I shouldn't be getting free prescriptions

[ssd]

because I live in Scotland

I work, so does dh

we have a combined income of £25k

we don't need a regular prescription every week

where I pick up my prescriptions, people I know who are lawyers, accountants, business owners all pick them up free, its across the board and not means tested

its all wrong, when people in England pay over £8 for theirs

it should be means tested, that and the winter fuel allowance , probably loads more I cant think of just now

My friend is in Wales (we live near border so many friends are ) and gets free prescriptions but has an absolute nightmare getting a gp appointment whereas I have had excellent gp. Care and v quick referrals to hospital etc - if the cost of free prescriptions is poorer gp and hospital care I would prefer to pay for prescriptions frankly

peggy I think anyone who needs medication which can be bought over the counter should be made to buy it over the counter - GPs should not be able to prescribe OTC medication.^

rhoda it's absolutely a scandal that people can get prescriptions for items on an ordinary shelf, eg mild painkillers, headlice treatment, suncream, plasters etc.

Fair enough for paracetamol, plasters etc. - but head lice treatment is quite expensive. As is stuff like thrush treatment. I've had to get a prescription for the latter because I couldn't afford the charge.

madamginger See, where this has gone wrong is why on earth did they end up with a year's worth stockpiled? Why did it keep getting prescribed? Why did they collect the prescriptions? This is what needs sorting out.

think the cost of meds should be printed on the pack/dispensing sticker to show how much the meds actually cost

They will never do that a huge proportion of prescription charged medications dispensed, actually cost pence per pack. I know that the grand total cost of all 6 different medications I take combined, comes to far less than 1 prescription charge. It is that way for most medications that can be dispensed on a chargeable prescription. There is of course other costs involved in Drs time prescribing, pharmacy charges for dispensing, etc.

It's a difficult one, I think giving people prescriptions for things like paracetamol etc. can get silly. I personally wouldn't accept a prescription for something that I can buy over the counter.
However my husband and I pay approx. £8000 in NI a year and a lot more in tax on top. No problem with paying our dues but I think it would be unfair to pay more into the healthcare system than someone else only to get less out of the same system.

finally There are plans to print the price on the pack already
www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/01/nhs-prescriptions-drugs-health-cost-waste-price
The Pharmacy budget is being slashed by £6M, lots of things that could previously be prescribed will no longer be allowed.

harrasseddotcom if its not really an issue why the ignorant remark about pensioners getting free prescriptions because they vote

cleaty why should it be up to the government to say what medication might be required for someone like me with an underactive thyroid FFS I didn't need the government to tell me I got a chest infection because I smoke not because of my thyroid issues.

What I said is that you ask your GP if your condition is part of the illness covered by your medex card, if it isn't then people should stop being so grabby and entitled and pay for the medication they need.

Oldsu - I thought you were saying the Government should decide.

All my medication is for two conditions which are both covered by medical exemptions.

how is it ignorant to state to that pensioners would be up in arms (and made their feelings known come voting time) if they were included in a means tested prescriptions. Its a very near fact that successive governments tend to kowtow to the pensioners because they make up a large percentage of the votes.. Im not judging oaps for that, they are just looking out for their own interests.

Indeed harrassed. Remember the furory when the state pension only went up by 70 pence or whatever because that's what inflation was at the time.

That led to the introduction of the triple lock, which means that pensioners have had several years of above inflation increases in a time when nurses and other public sector workers have had a pay freeze.

If they tried to include pensioner in means testing there would be newspaper stories about starving, freezing pensioners, while conveniently forgetting that not all pensioners are poor and many are very comfortable and the current generation of 60-80 year olds in the UK have had on average the most comfortable existence in history (able to buy a family home on one wage, NHS, comparatively early retirement, huge house price inflation making houses worth a fortune), which is not going to be experienced by younger people.

It benefits those elderly people who own their own homes. Plenty still rent.

It is quite obvious means testing is unfair - there are a million and one reasons as to why one person has more than another. Someone upthread called on all HRT payers to pay for prescriptions. HRT starts at about £42K. That is hardly megabucks, especially for people with even modest outgoings. And then of course you get a situation where someone on £42K is paying and someone on £41K is exempt.

I still stick to the obvious solution to make all but essential drugs unable to qualify for free prescriptions. It doesn't matter if you are a zillionaire with thyroid problems or someone on benefits - no one qualifies for free paracetamol, plasters or gluten free bread.

