A calm and supportive thread to discuss the Price Increases: Mounjaro

[TryingAgainAgainAgain]

For anyone who would like a calmer place to share support and information about the price increases.

Yes I think you’re probably right (and I’ve hopefully ordered from two suppliers this week!). I think a GP probably needs to be slightly more involved - there possibly needs to be a referral where you are weighed at the doctors, so the people that lie to get MJ can’t. And the repeat prescription probably needs to come through the dr. It’s all got too big too fast and the suppliers are not showing themselves as having the best morales either this week (and let’s not get started on the manufacturer!)

@jan2310
I agree. From what I've seen this last couple of days, it's clear some pharmacies are not doing the most rudimentary of checks on weight eligibility at start, independent weight/height verification, id checked against photo/video, time since last script, previous dose, proper indepth consultations for new patients and sufficient time for careful prescribing decisions, etc - all things which recent ghpc inspections have seen as crucial. People buying multiple pens from multiple pharmacies simultaneously - for all anyone knows, they're selling on to their skinny mates. It's no different to buying bloody junk off Amazon. And there's me worrying about using the 5th dose 🤷‍♀️.

oushk get a lot of stick but I’ve had both video weight verification and maintenance calls with them and they ask a lot of questions for reordering.

@FurForksSake
Yes me too. So far, I think they're handling this with more integrity than many others.

The problem with GP involvement is that they barely have time to see people who are properly sick without adding thousands of weight/height checks into the mix.

More mandatory video calls would help verify people more.

Yes I had mine yesterday and they were very clear on what I had to do. Made me stand by the door too to check my height!

My GP asked Oushk for £98 to answer their emails 🤣

Many/most GP practices have a linked or partner pharmacy, The pharmacist could do the checks, same as they do if you go to your pharmacy for UTI meds.
Also, I think there should be a central registry where all prescribed meds are recorded (hello NHS existing systems) and so you should only be able get a new pen every 3-4 weeks. Plus I think you should have your have a face to face appointment at your pharmacy/GP practice every 6 months to check your weight/health if you’re still taking WLI meds.

Please don’t flame me but I have just discovered that my usual supplier is out of stock for the 7.5 dose. I have tried 2 other suppliers and they’re out of stock too. Does anyone have any advice please? I’ve taken my last dose tonight 🫣. I’ve emailed my supplier to ask what I should do…they only have 5mg pens left.

But why?

My GP isn’t interested when I’m actually unwell. They don’t have the time for this. If they’re going to do this, the jabs need to be available via the NHS to all of us, rather than asking the NHS to subsidise a private health service. It’s like asking GPs to check up on those having private cosmetic surgery.

Oushk said they are getting more stock in this week, I think? Might be worth trying again or considering temporarily looking for somewhere that has 5 and doing a double dose until you can get what you need? You can probably push out to 9-10 days as they say you can do it 3 days either side of your normal jab day, so you’ve got some time.

Yes, Oushk are due a delivery early this week apparently

My thoughts too! I’ve got to wait over 4 weeks to see the mental health nurse at my GP practice. There’s no way they could cope with this.

Also cynically most people were happy with the ability to buy from wherever whenever until it’s become an issue getting stock and now they’re up in arms.

Thanks @FurForksSake- last time I tried with oushk , when I was looking to move supplier, they wanted me to do a consultation that was about 2 months away. But I’ll look at them again. If I have a 5mg pens, how do I dose up to 7.5?

Yeah it’s only now people are calling for greater involvement. I’m a big believer that if you choose to go private for healthcare it’s not then fair to put a burden on the NHS as something connected to that. I’d be happy to pay £25 every six months to be weighed at a private hospital or something, but I’d feel wrong asking my GP to do that.

Count the clicks, you’ll need additional needles, but you can buy them from the provider. A full dose is 60, so you need an extra 30 for the full dose.

Oh yes, we all bought it. But most of us were pretty nervous taking it the first time, and some went through pretty bad side effects with little back up from their suppliers (seen it many times on here).

I had a nhs health check by the nurse at my surgery (age related) and was just into prediabetes range. I also had high BP and cholesterol. I was referred to a diabetes prevention program, which is actually really good - something like that would be fabulous alongside mounjaro.

But yes, a private clinic might be an idea.
I liked the idea of buying from my local pharmacy, but I had a blood pressure monitor put on for 24hrs by them, and while sitting in the queue waiting I could hear every word said in the consulting room. So I went off the idea of discussing my weight loss journey every month in front of half the village.

Sadly the NHS just can’t afford it. It’s like why they can’t afford to just put us all on Mounjaro - it would cost nearly £30 billion just on the basis of the list price they have. Let alone all the other costs. It would be brilliant if more pharmacies offered health support, but it’s a tough line to walk. I’m young, I exercise and I check my blood pressure at home sometimes, and I don’t have any worrying symptoms, so I’m quite happy to go it alone.

They have to right now as they’re on an enforcement order, on the verge of being shut down due to issues with safety and medicine storage

Our local pharmacy has a 30 min wait just to pick up a prescription most days at any given time as it’s so must with both GP surgeries using them as the main pharmacy. Adding MJ checks or prescription would break them.

I’m also happy to go it alone, I’m relatively young and haven’t suffered on MJ really at all. But it was nothing unexpected when I did have side effects.

Prescribing pharmacies should maybe be made to offer more free support to patients but I don’t think it should be put on the NHS.

They all have to do it? I think part of the issue they are all having is people swapping pharmacies and not having weight verification calls at the beginning of the journey. Justifying continuing to prescribe for all of the pharmacies is tricky when people started before guidance changed.

Yes every pharmacy is supposed to do it. They tightened the regulations a few months ago

Have a look at the Monj comparison website as they are now marking specific doses as Out of Stock or Existing Customers Only (EC). So you can see who is still showing as supplying 7.5 to new customers:

monj.co.uk/mounjaro-price-list-non-discounted-uk/

And as some suppliers are still discounting, here's the discounted list:

monj.co.uk/discount-mounjaro-price-list/

As a pp said, Ousk looks the cheapest.

So, @poppysocks81, if Ousk are too slow, you've also got the ones circled in red on the first screenshot. And on the discounted list (lilac/blue colour) I'd ignore Curate (look at that TrustPilot rating!), and apparently Superdrug are cancelling orders now so may be taken off the list shortly (one of the guys that runs this is posting informal updates on Reddit).

The latest update from Oushk. Certainly doesn’t sound like they’re being shut down!