£1000 for a bottle of mouthwash?

Doctor Phillippa Whitford is a cancer surgeon and SNP MP.

I worked on Health Service Medical Supplies Bill last year, & raised issue of inflated prices for off-patent drugs and ‘specials’, so really disappointed to still see this lack of action.

What was the point of all that work if, 1 1/2 years on, the UK Gov just won’t use the powers? We need to ask - WHY NOT?
www.metro.news/nhs-rip-off-with-1000-for-bottle-…/…/

hope the link works this time .

very odd it works on Dr Whitfords FB page

Is this the article paddyann?
www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-mouthwash-drugs-ripoff-pharmaceutical-companies-efficiency-government-austerity-england-a8599366.html

I cannot understand why the NHS is overcharged for medicines when they have such power to bulk buy.
It is a disgrace that needs urgent attention.

At the same time patients are denied newer life-saving drugs because the cost is extremely high - as they always are before drugs come off licence, as drugs firms have to cover the costs of research and manufacturing costs can be very high.

Why hasn't the government done something about this if it is the case?

Probably because half the buyers are under the influence of the “incentives” they get from the pharmaceutical companies. I know a pharma rep and they give huge incentives to GP’s and buyers.

£1000 mouthwash is peanuts compared to the billions wasted on the abandoned NHS IT system - remember that?

I can't be more precise with the figure as we were never told - it just quietly slipped into the ether. I don't suppose any politician/company had to answer for it. The waste of public money makes my blood boil.

This overspending is widespread in the nhs. After my grandson spent 3 weeks in nicu I knitted some blankets to donate and asked if they needed anything else. They asked for some incubator covers so I made some which cost about £10 each for fabric the nhs buys these at £500 each. I have said before all government departments need to ask someone who has raised a family to review the budget spending.

I was in hospital for ten days and had senna on one occasion and indigestion liquid once. On discharge was given supplies of both items. When I said I did not need them they would not take them back because they had labelled them with my name.
One is asked to return any unused drugs to the pharmacy and these are destroyed no matter what the cost.

When has ANY government put cost and performance at the forefront of their purchasing decisions?

Inflated prices sold "under contract" to a captive market - is a form of corruption IMHO.

It's not only NHS.

I spent a few months helping a preschool spend their Grant funding on books, games, furniture and other supplies. I asked for, and received, discounts of up to 40%.

Apparently no one had ever asked before.

I quote a Consultant along with whom I used to work:

"The people at the top of drugs companies are as immoral, unethical, greedy and as uncaring about humanity as the cartels that run the illegal drugs trade. They will go to any lengths to get extraordinarily rich exploiting people who are dying in pain. Indeed, they are devoid of conscience; psychopaths"

I quote another person who was a Scientist working in a Morphine-based drugs company,

"The Company are careful not to find a cure (for cancer) or their golden goose will be killed. They charge extortionate prices because they know they will get paid. If the hospitals do not buy the drugs, there is a public outcry.
The NHS should take over and run their own drugs company and supply drugs to themselves on a non-profitmaking basis. Just take a look at the cars in the executive car park and you will get an idea of the profits that drugs for pain control, mostly used for for cancer patients, provides." Following being constantly bullied this person left the company.

£1000 mouthwash is peanuts compared to the billions wasted on the abandoned NHS IT system - remember that?
I do remember that Riverwalk because it was about the same time as the scandalous happenings at Stafford Hospital.

£12b wasted on a Tony Blair IT vanity project, which proves that the NHS is no better in the hands of Labour.

The NHS should be taken out of the incompetent hands of politicians.

"The Company are careful not to find a cure (for cancer) or their golden goose will be killed.
That is a very cynical view and in my opinion not true.

Jalimal108....How do you know it's
NotTrue ??
Allegedly a statement made by
"Someone in the Know"

The comment about the Top Quality cars in many NHS Hospital Car Parks
is something that I agree with !

PS....No.matter....We are Greatly Blessed with our Precious
NHS....

Our surgery has just had a make over, new desk, new chairs new carpet etc in the waiting room. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the old one, in fact it was not old. Total waste of money.

Well, at least it was for your comfort Foxyferret

^Allegedly a statement made by
"Someone in the Know"^
Ah - allegedly!
Bez1989 I heard that it is allegedly an urban myth, you know, one of those untrue scare stories which do the rounds like conspiracy theories etc.

I have AMD in one eye, currently stable thank goodness but for three years I was having six weekly injections of first Lucentis and then after a year or two Eyelea both effective but very expensive drugs at around £800 a shot. At the time there was a lot of coverage in the media about a drug called Avantis or Avastin ( I think) that was just as effective but only cost about £30 a shot but wasn't licensed for use for AMD. This cheaper drug is made by the same company that makes the more expensive treatment but the drug company refused to apply for a licence for it to be used in the uk. In the last month the legal profession has ruled that a licence can be granted much to the anger of the drug company.
I mentioned this at the time at the eye clinic that I attend and the nurses knew nothing about it. I was told however by someone else that if I was a private patient I could choose to have that treatment and pay the much lower price!

Avastin is a cancer drug and has different side effects to the other drugs being used for AMD.

I would have thought that trials would have to be carried out before a licence could be granted for its use for another medical condition.

I hope that whatever treatment you get will improve your condition, HLL

And I understood that Avastin is an extremely expensive drug.

Yes it is a cancer drug which has been used successfully in other countries for AMD.
It is much cheaper than either Lucentis or Eyelea.
My condition has been stable for a year so just being monitored now.

There seems to be a bit of confusion here.
The report as not about the prices of standard medicines- which are sometimes high but sometimes reflect the true cost of research etc.
The report is really about what used to be called extemporaneous drugs, often these are things which used to be made in pharmacies. Much of it still could be really. However there started to be concerns about quality of the product especialy stability and suddenly more and more prescriptions started to be sent to specialist laboratories. Some charge a fortune, others are more reasonably priced. It is the cost differential between the companies that are the issue. But then we need to ask why strange concoctions without an evidence base are prescribed.
To those who complain about drugs returned to pharmacies being destroyed....How would you feel about being given something which had been returned to the pharmacy having been kept in a fridge ( wrongly ) or next to a radiator for a couple of weeks as it wasn't needed? How do you know how they were kept or whether they are still as active as they should be? Why do you think medicines are kept in specified conditions? The bigger issue is why people order medicines they don't need. In a hospital unwanted medicines can ( and should) be returned to the pharmacy if they have not left the ward and not destroyed.