....to be quite annoyed. re prescription charges

[anonpost]

A few weeks ago, my dp dropped a car battery on his foot. He couldn't move it so took him to a&e, x rayed etc, nothing broken so discharged with crutches and pain relief.

Yesterday morning he got a bill for 2x prescription charges which is £15 or something. The pain relief he was given was ibuprofen and paracetamol which we could have got from Tesco for less than a quid! He's paying it this afternoon but I'm just very annoyed that the doctor didn't say anything at the time.

So, aibu or not?

YANBU. I would be annoyed too and would grudgingly pay it because I had to.

You'd expect prescription cocodamol at least to justify that kind of price!

Yanbu

I would be informing pals about this tbh.

Prescriptions cost £7.85. That's fairly common knowledge. While some pharmacists do point out when it's cheaper to buy it OTC, they don't have too, and aren't supposed too.

Did the doctor ask if he wanted a prescription in the first place? You are usually asked before such standard meds are dispensed, because most people already have them.

I can see why you are annoyed but I think YABU.

Wow yanbu. I imagine most people are under the impression that meds prescribed in hospital are free of charge.

YANU. If a doctor had written the prescription even the pharmacy staff would've said 'you can buy this for 16p"! To be billed for that is disgusting. Can you contact your local health authority or even your GP to rectify this?

YANBU but it is widespread.

Our own Gp thankfully always checks the prices for over the counter on meds and tells us we would be better off nipping to Boots.

There was a locum once who insisted on prescribing me Migralieve (ie paracetomol and codeine) to the tune of however much instead of my usual Imigran. I told him if I wanted OTC meds, I'm capable of going to fetch them and pay £3 instead of a prescript fee.

Something else which I think needs campaigning about is overuse of repeat prescriptions just churned out, without anyone checking if they are needed, especially with the elderly. My Dad, my Aunt and my cousin's FIL all have an absolute cupboard full of codeine and paracetomol which the chemist just brings round. They hand them out to the whole family. (potentially dangerous and a waste of NHS money and resources)

Btw - I went to ooh with a chest infection late on a sat night (had gone downhill pretty quickly, so couldn't wait till mobday) and my antibiotics were free because the pharmacies would be shut. That puts charging for paracetamol and ibruprofen in a&e in context, I think. Definitely not reasonable.

I take it that a&e dispensed them from their own stock? They should have told you that there was a charge in that case.

I've had meds given to me by a & e staff & out of hours doctors & have never been sent a bill. Goes to show the system is a bit lax.

Yes. i would not be happy about not being told of a generic alternative too. Look at it this way, there are bound to be occassions where you have paid less for your prescriptions than the actual price of the medication.

The tablets were given by the doctor from a&e stock. Not really bothered about taking it further, dp reckons I'm being tight and we should suck it up!

Does your dh not know that those items can be brought OTC for pennies?

Wow - I have never known this to happen - if A&E "give" you something they generally just give it to you.

If they give you a prescription and you then have to go and pick up the item, you know "this is a prescription, I will have to pay".

Are you sure there hasn't been a mistake? Sending you charges afterwards seem very odd.

And as others have said, I have often heard pharmacists say "you can just buy this" if someone has prescribed E45 cream or something else that is freely available.

Dp never, ever takes any sort of mediation. He wouldn't have a clue how much they cost!

Ooh this happened to my ds. He forked out for cocodamol at a hospital on a student loan, because he didn't know any better. I was so angry on his behalf

What does the bill/invoice actually say on it?

He shouldn't be charged... From the NHS website;

If you need to access the services below then medicines are free:
Medicines administered at a hospital or an NHS walk-in centre.
Prescribed contraceptives.
Medicines personally administered by a GP.
Medicines supplied at a hospital or primary care trust (PCT) clinic for the treatment of a sexually transmitted infection or tuberculosis.

Claim a refund x

Does your dh not know that those items can be brought OTC for pennies?

That would have made no difference as he appears to have been given them at A&E and then billed later with no warning.

Szeli the op isn't covered under that as the painkillers were not administered at the hospital only supplied there for self administration later. It is annoying but the charges are correct however very annoying to not have been informed at the time. Yanbu to be annoyed at not being given an option

Szeli, that applies to medicines administered at the hospital, i.e. actually given and swallowed there; that's why it says "administered" in the top three and "supplied" in the bottom one as meds can be given free for home use for STIs. It doesn't apply to meds given out for use after you have gone home, they are normally subject to a charge, though I've generally been warned this is the case (only had it a couple of times)

Ah fair enough; although when I was last packed off from hospital it was with 3 months worth of meds at no charge (then or after).

At my local hospital if you are to be 'supplied' say you still have to take a prescription to the pharmacy. They've certainly done something wrong then x

By any chance was it the middle of the night when he got this?