Temporary restriction to 3 months on HRT prescriptions

[WombatChocolate]

BBC news article today - a temporary restriction to make prescriptions for short supply products limited to 3 months, to try to even out supply and ensure everyone can get some.

Says it’s temporary and anyone who has a longer prescription (I resume on repeat) won’t have to pay again to get the rest of their supply.

Not sure if this will make a big difference or if the problem is being caused by people having long prescriptions with large quantities…but I guess it will help a bit. A problem I can foresee is lots of unbalanced prescriptions of shortage and non shortage HRT, plus surgeries getting quantities wrong. GPs often seem to struggle to know how much to prescribe to give 1/2/3/4 pumps for a certain period. I suspect lots of people will receive prescriptions which don’t even cover 3 months and then have to return to the GP.

and of course there are lots of people who report they are forced to get monthly prescriptions anyway. Not sure this will help them….although perhaps these GPs will reassess and see longer prescriptions have been widespread.

I’m never prescribed more than 3 months worth already so won’t change anything for me. I must say all this attention on the gel has made me wonder if it’s magically better than the patches I’m using. I’ve been quite happy with patches but would like to know why gel seems more popular.

@Okbutnotgreat

Is gel just cheaper and hence why it's popular on NHS?

I prefer the gel because I’m sick of the patches falling off.

I’ve only ever been allowed 3 months of patches at a time. They’re not on repeat for some reason so I have to request it every time.

The oestrogen in patch, gel or spray is the same it is just personal preference as to which any particular woman chooses.
It isn't a cost issue. Three months should help, our local pharmacies are already doing this .

Patches are not included in the restrictions.

I can see that the restriction applies until end July 2022 - 3 months.

People Ive known on patches have had difficulties with them either peeling off, or making them extremely itchy.

Gel has the downside of you have to wait for it to dry (maybe 5 mins - people often put it on after shower and then let it dry whilst brushing teeth, doing makeup etc) but the big benefit is the ability to adjust the quantity….so woman able to increase and reduce dose to find optimum level.

Other thing is gel is used normally alongside Utrogestan which is micronised progesterone - body identical or natural. I think that with patches, all progesterones are synthetic.

But clearly, women shift across from gel to patches and vv all the time, and it’s mostly personal preference.

Other thing is gel is used normally alongside Utrogestan which is micronised progesterone - body identical or natural. I think that with patches, all progesterones are synthetic.

@WombatChocolate Estrogen-only patches are available and they are used alongside Utrogestan.

I agree about being able to adjust the dose, especially for women new to HRT who don't always want a medium-high dose to start with.

I was advised to start with about 1/4 of a pump and work upwards. (This was when gel was very new and hardly anyone used it- over 12 years ago.)