Pharmacy charging for contraceptive

[AddisSon]

I posted this in chat but no response.

I have spent almost a week trying to get through to my doctors surgery to get a new prescription for my pill. Every time I ring I am something ridiculous like number 62 in the queue. Finally after spending all day on the phone on Thursday (while at work) I got through and was told by reception in order to get a new prescription I needed a telephone “review” by the nurse.

The nurse rang me a few hours later asked me what I wanted. I told her I needed a new pill prescription she said fine where did I want my prescription to go. I told her my local Boots in the town where I live and she said no problem it will be ready within 24 hours. I repeated back Boots and the town and she said yes.

I go to Boots pharmacy today and they don’t have the prescription. Pharmacists asks for my NHS number and when he checks he says the prescription has gone to a Lloyds pharmacy and as it’s part of their online pharmacy will be sent to my home address.

I asked him to check and he said yes that’s definitely where’s it’s gone. I asked him if I could have a weeks supply of my prescription to keep me going as I am about to run out. He said yes but I’d have to pay. I queried this as contraception is free but he said his pharmacy “would lose money” by giving it to me.

Luckily I can afford to pay £9.50 but what about people that can’t. What if I was a young girl with no money or a woman in a violent relationship with no easy access to cash who needs that prescription and can’t afford an unplanned pregnancy.

Why do we need a prescription any way? My so called telephone review was a “what do you want” and when I had to have a pill check last time the nurse asked me no questions, didn’t weigh me or take my blood pressure just printed out the prescription and handed it to me. What’s the point?!

It’s a useless system. We should be able to get them free of charge from a pharmacy when we need them. I had to have a ‘pill check’, order sent to the pharmacy, spent over an hour the next day waiting while they tried to find the prescription at the pharmacy and then they didn’t even have enough so I only got 5 months worth instead of 6.

This sounds very odd. If you can buy them over the counter, why bother getting a prescription?

Because they are free with a prescription

Totally see your frustration with this. I don't think Boots can be blamed here though. However rubbish the system may be, it's likely they would simply be giving away money if it wasn't prescribed (which for them it effectively wasn't because of the nurse's error).

I wouldn't bother trying to get an appointment for a pill check - which is next to impossible - if I could just buy them.

Oh I’ve read it again. They have to charge you as they’ll lose money because it was without a prescription.

They charge because they cannot get refund/paid for the tablets without the prescription.

People who can't afford to pay for the pills would have to wait for the ones that had been posted to their home. Decline sex for a few days if this means you are without pills

The pharmacy isn't going to give out medication for free without a prescription - why on earth would anyone expect them to, they are a business.

It was because it was an emergency supply. You are correct that it could have bad implications for someone who cannot afford it, but the pharmacy also cannot afford to give it away without being reimbursed. If you have don't have the NHS app already I find it pretty good, you can see when and where prescriptions have been sent, and now you have had your review, would be able to order a repeat on the app.

Decline sex?
Christ

Many who women are on birth control dont get to decline and other women are on it for other health reasons and not taking for a while will cause problems

YABU
your nurse is incompetent both by not sending the prescription properly and also not asking you the right questions, doing the right check. That doesnt mean that pharmacies should lose money by giving out free medication or that the prescription should be abandoned altogether, thereby meaning lots of young women would self prescribe the pill for years without any regular checks or consultations as to whether it was right for them/causing any side effects (I've been on it for 13 years and I know I wouldnt bother with the appointments if they weren't mandatory due to the faff...millions if women wouldnt.) That's worse than the very specific circumstances of your nurses incompetence that led to you needing to pay this one time.
I'm not saying the system is great, but the answer is not "let's do away with it altogether and let young girls and women self prescribe with no checks"

Without a prescription the pharmacy can't claim the money back from the NHS, it's like asking Tesco to give you your shopping for free because your FSM vouchers went to the wrong place.

The reason you can’t just get contraceptives when you feel like it should be pretty obvious, it’s a medication and they need to be sure it’s safe for you to be on it. The pill causes strokes and heart attacks abs isn’t suitable for some people, long term use is linked to certain cancers. It’s also to check it’s still working well for you and they can do a lot of that checking just by talking to you.

