Free prescription

[Moni81]

When during pregnancy you get free prescription, as I remember I have to fill up form. On my booking appointment midwife said she will send aspirin prescription to my GP to take 12 weeks onwards and I can pick it up in couple of days. I'm over 9 weeks now, do I have to wait until 16 week midwife for free prescription or can sort it out earlier. To be fair I'm not willing to pay £10 for aspirin, would just buy over the counter until I get it free.

It really depends on the area/midwife. The midwife can complete the form online now but she does need to know your due date (so you need to have had your scan). Where I work we don't do it until the 16 week appointment.

I got mine really early through an email a few days after my booking appointment (was around 8 weeks), perhaps give the midwife unit a ring and ask when you're likely to get it?

@PinkPrawns2 thanks, that's what I thought, I don't really see point of prescription for aspirin, it's cheap stuff anyway.

I'd buy it now, and keep buying it. Aspirin is peanuts and when it's free / your exemption kicks in, if you can keep buying it (16p a pack or something) then you should. We all know where the NHS is at the mo!!!

I got my exemption certificate at 10 weeks. It arrived 2 days after my booking in appointment when my midwife applied for it online for me.

But yea if I was to take aspirin I would just buy it

I don't know if it's okay to take regular aspirin when you're pregnant. I could be wrong but I was told on another thread by multiple women when I asked about being prescribed aspirin in pregnancy that it's a very low dose compared to the regular stuff - often called baby aspirin. I would check that with your midwife/GP because could be dangerous to take the wrong dose. I wouldn't have thought you'd need to wait for the free prescriptions though. I hope not! I'd suggest checking both with midwife. Congrats on your pregnancy :) x

@flowerexpress it seems to be a BP/perhaps pre-eclampsia thing that’s common now? 40 weeks pregnant and am asked to confirm I’ve not been advised to take aspirin at each appointment.
As for the cert, didn’t know it was different numbers of weeks in different places. Where I am I didn’t get annythung until 16 weeks, and last time I was pregnant I used it once and ended up with a fine! 🤷🏻‍♀️ So I’ve paid for any prescription requirements this time as I still don’t know what I did wrong last time, nor did the chap on the phone but I was too tired and pregnant to bother fighting it and didn’t fancy it turning into a big thing. So fingers crossed it works out ok for you. And good luck for the rest of the journey! @Moni81

@flowerexpress thank you. I have it all written and signed in my pregnancy record book. Because I'm over 40 and had last pregnancy over 10 years ago I meet criteria to take 150 mg of aspirin daily from 12 weeks onwards, doesn't say it's baby aspirin. I think it's different to what women take in early pregnancy to minimise risk of miscariage.

@flowerexpress yes it's against high blood pressure, pre- eclampsia.

My GP practice has a pharmacy and the doctor prescribed me anti sickness meds for my nausea before I had my exemption as it was on my records that I was pregnant. I could only get the free prescription at the GP surgery chemist though without the certificate. So anyone who doesn’t have one yet and has a pharmacy at their doctors surgery might be worth asking when you get a prescription

I got the exemption just after the booking in appointment at around 10 weeks. I was on iron tablets by 12 weeks, didn’t have the dating scan until 13+5.

Baby aspirin is only small pills of 75g. Still aspirin. It is just easier to take than the 300g that you need to be cutting in half.

You can ask your midwife to backdate the exception certificate (I think maybe only up to 4 weeks), so if you keep receipts from the pharmacy you can claim back on prescriptions you've paid for. I just bought the aspirin tbh, but spent a fortune on prescriptions for hyperemesis in the early weeks and managed to get most of it refunded.

I'm also on low dose aspirin (2× 75mg tabkets) and just buy mine in the supermarket. I haven't had my free prescriptions come through (24 weeks) for pregnancy but I actually get them all the time for another condition. I still buy anything I can get OTC though as it costs the NHS a lot for something you can get really cheaply (and I can afford to do so).

Thank you everyone, I will just buy aspirin myself, leave prescription for more expensive stuff. With my previous pregnancies I had constant thrush so if it starts again, I'm not paying for pessaries as they can be costly and I literally had to use them every 3 weeks to manage.

Mine just ask and i tick the box maternity exempt
i had proof i had been to booking in app so threy culdnt fine you for free prescriptions

my midwife sorted mine wuite early on
no one asks for it just tick the right box.
but agree id just buy asprin if u know the right dose