To be really irritated when people get medication (calpol etc) on prescription

[CeCeBloomer]

When they can easily afford to buy it. I am not talking about those that can't afford to buy them. The NHS has limited funds, surely those who are better off should show some social responsibility and buy their own medicines, freeing up essential funds - not brag about what they managed to get free

I'm in Scotland so all prescriptions are free anyway (which is another stupid policy if you ask me, but you didn't) but myDS's nursery will only give calpol/ibuprofen if it has been prescribed. It's annoying becuas there are loads of things I wouldn't go to the dr for, like teething, but this is their policy.

It is really difficult to buy antihistamine for children i got it years ago for other dd who had chicken pox chemist needed a prescription

I get free prescriptions. Like identityhidden above, I was once prescribed 100 paracetamol. I had glandular fever and needed to take it 4x a day for nearly a month. I would have bought them, but I would have had to have gone to 3 different pharmacies to buy enough, when I could have staggered next door to get the prescription then taken home to fall into bed. I know which one was logistically better to do!

You can also get higher strength calpol from the GP that cannot be bought OTC. My DS gets migraines so has been prescribed higher dose liquid painkiller in the past. To anyone else there it may look like I'm picking up a bottle of calpol, but it's medically necessary.

I guessed it was to prevent parents buying Piriton to make their kids sleep

You can buy it from online chemists. We get some regularly (so we are not having to mess about with repeat prescriptions too often) along with liquid paracetamol and ibuprofen. It is exactly the same as the prescription stuff but I've never been able to buy it in a high street chemist.

I bought phenagryn from boots for my dd chicken pox a few weeks ago. I was surprised as I thought it was prescription only.

@mistermagpie, RE free prescriptions in Scotland - its been shown that the cost of the administration required to means test people for free prescriptions costs more than the cost of allowing everyone to have them for free. I imagine its because the most heavy users of prescription are the young, the elderly and those in poverty.

You may well be right Namelesswonder, it just seems daft that I get free prescriptions when i can well afford to pay for them and yet there are not enough nurses/midwives in my local hospital because of lack of funds.

Once we had to use the pharmacy in order to get free paracetamol suspension simply because we just didn't have any cash to buy it ourselves and our DD had a real high fever. We make ends meet, we have a low joint income and especially on the week leading to payday sometimes it literally is a case of counting the pennies. And knowing for a fact that there are plenty worse off than ourselves I think it's great that, when truly needed, there is that option available.

To be honest I don't see it as something that gets abused, I think the majority of folks do buy their own if they can. If it's a highly costly system to implement then perhaps questions about this subject should be aimed not at the patients but the management of the system in place.

Well it's never ever been offered to me on prescription so it might be a postcode lottery, £3-4 is not a huge amount but like a poster said up thread children's prescriptions are free so if the GP has offered or it has been asked for and prescribed, then really what is your issue?

In general I agree.

However, ds takes a daily antihistamine alongside his cocktail of other drugs so like the others that is prescribed to him.

We have been prescribed paracetamol before now too either when leaving A and E in the middle of the night or when he has been discharged following a bad infection or operation - he isn't allowed ibuprofen so they prescribe the right dose for his weight which comes in handy, when that bottle is finished I just buy it though!

I used the Care of the Chemist scheme when I qualified for free prescriptions due to having cancer. I was able to get medication that I needed for relatively minor issues, like mouth ulcers, without waiting around the hospital for hours for a doctor to be free to prescribe it after I'd already been there most of the day for chemo. It also meant I didn't have to see my GP and be in a waiting room full of sick people when my immune system was compromised.

It's not just about getting things for free. It's an invaluable service that frees up doctors time so they can get on with more important things that only they can do.

We could get calpol free but I usually refuse it. However nursery won't give anything unless its prescribed so I've apologised to gp and explained why I need kids ibuprofen and teething gel on prescription and they've given it.

DD's nursery use some common sense - if DC spring a temperature out of the blue and you can't get there quickly they'll give them Calpol (with your permission) from their own stocks.

A nursery which insists on teething gel being prescribed needs their policies questioning IMO!

For an over the counter medicine then there is no reason they should need more than written consent and instructions from the parents.

I'm in England but entitled to free prescription medication because of a chronic condition. I pay on principle. (Sorry to sound righteous, but this is one of the very few things I'll polish my halo over.) Every pharmacist I have visited has harangued me for not using my exemption certificate.

I think people should make a judgment call on things like this based on their circumstances and needs, rather than just "I pay my taxes, gimme".

I don't buy calpol for ds anyway, I get own brand as it's half the price!
I work in a care home and the residents have to have everything prescribed even paracetamol and creams etc otherwise we can't administer any of it.
I'd rather a child be prescribed painkillers than go without and highly doubt it's a major strain for the NHS.

You can buy piriton on line. It's very cheap. I buy 500 tablets at a time (for my horses)

Aren't prescriptions free for children anyway? People saying it would be cheaper over the counter clearly don't understand.
I always got a prescription for paracetamol for the dc because it could become expensive if you have more than one ill at once. However, I was happy to accept any brand they prescribed, it wasn't always calpol

My dad is diabetic and his repeat prescription list is horrendous. There is quite a lot he could buy over the counter but he's on a basic pension and it would be really hard for him to do. But when I was at our GP last, there was mum getting paracetamol and ibuprofen for her child with an ear infection, then went out and drove off in her Range Rover. Sadly some people just take the piss, and yes I object to those in spades.

Timely thread...DS had nasal surgery yesterday. Hospital packed us off telling us to get weeksworth of liquid paracetamol/ibrupofen on prescription from GP.

When I put the request in I was curtly told to buy it myself, despite the fact he's likely to need round the clock pain relief for at least 4 days. Whilst I don't necessarily agree it should be prescribed for minor illnesses, surely after painful surgery??

I'm in the same situation as other posters with paracetamol. I have chronic pain and need regular paracetamol. If I could buy 100 paracetamol from the pharmacy then I would.

I always have calpol/brufen in the cupboard just in case I don't think it would ever occur to me to ask for it on prescription. Saying that after I had major, painful surgery on my stomach I was sent home with 3 days of calpol 6+ and told to buy it myself . This was from a private hospital

I disagree OP
If I follow you, should we also go to a private GP if we can afford it instead of using NHS resources?
And put our children in private schools instead of state?

It's often forgotten that prescriptions have more than one function, the don't just exist to allow you to get free meds from the pharmacy they also explain dosage, frequency etc, often for children the dose of paracetamol they can actually take based on their weight is different to the dose on age, if a child is unwell a doctor can calculate the more accurate dose for them if needed and issue a prescription even if it's "just" for calpol. Some drugs are available to buy otc such as hydrocortisone cream but not for specific patients or indications such as on the face, this is because they have more risks if used this way and their use should be overseen by a doctor, unfortunately the way the NHS FP10 (the green prescription) system is set up a doctor cannot write down their instructions on it without it becoming free/subject to the prescription charge. Maybe we need a different form that has the instructions and dose but dosent mean their free?