Prescription Prepayment Certificate - is this right?

[SecondaryBurnzzz]

my lovely pharmacist at Boots Tottenham Court Road recommended that I got a Prescription Prepayment Certificate to cover my new prescription for 6 months supply of Elleste Duet (each month dosage charged as two prescriptions). I duly went online and applied for a PPC, paid £29.10. When I went to pick up my prescription today I walked away with 6 boxes of tablets (usual charge £18 per box) and I wasn't charged a penny. That can't be right can it?

The PPC is surely around £100- the amount you paid sounds incorrect. It's based on the idea that one item per month would be £8+ x 12 = £96, but for anyone having more than one item a month, it's better value.

,£29.10 is the price for 3 months

The PPC is £29 for 3 months. Normally, you'd pay £18 a month but with a PPC you would pay less but you'd have to buy an annual PPC not one that was for 3 months. They have made a mistake . You may be contacted because the pharmacy will find out what's happened when they look at the prescriptions and payment.

Sounds about right as you get unlimited prescriptions for the amount of the pre pay certificate:

Save money on NHS prescriptions by prepaying for them

You can pay a set price for prescriptions for 3 or 12 months, no matter how many you need.

A prescription costs £9per item, but prepaying for an unlimited number of prescriptions is:

• £29.10for 3 months
• £104for 12 months (or 10 Direct Debit instalments of £10.40)

They haven't made a mistake. There is a 3 month option

I don’t think there’s been a mistake. The doctor can issue several months worth of some medications on one prescription and there’s only one prescription charge for that. A PPC covers all prescriptions issued in that time period.

I pay about £10 a month and all prescriptions are then free.

Pharmacist here - no mistake. You must have a valid PPC at the time of collection the prescription - it then covers that prescription, regardless for how much medication is on there.

You’ve PRE paid - so no extra money is required :) it was recommended to save you money and it has x

Ah, that explains it. The pharmacist thought I'd bought a yearly cert, whereas I only had a 3 month one. I did query that it was too good to be true, and he said "that's the NHS for you". Ha!

It's a bit illogical though because although the PPC might cover several different items per month, no one is going to use 6 packs of HRT in 3 months, as 1 pack is for 1 month,

Normally, HRT is prescribed for 3 months only before a new request has to be made. Some drs will go as far as giving 6 months, but not often is my understanding.

crikey BrownBirdsFly that is good news! I will have to buy my pharmacist some flowers for saving me all that dosh!

Surely the pharmacist is giving out what was on the prescription done by the gp

It is right as it covers the prescription date and issue date not the period for which the medication is for so for e.g. I get 5 items every 2 months. So when I used to use the pre pay I would buy 3 months, order my prescriptions then just before end of cert period order my next repeats then NOT buy a pre pay for a couple of months until needed for the next repeat. This way I spent less over the 12 mths than a prepay for a 12 mth period.

I believe they also do mthly DDs these days even better to spread the costs

Surely the pharmacist is giving out what was on the prescription done by the gp He was. That was the point I was making- about the GP.

I pay £10.40 per month for PPC. My prescriptions separately would cost me over £60 a month.

I pay £104 for an annual PPC it saves me a fortune as over the last two months i would have had to paid £54 on my prescriptions, i have 3 different ones for HRT, BP medication and Rosacea treament.

I get all my prescriptions free because I have under active thyroid. Bit odd to get all the rest of the unrelated meds free. I don't complain but I think it's over generous.