out the (frankly) bizarre exemption rules.
For the last few years I was very ill with a bowel illness, and I couldn't work much or really look after myself, so I moved home with my parents. I wasn't entitled to free anything, so I bought pre-payment certificates... thanks MSE!!! Otherwise I'd have been spending over £100 per month on drugs!
Fast forward to now; I've had surgery to help me; and as a result of this, I get free everything?!?! Even though now I am well on my way to working full time again, and in a few years hope to be debt free and earning a good wage! But then I'll still get everything free; even though I'll effectively be very very healthy, and will be able to afford to pay for what I need!

It makes so little sense. My consultant told me he was pretty sure that the reason his patients with the same condition as me deteriorated once they turned 18 was that they had to pay for the life saving drugs. He said he writes a letter every month to his MP and to the NHS comittee who decide, and that no one ever writes back

vivatifosi

Two years ago I had a rare type of tumour removed. As the diagnosis (yes diagnosis - not treatment) wasn't available in this country, I had to pay for diagnosis overseas (through the NHS) or live with threat that I might have cancer and all that entails - no insurances, having to explain to potential employers etc. Thankfully I got the all clear and it was worth every penny. Sometimes NHS policies don't make any sense. My diagnosis cost far less than NHS check ups four times a year for the next umpteen years, so where's the logic in any of these issues?

emilyt

Just in case anyone isn't aware you can fill a HC1 form in and even if you don't think you qualify for free prescriptions you might do depending on what your outgoings are for certain bills. Well worth filling in and sending off.
http://www.ppa.org.uk/ppa/HC1_form_intro.htm

circlip

Gemmzie wrote: »

Whilst I completely agree that they should have prescriptions related to their illness for free. I think that trying to change the legislation would open a can of worms for other childhood illnesses which aren't currently covered to be changed too.

Therefore, the whole freebie prescription due to illness needs an overhaul

I total disagree with you Gemmzie, as would many others whose children have Cystic Fibrosis.

My Opinion may be seen as bias as our grandson has CF and will be 16 in a few weeks time, however I would still advocate for all who have long term chronic illness to be exempt from prescription charges, the NHS promised care from "the cradle to the grave", and most here would testify they pay enough into the NHS via taxation to expect medical care as and when it is needed.

To marginalise one group of people, all who are children because they lived to long is barbaric and if such discrimination was being exercised by an other country our own government would be amongst those calling for an abolition of such practises.

Many of his medications would not be available on ordinary prescriptions, the sort pre payment certificates cover.

So at 16 he is forced to make stark choices.

If he goes to college to get qualifications, leading to employment he would have to pay for his medications. The reality of this is he would not be able to afford them

Or leave school and claim state benefits which would allow him to get prescriptions.

Sally_Jane

It's true the current system is very unfair and needs to be looked at urgently. No one should be in a position where they are unable to afford medication they need. The prescription charge is really just another form of taxation with some strange rules about who pays.

However we have to remember you can't get something for nothing. There are lots of new advanced treatments now available for all sorts of conditions, but they all come at a price (and some of the prices are very expensive indeed). If people want to scrap the prescription charge all together then another way of raising cash for the NHS will be needed instead.

I work in the NHS and I think one way to help would be for patients and staff to try and cut back on the amount of medication wasted.