Prescription charges

Maryeliza54 you seem to have forgotten that this is a forum for discussion and opinion and your angry responses to some on here are unacceptable. I am living with chronic pain and also need paracetamol but I accept that it is cheep to buy and can get it anywhere from the corner shop to the chemist so I get on with it and and don’t abuse others who don’t need it. You have been quite rude to some of the posters I feel - my opinion and I’m allowed it as you are allowed yours but please be less angry in your responses.

I’m pleased to see that apparently people who need larger amounts of paracetamol will still be able to get them on prescription, there is definitely a need for that. However hopefully in future people like my mother, will not be able to get them on prescription because in her case she doesn’t need them. When her shoulder pain flares up she takes the cocodamol, but she doesn’t take it take daily. Mum has a large amount of tablets on repeat which she needs every day of her life, and obviously I want her to have them, but much as I love her very much, I don’t think she should be able to get paracetamol too just because ‘it’s free’ when in actual fact she rarely uses it and has in the past offered a box to me, saying ‘ I’ve got loads and I don’t need it, you take it’, needless to say I refuse! Perhaps she and other very old people don’t understand how strapped for cash the NHS is today.

I’m pleased to hear they will still be able to have them on prescription. It may be a “simple” painkiller but a very important first rung in the ladder. I see people daily struggling with pain and that is sad because there can be enormous relief just by using painkillers wisely. Too many patients are too stoic when it comes to pain, they suffer in silence and it really does have s detrimental impact on their quality of life. I would urge all those in pain to go to their go and keep going until they find the best course of treatment for them. Have a happy day everyone ?

And to be fair MesMop they will remain on prescription for those with chronic pain but I’m really shocked at the lack of understanding of some posters on here about the need for that.

OldMeg who is your post directed at? Who is the poster/s arguing alll day on the forum who should be organsing a simple delivery? Are you criticising the posters on here living with chronic pain who don’t want to have to make special arrangements to get their pain medication that people on other medication don’t have to make ? Come on OldMeg who are you having a pop at from your high horse?

Thank you for explaining that MaryEliza, I now understand your point and I agree. Some people really do need these medications and shouldn’t have to trawl around looking for them. As there hasn’t been a system put in place to enable multiple purchase then they should remain on prescription till there is.

Not a day of course but a month

I wasn’t questioning why thyroxine was free - I was trying to make the point that it was extremely unfair of some posters to accept that for example medications like thyroxine are free but they were suggesting that people in chronic pain should not only have to pay for their medication that but they also think it is absolutely fine that people needing 200+ tablets a day should make arrangements to sort that out themselves. I absolutely agree with you that monitoring is essential with such heavy use and the best way to do that is by people having it on prescription.

I think a card allowing those who need regular doses of paracetamol is an excellent idea. Paracetamol can be dangerous and patients should be monitored regularly. I think because it is so readily available people forget that it is dangerous if not taken properly. Ibuprofen can cause stomach problems and because of possible addiction and other side effects, any drug containing co codsmol had to be purchased on prescription over here. A previous poster asked why thyroxine was free, probably because there are some patients without any remaining thyroid that need this drug to stay alive. If your body can’t profuce any thyroxine, your body will slowly shut down and you die. There are all manner of serious effects on the body without enough thyroxine before you get to that stage. I think it would also be very cost effective if the NHS could run out a service promoting good health and well being that would hopefully reduce the populations need for medications and medical treatments. Pain can be a dreadful affliction that robs people of a good quality of life. Chronic pain is a serious condition in itself, apart from what is causing it. The difference to people’s lives when their pain is controlled is amazing.

I get paracetamol on prescription because I take 8 a day and have significant mobility problems - hence the need for taking them! I can only get enough for four days if I buy them so was faced with frequent trips to a chemist, each one causing me severe pain. I would be happy to pay for them if I could buy large packs. I hope that I can still get them prescribed under the exemption guidance ie chronic illnesses.

