NHS prescription charge

[MrTurtleLikesKisses]

I have had hyperthyroidism for 13 years. I picked up my prescription yesterday and paid the £8.60 prescription charge for my 30 tablets (annoyingly, if I had hypothyroidism, my medication would be free ).
Anyway, it suddenly struck me that £8.60 is a lot for a drug that I know has been around for a long time, so I looked online. Sure enough, it looks like it's available to buy, without a prescription, from abroad for a heck of a lot cheaper than £8.60 for 30.
So, have I been a mug all these years? Should I just buy it online? Or should I suck it up and pay the prescription charge like everyone else?

It's worth asking your GP if they'll do a 3 month prescription to be dispensed monthly.

That's what happens with my DD's medications - saves the GP having to do the prescription every month, but means we don't end up with a tonne of medication in the house.

It also means the pharmacy will order her medication in plenty of time rather than playing the game of trying to get the prescription in the 5 minute window that means it'll be close enough to run out time for the GP to write it, but not so far away from run out time that the pharmacy won't be able to order it in in time.

Could you ask your GP to prescribe 2 or 3 months at a time? Then you only pay £8.60 every couple of months

You pay 8.60 for paracetamol that you can buy for pennies. You pay 8.60 for Prep which costs £400. Thats just how it works.

I just worked out my costs on Chemistdirect too and I would come in at £70.70 a month before the cost of postage and posting my prescriptions.

I pay £104 a year at the moment (as I purchase a pre-pay certificate). I think that is pretty much a bargain.

There's two points here:
One is that your £8.60 is not just for the meds, it is a contribution to the NHS for the whole process involved including things like the GP consultation, testing, etc
Secondly, if your drug is carbimazole or propylthiouracil you are getting a bargain as these are among the drugs where there are either problems with supply or unscrupulous manufacturers pushing the cost up. Current cost to the NHS is £59.21 per 100 for 5mg or £165.21 per 100 for 20mg of carbimazole or £60.20 for 56 propylthiouracil. That is without any of the added on-costs for GP time, pharmacy fees, etc
I know you weren't asking in a grabby way but really you should count your lucky stars we have an NHS rather than wondering if you could pay less

You can pay for a private prescription and buy at cost from the pharmacy.

The prescription charge is absolutely nothing to do with the cost of the medication you receive, it's a sum to the NHS linked to the medication.

But the medication may cost more than £8.60 or less than, if it's cheaper than £8.60 and you pay for prescriptions, gps are more inclined to prescribe it for you as it makes more money for the NHS

"It's worth asking your GP if they'll do a 3 month prescription to be dispensed monthly."

This option does not exist. The only instalment prescriptions that exist are for drug service clients.

You either get one script for three months - or three scripts for one month.

"But the medication may cost more than £8.60 or less than, if it's cheaper than £8.60 and you pay for prescriptions, gps are more inclined to prescribe it for you as it makes more money for the NHS"

No - GPs base their prescribing on local and national guidelines not on making money for the NHS.

There is local branded switching which manipulates local funding. In effect it just distributes the overall funding in a skewed way rather than evenly. A CCG may save money, but the total spent by the NHS overall remains the same.

And then there is dispensing at a loss and the fiasco that is Cat M.

This option does not exist. The only instalment prescriptions that exist are for drug service clients.

It's what my GP does for my DDs medication. They used to do it for my inhalers, but don't now as I don't always need a ventolin.

They've been doing it for the past five/six years for her. They write it up on one script and Asda pharmacy dishes it out every month.

tabbymog the rules are stricter for animals because you can give informed consent for the change, but your cat cannot.
You need to have that discussion with your vet and she can write the prescription for the generic.

You mean repeat dispensing - you still pay per collection.

I haven't read all the replies so have missed where you live. But in the U.K. If you are on medication for life you get free prescriptions.

I have an underactive thyroid and had no idea until I asked my doctor about the prepayment thing.

You need to get a form from your doctor and fill the rest in and post it!

iphoneaddiction , you most certainly do not get free medication if you have a life time condition , it depends on the condition .

Sorry that's how I understood it from what my doctor told me. Why for underactive thyroid then, but not other medications that are taken for life?

You can apply for a medical exemption certificate if you have one of the following medical conditions:

a permanent fistula (for example, caecostomy, colostomy, laryngostomy or ileostomy) which needs continuous surgical dressing or an appliance
a form of hypoadrenalism (for example, Addison’s Disease) for which specific substitution therapy is essential
diabetes insipidus and other forms of hypopituitarism
diabetes mellitus, except where treatment is by diet alone
hypoparathyroidism
myasthenia gravis
myxoedema (that is, hypothyroidism which needs thyroid hormone replacement)
epilepsy which needs continuous anticonvulsive therapy
a continuing physical disability which means you cannot go out without the help of another person
cancer and are undergoing treatment for either:

• cancer
• the effects of cancer
• the effects of cancer treatment

These are the only conditions that entitle you to a medical exemption certificate. If you’re not sure about the name of your condition, speak to your doctor.

