Maybe sharing medicines isn't a good idea ?

[SerendipityJane]

Apparently we don't need doctors to prescribe antibiotics because out new health secretary has dished them out like smarties to her friends and family (which I thought was an offence ?).

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/15/therese-coffey-admits-handing-antibiotics-friends/

Damn that left wing anti-growth press, eh ?

I'll have a red one please Tezza.

You used to be able to buy antibiotics over the counter in Spain.

Don't know if this is still the same as it was many years ago when I got them.

I've got friends who buy Diclofenic when abroad as Doctors won't prescribe them here.

Fine. You could argue that eccies have always been illegal but many of us were munching them like sweeties off our tits in the 90s and 2000s. Just because it’s not legal doesn’t mean it’s not done.

Option 1, phone the doctor 30 times every morning after 8am for three days till you can finally get an appointment and spend all that time off your hard manual Labour job till they prescribe you something or you get better before you can get seen.

option 2, oi highland pony, you got decent painkillers? No I don’t want diclofenac thats shite, oh you’ve got tramadol? Got enough to tap me some coz I’ve fell off my horse and I’m on the nightshift the night.

Highland pony

I think you're being exceptionally thick to do that.

It’s normal in my family. I’m not waiting 4 weeks for a doctors appointment.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why they don't prescribe diclofenac much anymore?

www.mims.co.uk/diclofenac-cardiovascular-warnings-contraindications-updated/musculoskeletal-disorders/article/1192344

I have antibiotics prescribed for just in case situations due to a few ongoing issues. However if I take them then I need to let my GP know.
I do also have huge amounts of painkillers and I am happy to share naproxen or zapain but not zomorph, oramorph or tramadol. My daughter also has oramorph prescribed and might have a little of mine whilst waiting for her prescription but no-one else is allowed.

You live in a very different world to me (and the majority of others one would hope)!

But I don’t. I live in the exact same world. You just don’t fly in circles where you see what I see. Same as I don’t fly in the circles you do.

You can buy it otc in that medical backwater called Australia

But I don’t. I live in the exact same world. You just don’t fly in circles where you see what I see. Same as I don’t fly in the circles you do.

I carry naloxone and am trained to administer it. I know about opiates.

The fact is, if you're in a position of responsibility such as Coffey, you shouldn't be sharing out your prescription drugs. It doesn't matter what you or your pals do! Stop making excuses for yet another hopeless Tory!

Afaik it’s actually illegal to dispense prescription medications if you’re not licensed to do so. So she’s admitted breaking the law.

Here you go

www.weldricks.co.uk/news/why-you-shouldnt-share-medication

coffey is as thick as pig shit.

You really need to be a doctor to weigh up interactions. For instance amitriptyline and a common antiemetic can cause potentially fatal disruption to heart rhythm if taken together. One example among many.

Different to antibiotics though.

I'd be curious what would happen if she illegally gave someone else her medication (it IS a prescribed medication) and they had an anaphylaxis response and died.

She acts like any average Joe can just dish out medications without any training or research. Why have doctors and nurses at all!? Just dish out anything people want. What could go wrong!

No you can't anymore.

Aye getting antibiotics here is like hens teeth. Getting a sodding doctors appointment is impossible. You phone every ten seconds from 8 in the morning and get the engaged tone till you eventually get through to be told all the appointments are gone and to try again the next day. I got 12 stitches in hospital on my arm and removed them myself coz I couldn’t get an appointment.

There you go then. Everyone does not do it everyone in your drug sharing circle does it.

The law doesn't apply to Tory party members.

Except I’ve lived and worked in a lot of places….. it’s far more common than you think.

Well I will be disappointed if there isn’t a police investigation and hopefully a prosecution. Surely she has to be sacked now?

Do you think I haven't lived and worked in a lot of places. I know people do it. But it's not a thing EVERYONE does. Lots of people don't do it.

I've shared painkillers and had some shared with me. Not antibiotics though.

It may be "normal" for you, but it's also foolish.

Proposing it as government policy is stupid and dangerous. Hopefully the professional bodies and regulators will point this out to her and we'll hear no more of it.