If you didn't put in for a new prescription until a week before you needed it in the middle of the NHS having ground to a halt, that's your problem. It's not lifesaving medication. People have to pay for asthma inhalers (which are lifesaving). YABU to expect special treatment. Anyway what about the break week?
Do you really think women who "desperately need to avoid pregnancy" use the pill which their abuser could find rather than a long acting depot injection or implant? Have you considered these if you're struggling to stay organised?

When a new drug license application is made the company applying can ask for OTC (over the counter) status (things like vitamins are OTC as are Asprin, P (pharmacy only e.g. co-codamol which contain codiene which is addictive) or POM (prescription only medicine). The Medicines Agency review the safety data and will only grant P or OTC if the believe the medication is suitable. It is possible to do an OTC switch later in a medicines lifetime when there is enough supporting safety data (e.g. when it’s been on the market for a few years). Normally it’s an advantage to the pharmaceutical company to be OTC or P if possible so they will apply for the switch if they think they have the evidence.

So contraceptive pills are POM because their safety profile means regular GP / nurse review is necessary. They are not sufficiently safe to just be sold on demand.

The pharmacy gets reimbursed by the NHS for the medication they give you plus a very small dispensing fee. They get reimbursed by the pharmacist annotating the prescription to show what’s been dispensed and then sending it to the NHS who review what’s been provided and then pay.

So Boots could only give you the pills because they could see you had a valid prescription on the computer prescription but as they don’t have the prescription they can’t dispense it, annotate it and send off for reimbursement. In the old days you’d have been out of luck without the prescription in your hand or a pharmacist ringing the GP to confirm.

I say all this as a medicines licensing expert and the daughter of a pharmacist (I actually lived in one and worked for my Dad on Saturday and in the school holidays for years).

Ouch, last time I went into my doctors they just gave me a years worth, thank god.

1. Don't leave it only a week before you need a repeat prescription.

1. How long have you been on the pill? I've always had to have a nurse review before a new prescription, they take weight, do blood pressure, ask if anything's changed like pain after sex, check records for smear test date etc.

1. Then get a 12 month supply for free.

1. When prescriptions went paperless generally you were asked the first time where you'd like you prescriptions sent. Presumably you signed up for it to be Lloyds?

@dementedpixie

Because they are free with a prescription

So they need to be accountable.

Otherwise if they just gave them free you'd end up with gang masters using women to collect lots of them and reselling them out of the country

Don't leave it only a week before you need a repeat prescription

Where I live the CCG have a centralised prwscription servkce and we cannot request prescriptions more than 7 days ahead - and they check on the computer when we last had them and will refuse to issue a prescription early.

That's for medication that's a repeat prescription @starfishmummy. This is a new prescription that needs a consultation with a nurse first.

Last time I needed a prescription it took three attempts of phoning the surgery and many apologies before it actually made it to the chemist.

I had two wasted trips to the chemist and standing in line outside only to be told it wasn’t there, until the third trip. When it was in.

Now I phone ahead to make sure it’s in the chemists. It’s not ideal and I don’t like wasting the pharmacy staffs time checking my order while I’m on the phone but when my gp can’t do what they said they would more than once with the same script I no longer trust them and try to avoid leaving home unless I have to.

I wouldn't bother trying to get an appointment for a pill check - which is next to impossible - if I could just buy them.

You can. I get mine from Simply Pharmacy on line. It's about £20 for 3 months supply. Easy

@OwlBeThere

The reason you can’t just get contraceptives when you feel like it should be pretty obvious, it’s a medication and they need to be sure it’s safe for you to be on it. The pill causes strokes and heart attacks abs isn’t suitable for some people, long term use is linked to certain cancers. It’s also to check it’s still working well for you and they can do a lot of that checking just by talking to you.

Sont scare monger saying long term use is linked to some cancers that isnt tru, it says long term can slightly increase the risk of getting some cancers and decrease others.

Report information properly!

You clearly have the money so just buy it from an online pharmacy, get it posted to you and save yourself the hassle.

@cyclingmad maybe I’m being thick here, but to me what you just said is the as what I said?
long term use is linked (ie there is connection to) certain cancers. That’s what I said. I’m not scaremongering I’m pointing out that the pill isn’t for everyone and it needs to be revised.