To promote the 'hidden' prescription medicines you can get without a prescription and for free for kids (England only)

[Mehfruittea]

Photo attached, taken from my local pharmacy copy. All you do is go to your chemist and ask to be seen under the minor ailment scheme.

Inspired by the other thread on things that should be free:

Paracetamol, hay fever relief, gaviscon, ibuprofen, Hedrin etc can all be prescribed by a chemist and dispensed. Obviously it's free of charge for kids. So no need to waste a GP appointment!

Pink the extra cost is a dispensing fee. Plus I believe there are fixed prices for drugs.
Also a prescription is now over £8.00

Although apparently 90% of prescriptions are free.

Prescriptions are over £8 now pink
And I think the distinction PP are trying to draw is that these aren't prescription ONLY medicines. They are readily available from pharmacists. And if we're being particularly picky, the people who genuinely cannot afford 19p for paracetamol also wouldn't be able to afford broadband presumably, so posting a list here isn't necessarily hugely helpful. Putting a list up in every food bank however, will be. However, a significant amount of people who use food banks are in work and not necessarily entitled to free prescriptions, so the scheme would be of no benefit to them anyway.
As with most things designed to help those truly in need, I suspect the people who need it most won't use it and people who don't need it do.

Op why have you published this again on mn. Yabvvvu. Glad to see same response as last time but am now thinking ive been on mn too long

A few people have mentioned thrust treatments. I am quizzed by the pharmacist and told to go to the GP every time I go in for a tablet. I used to get thrush pretty much every month, and it wasn't until the doctor gave me a course of the tablets it went. Now it's a lot less often, but still often enough to be an issue.

If anyone has any suggestions on who I can get enough thrush tablets for self treatment (following GP's orders for previous prescriptions, including a home PG test) I'd much appreciate it. Cost wise it sucks, I'm disabled, only on PIP as ESA has been a pain and I can't cope mentally with it. I don't get any benefits so pay for prescriptions anyway but one prescription payment vs £9 per boots own tablet (usually prescribed 6 or 8 depending on GP) is great... But bloody GP booked up until next Wednesday, by then I'll have the symptoms under control, but will need to take them to make sure it doesn't come back.

Yes absolutely. Broadband is a luxury on 71 quid a week.

It no longer exists!!

You can't get this anymore....

It does, my friend got it on Tuesday of this week, three lots of nit lotion.

BloodWorries, you have my sympathy. Thankfully I haven't had thrush for a while but when I do I need a course of tablets, the one dose ones from the pharmacy just don't do anything. I also have them prescribed if I need antibiotics as thrush is inevitable. Only one GP seems to get though, the others either prescribe a single dose tablet, tell me to buy it over the counter or tell me to wait and see if I get thrush!

Having coeliac disease means I used to be able to get crackers, pasta, etc on prescription (they've stopped it now, it's no longer available on prescription). I rarely got much on prescription anyway, but my GP always used to encourage me to get more, and said I might as well as I was entitled to it. Does anyone know why my GP would have been encouraging this? Surely they must realise how expensive it is to the NHS?!

I don't think gps know the true cost of things,
A gluten free baguette costs the NHS £28.50, £3.50 for the baguette, £25 handling fee, not to mention the cost of dispensing, doctors time, etc

just been reading up about a scheme local to us that closed. unsurprisingly, the pilot scheme showed no difference in gp prescriptions but a big increase in pharmacy prescriptions. quelle surprise.

Does anyone know why my GP would have been encouraging this because your GP doesn't understand the bigger picture? Some people are generally quite selfish and only see what is in front of them

Got my thrush tablets, prescribed from a 2 minute 'emergency' appointment with an advanced nurse practitioner or something... Spent 40 minutes waiting for my appointment, looking at signs saying that 108 people hadn't show up for appointments last month... Guess that's why they over book for every appointment and are always running late.

Then another 30 mins for my prescription. I also collected some other prescriptions that needed collecting (normally send OH as waiting around is painful, literally). Pharmacist insisted I should get a 3 month prepayment card as is was cheaper than paying the prescription charge anyway, and I could get anything prescribed in the next 2 months for free... Unless I'd rather have a longer one?
It's very helpful, but with a massive que she had me filling out forms and discussing the savings (for me, obviously not the NHS). Seemed somewhat amusing after reading this thread before hand.