NHS crack down on Free Prescriptions (England only)

[topman]

Originally Posted by Nick Greg

They should be free to all. I would be interested to see what it costs to police/administer the system against the amount it would cost to make them all free. All those bits of paper flying around must cost a pretty penny.

The amount it brings in charges is about £450m, the admin costs will be a lot less than that.

[topman]

Originally Posted by Darcydog

And I don’t want an argument at all!! - what I am saying is that someone I know who works in the U.K., not eligible for free Rx’s who was recovering from an op on her shoulder was given a Rx with three items on it. The total cost was over £24. She was off work struggling on SSP.

An exact same person in the U.K. but not in England would have got the three items for free. Even tho’ both live in the U.K. and pay the same tax and NIC

So answer me this - is that fair?







Edit - just checked with the lady - she has been on these three medications for 5 months - and could well be on them for longer.

But even for the 5 months thus far - her total cost is 3x5x£8.80 = £132.00

For someone on SSP for much of those five month, (actually 5x28 days) - £132 is a very unwelcome cost that she feels very angry about as she lives an hour away from the Welsh border.

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/hel...rtificate-ppc/

Ask her to have a look here. This will help with the cost. There's also help for those on low income.

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by topman

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/hel...rtificate-ppc/

Ask her to have a look here. This will help with the cost. There's also help for those on low income.

With the greatest possible respect TM - for a post obviously designed to be helpful - but financial help for those within England alone - really rather misses the point.

Surely the answer is to scrap Rx charges across the whole of the U.K.?

If only 10% of Rx’s in England incur a charge then on top of the cost of administering this charge - there is also the cost of having to administer a subsidy scheme based upon means testing.

[topman]

I know there's wider issues amongst the debate about prescription charges. But with respect, me talking about that isn't of practical help, signing posting to pre charge certificate is, I hope anyway

[Darcydog]

Point taken

But the wider picture is a marked increase in anger and frustration from many people in England - especially the “JAM’s” - Just About Managing - who are so disillusioned and frustrated.

[SCP440]

My wife works in a doctors surgery and the level of abuse of the system makes all of them angry.

First of all if you are taking a lot of medication and you are paying for it you can buy a ''season ticket'' so you can get as much medication as you need for a fixed amount every quarter or annually.
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/hel...rtificate-ppc/

Then there are the people who are exempt charges, some of these people will come in on a Friday afternoon just before the pharmacist goes home or in some cases will call them out on an after hours because they need some paracetamol . On one bank holiday weekend the pharmacist got called out on a Sunday morning just for this. When she explained to the patient that she could have bought these for 40p in Sainsburys she just shrugged her shoulders and didn't even say thank you.

Finally there are the medication hoarders, a lot of people are on preventers so collect everything they are prescribed even though in some cases they don't take 10% of what they are actually prescribed, when these people die there relatives bring the un used medication back to the doctors. This has to be destroyed by law, it cant even be sent to poor countries. Sometimes the amount coming back to the doctors is huge, recently one old women had collected 7 large bin bags of medication all of it un used and of course because she was retired had been FOC.

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by SCP440

My wife works in a doctors surgery and the level of abuse of the system makes all of them angry.

First of all if you are taking a lot of medication and you are paying for it you can buy a ''season ticket'' so you can get as much medication as you need for a fixed amount every quarter or annually.
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/hel...rtificate-ppc/

Then there are the people who are exempt charges, some of these people will come in on a Friday afternoon just before the pharmacist goes home or in some cases will call them out on an after hours because they need some paracetamol . On one bank holiday weekend the pharmacist got called out on a Sunday morning just for this. When she explained to the patient that she could have bought these for 40p in Sainsburys she just shrugged her shoulders and didn't even say thank you.

Finally there are the medication hoarders, a lot of people are on preventers so collect everything they are prescribed even though in some cases they don't take 10% of what they are actually prescribed, when these people die there relatives bring the un used medication back to the doctors. This has to be destroyed by law, it cant even be sent to poor countries. Sometimes the amount coming back to the doctors is huge, recently one old women had collected 7 large bin bags of medication all of it un used and of course because she was retired had been FOC.

Totally unacceptable IMO.

But getting back to the original point regarding why only England still charges for Rx’s - are you saying that such abuse of the NHS as you portray does or does not happen across the four nations?

I don’t see that such abuse would be any different across borders?

Mr &Mrs “Entitled” exist across the whole of the U.K.

[steve-45]

It’s not just prescription charges that are different, in Scotland and Wales the bus pass age is 60, as opposed to 66 in England!

[DerekS]

I dont understand why the charges should be different , but I suppose its some political reason, those non-englishers have managed to get one over us again .
However,I am very grateful to the English NHS for my free pills and supplies . Estimated value £200 per month. In addition, our family has had 6 or is it 7 ive lost count now ...hip operations , with the 7th or 8th probably due after the latest MRI scan .
Thank goodness for Lord Beveridge and Aneurin Bevan , and how lucky we are not to be Americans .

______________
Omega .

[Les4048]

Originally Posted by DerekS

I dont understand why the charges should be different , but I suppose its some political reason, those non-englishers have managed to get one over us again .
However,I am very grateful to the English NHS for my free pills and supplies . Estimated value £200 per month. In addition, our family has had 6 or is it 7 ive lost count now ...hip operations , with the 7th or 8th probably due after the latest MRI scan .
Thank goodness for Lord Beveridge and Aneurin Bevan , and how lucky we are not to be Americans .

______________
Omega .

The NHS are a wonderful body of dedicated people but I’d wager a bet that the most of the £200 they’re being charged will go straight into the drug companies profits. The NHS are getting done over on a regular basis by drug companies who put profits before saving lives. Just take a look at generic medicine in the supermarket, exactly the same ingredients but at a fraction of the price of the branded drugs