I think what I was aiming at, was the possibility that the OP may be eligible to the free prescriptions.

Thank you for clarifying what is actually covered though.

It seems silly that one is covered and one is not.

My Swedish friend tells me that in Sweden - supposedly a socialist utopia - everybody pays for prescriptions, albeit a small amount. There is an annual cap for anyone who needs a lot. Her dad, who was over 90, had to,pay for his.

I certainly think it daft that better off retired people here should get them free. An older friend of ours used to stockpile masses of items - more than once I counted over 60 items which were subsequently thrown away. He wasn't remotely hard up, but he was tight, and if he'd had to pay even a couple of £ each I'm sure he'd have thought twice.

I don't know what govt. of any colour would have the guts to do this, though.

I know it's not perfect, but I still think we're lucky to have the NHS. My baby grandson has had fantastic care 3 times since he was born, inc. 2 separate weeks in the ICU.
My sister who lives in the US used to pay $800 a month for herself and her daughter. When she had a badly cut finger not long ago, I said, Well, at least you're covered.
She said, You're joking - there's a $2000 excess.

My monthly injection meds and prescriptions would cost £714.20, plus I have regular check-ups with a neuro consultant, an MS nurse and my GP, plus I have regular blood and urine tests.

Plus in the last two years I've had physiotherapy, x-rays, CT scans, MRI's and a DEXA scan. A Lumbar puncture and a stay in hospital. Two IV steroid courses, referrals to Urology, Ophthalmology, Rheumatology.

I pay NI contributions of about £15 per month and £29 per quarter for my pre-paid certificate. When I turn 60 later in the year I'll get my prescriptions free.

I would not survive without the NHS.

Prescription amount of drugs always baffle me. I'm on several types of medication, a regular prescription amount goes from 2 weeks worth of one drug to 12 weeks of another. Both of which I take every day for life. I used to get 4 weeks worth of the first one but when I moved I was told that's all they could do. The biggest issue for me is getting out, I end up going without as I can't get to the surgery to get the drugs.

All other drugs I take, one prescription = 4 weeks exact. No idea why 2 weeks of a lifelong drug is ok, yet another is 3 months. Thankfully I don't pay anymore due to my 'feckless life choices', apparently the only reason people don't pay. Probably chose to become disabled, housebound and in constant pain just to get out of paying.

My first encounter with prescriptions for over-the-counter meds was an eye opener, was prescribed iron tablets due to severe anemia (3 a day so very bad) as a teen and paid for that every month out of my very meagre wages . Then waiting for the pills in pharmacy saw a display with ferrious sulphate for £1. Truly wish someone had told me at the time, I worked after school/college and weekend to pay bus fare, toiletries, and food so this really ate into my money.

And yes the NHS, even with it's faults, is fantastic. I know some American people through my hobby and one had a mad panic last week as he got a $6000 bill from an emergency visit to hospital and was struggling to sort it with insurance and stuff. Imagine having to refuse medical care as you know you can't afford it.

I have hypothyroidism so my prescriptions are free, well they would be anyway because I am over 60, but my doctor gives me a prescription for 6 months supply. If your doctor would do this it would only be 2 prescription charges a year. Big saving if he will.

Don't buy it online, you don't really know what you are getting.

I don't dare check what my monthly medications actually cost. I suspect oramorph is substantially more than 8 quid, same with pregablin. And then theres the rest...

Costs are so high fort even cheaper meds as you are also paying for less fortunate people who have medications into the hundreds/thousands who cannot bare the cost on their own. I think this is the right way to do it tbh. I actually can't believe people still get paracetamol on perscription?! Theres a notice up in our doctors about how the amount of people who claim for 'free' paracetamol (so either OAPs/unemployed, or a mix of both) could fund a hundred extra nurses per year or something. I bet noone who has to pay 8.60 for prescriptions gets paracetamol...I cannot believe some people (on the scale it obviously is) cannot spare 20 pence for a packet of paracetamol.

Sorry went off on a rant there, just something I noticed last week at the doctors.

I also don't really understand why pensioners (no matter how well off) get free persciptions. Should be means tested tbh. Especially given on average older people will be on more meds than younger ones. And its the younger ones who are propping up the older ones, many of whom have much more income than the youngsters. This 'free everything for the elderly regardless of their income' has to end at some stage surely, its unsustainable and is costing working age tax payers sooo much. And these working age taxpayers cannot always afford to do this. Also they assume that its the unemployed that cost the country loads...when its really not the case...

So I pay 104 per year. Would be 500+ paying for separate charges.

How are people working out the cost price of meds?

I get 280ml oramorph per week (10mg/5ml)
60 300mg pregablin tablets per month
30 nortyptaline 10mgs
90 acupan 30mgs
30 cyclizine 50mgs