Paracetamol prescriptions

If the BHS is paying £3.20 for what we can get in Wilkos for 25p then there's something horribly wrong with their process of acquisition.

Yes you can buy paracetamol in Aldi for about 20p for 16. Health and safety decrees that you cannot buy more that 32 tablets without prescription.

(Used correctly they are fine but there are a lot of serious paracetamol overdoses each year.)

I would not bother to get a prescription. I could spend far more on a beer in a pub or a costa coffee. I am not going to charge the NHS.

The problems arise if your mobility is poor and you cannot get out to call in at several pharmacies to pick up more than 32 as you go past a supply. I do tend to buy any as I see them "in case". I take it at night and when my back is particularly bad.

The NHS are stuck here with their dispensing policies. I would be happy to buy bigger quantities at a time, but it seems you can only do that on prescription. For good reasons Paracetamol is restricted as it is very toxic

For those who want chapter and verse.
patient.info/doctor/paracetamol-poisoning

I think the tramadol is kicking in. My last sentence didn't make sense but I'm sure you understand what I mean.

And why are we given ( sometimes) a months surply of a drug that we haven't taken before. I was given a months supply of tramadol. My Dr had no idea if this was going to work, so why not a weeks supply and then: if it works call for a repeat, or, if it doesn't, he has all your info there to enable him to prescribe an alternative.
Am I missing something? I'm sure some will if I am

An annual prepayment prescription certificate is £104 pa.

Exactly Anya!
Nobody is prescribed 32tablets a day - their liver would be completely destroyed. So no, prescriptions are NOT the only way forward. Sensible prescribing by doctors (which does seem to be on the increase now that funds are known to be tight) along with monitoring of the frequency and amount repeat prescriptions, saves waste and saves money. We should resist the temptation to "stockpile" meds "just in case" as when a person dies none of it can be returned to the chemist for future use , it is all destroyed. DH has 2 weeks max of any of his drugs including immunosuppressants which is plenty of time to order repeats while still allowing a week's grace as some of his drugs would not be carried by your average chemists.

I didn't say there should be no managers - just fewer!

An annual prescription thingy is not very much more than Anno's quoted monthly cost.

Pension credit is means tested - why not use that as a criteria?

Anya constipation can be a symptom of a number of serious conditions as can other changes on bowel habits. How long should people self medicate for before going to the GP?

How widespread is posting prescriptions? What is widespread is that the chemist who dispenses the drugs will deliver to the home for certain patients. This cost is borne by the chemist who offers the service to be competitive with other chemists. As for the prescribing Tegan posted with experience and knowledge. It seems the obvious solution is that anyone who needs paracetamol regularly should get it on prescription because of difficulties of buying sufficient. The problem here is if the person doesn't get free prescriptions as they then would be paying well over the odds. I don't know how that can be solved. I do wonder how many people GPs are prescribing paracetamol for as just one offs as opposed to long term use. I've certainly been in a situation with both the dentist and GP when they've said, if you need to, take a couple of paracetamol until the pain wears off. They've never written a prescription. As for the control of money spent on drugs, each CCG has a pharmaceutical adviser whose job encompasses keeping costs down as much as possible, encouraging doctors to prescribe more efficiently e.g. Generics where possible. Each practice is monitored for its prescribing and receive regular visits and reports from the pa. They also monitor ver prescribing in terms not of costs but poor clinical practice e.g. antibiotics, anti-depressants.In terms of overall costs, the NHS rages constant battle with the pharmaceutical companies who over the years have behaved appallingly in ripping it off. They have huge resources to fight the NHS and cheat the system which they employ widely.BTW the pharmaceutical advisor would be classified as a 'manager'

If the pharmaceutical companies won't play ball, maybe GPs should just strike a deal with Tesco (or Asda etc)

Sunscreen on the NHS. What's all that about?

Too many people...

That's 10p a day MawBroom and surely that's affordable by any standards, even if it was double that?

As for 'collecting' well those can be picked up with the grocery shop surely? If not by the patient then by whosoever does their shopping for them. Too much people taking too much out of the NHS unnecessarily. Same with those visiting their GP for colds, dandruff and constipation for example.

It's not just paracetamol. Our CCG has consulted on a proposal to stop prescribing a range of items mainly for short term illnesses. It was quite a shock seeing how much had been spent in the last year on such medications.

A pack of 16 paracetamol can cost under 20p and with 8 being the general maximum daily dose, as you can buy 2 boxes a time from any one shop I fail to see how a prescription can be justified.

People with chronic pain take more paracetamol than you can easily buy and it mounts up even at supermarket prices. If the NHS could buy at prices prices like Tesco/Asda etc charge yes we would save a fortune but no sadly things in NHS are put out to tender and companies win the tender and prices are stuck! We have had difficulty getting the nozzles for ear syringing/irrigation from the company signed up to provide NHS supples in Scotland - costs £46 plus for 100 nozzles yet Google it and it is £33 but oh no it has to come from this other company that has the tender!

It would be difficult to means-test for free prescriptions. I was mystified (well before I retired) when the pharmacist pointed out that, because I was on thyroxine, all my prescribed items were now free. I could understand why the thyroxine was free but I was - at the time - well able to pay for my prescriptions. Now it could be a different matter because the quantity of drugs on my prescription would cost me around £90 per month - a substantial slice of my pension.

And, why do well off pensioners get free prescriptions?

jollyg, I say that every time the NHS is mentioned. Too many flipping managers.

Tegan this was before yearly reviews took place (I've used inhalers for decades, and have had only 2 reviews, more than a year apart).

That's how I imagine it to be in the NHS and in the rest of the public sector petra . It's not their money they're spending so they don't seem to be too bothered.

You have an asthma review with a nurse at least once a year; surely if someone couldn't use an inhaler they should point it out at their consultation and, if they'd told their partner they didn't know how to use it properly that partner should have gone with them to their consultation .

I too take paracetamol and get it on prescription.

The problem with NHS is the 'chiefs' managers are incompetent, empire builders.
People with no regard to caring for the needs of the patients, or indeed the public purse.

I have only just seen the inside of a hospital, as a patient. The nurses, doctors do a good job, but its the behind the scene babus who spend with abandon.

Re the cost of drugs.
I once worked for a natiolised industry and it was my obsovation that when people were buying services or goods from the private sector they didn't give a stuff as it wasn't their money and no one ever questioned it.
It was also my own personnel experience that there were plenty of opportunities for what one might call 'sweeteners'

I also know of a man who died whose wife found a massive stockpile of asthma inhalers, apparently he had told her he didn't know how to use them, but the repeat prescriptions went on coming..