I also have a prepayment card. I have on a good month 10 items to collect, all of which sustain my life. I hate that some conditions are deemed more worthy than others and hate that type 2 diabetics get free prescriptions but asthmatics don't

I don't understand how some tablets are not free! As a poster mentioned above transplant medication, heart medication? Soon i will be paying again for my blood thinners so i don't die
I do understand gp's prescribing paracetamol. Mine has even done it as i used to have to take 8- day. I can't buy a months worth it one go and sometimes i can go not leaving the house for a month.
It really surprises me though how costly some drugs are! I take a certain brand of drug and it is so expensive compared to the generic one!

Someone upthread called on all HRT payers to pay for prescriptions People do pay for hrt, and if it is sequential hrt, they pay £16.40 because it contains two types of pills.

Sorry - misread that You mean Higher Rate Tax Payers.

They pay for everything anyway - especially the ones at the low end PAYE who do not have enough money to take advantage of any tax breaks.

at HRT being taken for hormone replacement therapy. Perhaps higher rate taxpayers with a hot flush should pay double!

I have a ore payment card now as I have to have so many meds for arthritis. So £104 a year.

I often have 4 or 5 lots of medication in each script, so can be a costly business at £8.20 per medication. At least most of them now will last me about 2-3 months. This saved me a minimum of £50-60 a year and probably a fair bit more at times. At one point it was a monthly cost. Soon adds up then!

Have to say that it was the pharmacists who told me about the ore payment card, when I went in for my first big batch of meds after diagnosis. I phoned up and paid for it there and then and was given a reference number to use immediately.

SmellySourdough if I had to pay for my prescriptions (2 every three weeks) and then claim back the money then I wouldn't be able to get the medicine that I need. I can see why it's being suggested but the reality would be too many people going without essential medication. My quality of life is poor but would be non-existent without the free prescriptions.

There are so many more meds available over the counter now - conjunctivitis springs to mind - so no I no Drs appointment and paid for -

There are other things like headlice treatment available but you can get it free if you make a Drs appointment - it's madness -

People will save money where they can either because they have so little or because they can "get it for free" form the Drs -

No wonder I can't get an appointment

What gets me is the cost, £8 for a tube of antifungal cream on prescription (advised by the pharmacist to see my Dr), when I'm pretty sure he could have given me something just as good for a third of the cost and I would have avoided a Dr appointment too (hence why I went to the Pharmacist in the first place).

I was thinking about this the other day. We lived in Scotland, but recently moved to England. I had a severe chest infection which triggered asthma I've not had in years.

I went to the GP who prescribed 2 inhalers and a spacer. I assumed it would be one prescription charge, but obviously it was actually 3. So roughly £24. I was really having trouble breathing so paid, but had very, very little money for the rest of the week. Had it been tighter I might have not collected the inhalers and ended up in real trouble.

I imagine that is why they are free in Scorland, it was worked out people not paying for their prescriptions and ending up needing hospital treatment means the free prescriptions are cost effective.

However, people who gets paracetamol etc for free and hoard medicines make me sick. It's not a bottomless pit. If we want the best cancer drugs we all have to work together to be a little less selfish.

Coffeethrowtrampbitch - the cut to the Scottish Government was 3% in real terms, to local Govt 5% in real terms. When there has been increased spending on health in England the additional money that has come to Scotland through the Barnet formula only a proportion has been passed by the SG to health boards. The free tuition fees policy has impacted negatively across all areas of spending.

I get thrush medication 'for free'- I have a prepayment card. I don't take up much of the doctors' time though, I phone up and request it over the phone, because I have trouble buying the amount I need OTC, and it does get expensive when you need 4+ treatments at a time.

I think the minor ailments scheme should be rolled out even further. I would rather someone on a low income etc could go to the pharmacy and get headlice or worm treatment given free than either waste the doctors time to get a prescription, or not treat their child.

With regards to the hoarding, this might not apply in every case but a family member who receives a lot of treatment in hospital finds that on discharge the hospital pharmacy reissue all the drugs she has had while inside, even though some are on an as needed basis and she might not need it. They never ask her which she needs, just hand over a bag with everything in, and she is usually too tired and ill to argue (and can't remember what she has at home!) so just collects it anyway. It would make more sense to me for them to liaise with her GP to arrange for the required prescriptions to be ready to collect. It would save a lot of time on discharge too- last week she was in a waiting area for 7 hours for a discharged patient to be given their medication so they could clear the bed for her.