GP Practise, changing prescription for cheaper one!!

[birdladyfromhomealone]

. Im spitting mad today.
I have had a letter from my GP telling me the practise can not afford to pay for my cancer drugs prescribed by my Neurologist so as of next week they are changing my prescription for a different type which is cheaper for the practise.
I pay for my prescriptions £30 plus a month.
Who do they think they are?

It has taken months to get used to these drugs and they want me to change and get more side effects to get used too 😞 I am seeing the neurologist team at Kings on Monday afternoon for my 6 month check up so will complain to them and see if they will write to my GP.

Swelling is going down on my tummy now and no more bleeding.

I am having a mammagraph next week then get all my results on Aug 22nd at the Oncology unit at Royal Marsden. I have felt so much better this week.

But why should my doctor change my drugs that were rescribed to me BY AN EXPERT!!!

Ok I'll just go away and die then, that will save the NHS ££££

Grow up, people are trying to help you here.

Either talk to your consultant/specialist nurse, ask your local pharmacist or see your GP.
And your shouldn't be paying £30 a month, either you should get a cancer exemption or ask your pharmacist about a pre-pay certificate.

I have to take over 20 different medications a day. Over the last few years my GP in consultation with my consultants, have been moving me on to biosimilar meds. Only 3 meds have I had an issue, primarily due to side effects. My GP put me straight back on the more expensive ones straight away.

Having discussed it with all 7 of my consultants, in Scotland at least changes are made with the consultants consultation and approval. It's not the GP making the final decision.

if all drugs were generic instead of named brands, many more people would have access to drugs and treatment

Unfortunately, it would also mean that no new drugs would be developed. It costs somewhere over half a billion dollars to get a new drug to market, so pharmaceutical companies depend on recouping as much of that as possible during the life of the patent and then continuing to sell some of the branded product after the patent expires. Of course, they do act unethically - viz the current oxycodone overprescribing scandal in America - and do a lot of gouging to extract money that can ill be afforded, especially in Africa & Asia, but there isn't a simple black & white picture of the industry being villains and healthcare (also big business in most countries, remember) being heroes.

I firmly believe that if the USA were to introduce a socialized healthcare system along the lines of the NHS the entire global pharmaceutical industry would collapse, as would the huge industry developing & manufacturing diagnostic test kits, imaging technology (scanners), etc.

You won't be paying £30 a month for your drugs. A prepayment certificate is about £30 per quarter, so that's £10 per month. This will more than likely be nowhere near the cost of your drugs.

And at the risk of saying it yet again the minute you are diagnosed with cancer you apply for a medical exemption . You do not pay for any prescription cancer related or not.
Speak to your go and oncologist. I asked for a specific brand of my cancer treatment drugs and that's what I get.

I used to run clinical trials.
The time and cost of bringing a new drug to market is huge.
I agree with pp. There simply wouldn't be any new drugs if companies couldn't recoup their costs.
I was working in the NHS at the time and I certainly didn't earn much for the level of responsibility and work load.
I earned loads more when I went back to a much easier job in GP.

Hang on a sec. Why on earth are you paying £30 a month? If you are being treated for cancer, or the aftereffects of cancer, then that's a condition covered by medical exemptions. Get your specialist to sign a FP92A form for you.

(For that matter, for anyone reading this who doesn't have a qualifying medical condition, but is on lots of meds, for £104 you can get a prepayment card that covers prescription costs for a year)

www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcosts/Pages/Prescriptioncosts.aspx

And yes, that's not what your thread is about. But you might as well save £30 a month!

You can also pay by direct debit monthly. Think it's £10 a month

GPs don't make decisions on drug funding. It's the Clinical Commissioning Group. Their appointed pharmacists switch pts to unbranded version of drugs. This year alone we been forced to stop or switch loads of meds from nutritional supplements, emollients, coeliac foods to catheterization kits etc.

Write to your CCG. Don't blame your GP who us already over a barrel.