I am afraid that it is not aways a simple matter. I have to use Paracetemol as part of a raft of medication to try to keep on top of pain and I absolutely have to have it on prescription as I am so intolerant of the ingredient that the OTC stuff is generally coated in. It causes nausea, vomiting, diahroea, severe pain and internal bleeding. I cannot manage my life very well if I have to contend with that so I would rather take the prescription and use the dearer product which is mercifully prescribed by my GP. Fortunately I am given a supply for a month at a time. I would also find it too difficult to get medication every few days because it sometimes takes a few days to recover from a trip to the chemist.

Oh come on! Where there’s a will there’s a way.

And to be frank I’m not impressed by someone who simply comes up with name calling and excuses as to why something easily organised isn’t possible for them.

If someone has the wherewithal to spend all day arguing on a forum like this, with an internet connection then they ought to be able to organise a simple delivery.

I thought the reason paracetamol can only be bought in such small amounts, was because a politicians daughter's friend committed suicide using them. He campaigned to have the law changed.
I am quite prepared to be corrected though.

If your surgery is a dispensing practice then one of the ways it benefits is by giving you a prescription for say only a month rather than two months supply. As for prescribing cheaper drugs my understanding is that pharmacies only get reimbursed for the the list price of the drug prescribed. However CCGs keep a very close eye on prescribing patterns and also may say which drugs can only be generic etc

I’m never quite sure if the gp’s practice benefit financially from proscribing cheap drugs. I get my drugs from the surgery dispensary and our practice also has a pharmacy.
Anyone know?

The simple answer is £1.29 per item dispensed but there are higher payments for dispensing appliances, methadone, unlicensed drugs etc etc.

Why on earth can't we leave it to the GPs to decide what is appropriate to be given on prescription and what is appropriate to tell the patient to get there own at the pharmacist? Are GPs such wimps they can't stand up to people who come in demanding things they don't really need the NHS to pay for?

Does anyone know the cost of a prescription? I mean simply how much does it cost the NHS on top of the actual medication supplied.

My mother goes independently to the supermarket, and could easily pick up some paracetamol if she wanted it.

On the other hand, my 90 year old mother gets paracetamol on prescription. She rarely uses it as she has cocodamol instead. ‘But why pay when you can get it free’ she says. Despite her great age, my love for her, and her other costly and very necessary drugs, I don’t think a prescription for paracetamol is justified in her case. She doesn’t agree.

My friends husband was dying of cancer. The only drug he could tolerate was paracetamol. My friend was leaving him alone at home in order to go out to buy paracetamol every couple of days, so I told her to ask for it on prescription. ‘But it’s so cheap, doesn’t seem right’ she said. I argued successfully with her that paracetamol is on prescription for people like her husband, and she managed to get it prescribed in much larger amounts, so she didn’t need to keep running out to get it. Sadly her husband died a few weeks later.

We have a pharmacy counter in our Sainsbury branch. I can buy 32 there, and buy another 32 at the till. If my DH is with me, we both do it, so can manage to buy 128 in one trip. Crazy!

I once got told I couldn't have more than 32 paracetamol in Tesco. I bought three separate lots of 32, same till, same checkout assistant. Just had to queue three times.
Very silly......

Poppyred I think if someone went to the GP with an ache or a pain which was not due to a chronic condition it would be fair enough for the patient to be told to go to the chemist and buy some paracetamol over the counter.

However, if the patient has a chronic condition and paracetamol is the drug of choice recommended by the GP at a rate of 8 per day every day for a chronic condition which makes mobility difficult I can see no reason why a prescription cannot be issued for a much larger number of tablets. The prescription could be paid for - and the patient would not have to trek to the shops or send someone to buy 32 at a time (4 days' supply) - and be questioned every time they are purchased.

Surely it should be up to the judgement of the GP?
Mine refuses to prescribe Naproxen which is much more effective for me - but the chemist in Boots (not in our town) said that she deals with many prescriptions for Naproxen.

They seem to be the latest guidelines, following the latest protocol, annsixty as I have been told the same.

No doubt this will all change again in about 2 years' time when new protocols have been written.

To digress slightly, my GP has told me to take paracetamol on a regular basis but so far I have resisted until I really need to go out or the pain beats me.
My question is, is it really ok long-term and does it do any harm? She also suggested ibuprofen but no more than 2 weeks and then I must notify her.