Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: CLKD on September 14, 2016, 05:56:00 PM
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From the Upwell Health Clinic Newsletter:
"There is a second change coming at the same time as electronic prescribing. This will affect those of you who have asked us to provide you with a private prescription for your drugs, where the cost has been less than a prescription charge.
"The BMA have advised us of a legal opinion they have obtained about the legality of us offering you a private prescription. That ruling has indicated that we are in breach of NHS regulations if we continue to do so and therefore, reluctantly, we are going to cease offering these once electronic prescribing starts.
"We previously believed that, provided we offered you an NHS prescription but you preferred a private one, we were complying with the rules, but it is now clear that that is not the case. Unfortunately this will mean an increased cost for some of you. As you probably know, those of you not exempt from prescription charges have to pay a charge (currently £8.40) for each item on the prescription. If you have more than 12 items in a year on prescription it is cheaper to purchase a prepayment certificate. This costs £104 for a year. You can pay this over a year by direct debit in ten instalments of £10.40 monthly. Once you have this ALL your prescriptions are covered so that includes any acute prescriptions you have, for example for antibiotics or pain killers, as well as the regular drugs you have each month for problems such as asthma and high blood pressure.
"We will not be able to increase the quantity of drugs you obtain on your repeat prescription to offset the charge; it is a clear expectation of our CCG and the NHS generally that repeat prescriptions should be for a month's quantity of tablets. ….. "
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I have never had a private prescription in this way and didn't realise that it was even possible.
On a slightly different issue: I have an exemption certificate due to my medication for epilepsy and Thyroid. I have never understood why patients with the exemption for specific drugs like mine also get other prescriptions free of charge as well. I don't know how much the NHS would save by charging me for a course of antibiotics (or any other additional medication) as i have very few of them but it would seem like a logical step if it applied to everyone with a medical exemption.
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It depends on how old you are, I think that as we reach 60 we get free prescriptions anyway.
I had a pre-payment cert. for years as I take BBs, ADs and an emergency drug, so it covered ABs etc. too. Now I am 60+ it's part of my Pension ;-)
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It depends on how old you are, I think that as we reach 60 we get free prescriptions anyway.
I had a pre-payment cert. for years as I take BBs, ADs and an emergency drug, so it covered ABs etc. too. Now I am 60+ it's part of my Pension ;-)
yes I know thst over 60's don't have to pay. I do wonder how they choose drugs eligible for exemption. A friend of mine has to pay for her drugs and used the pre payment certificates.
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I think that chronic condition medications are free ….. i.e. diabetics get free insulin? But what becomes chronic :-\
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:bounce:
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I think that chronic condition medications are free ….. i.e. diabetics get free insulin? But what becomes chronic :-\
But not asthma medication. Chronic that can become life threatening. I used to have a prepayment certificate, but now it is free, as I am over 60.
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One of the perks of growing older ::) though I never minded paying for my medication.
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I think that chronic condition medications are free ….. i.e. diabetics get free insulin? But what becomes chronic :-\
a friend of mine needed medication to keep her mobile and out of a wheelchair but she had to pay for it. Unfortunately she died very young of breast cancer at 40 so I will never know whether her walking would get worse. She could walk well but had an obvious problem / deformity in her shoulder/spine.
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I pay for my prescriptions and that includes my asthma inhalers and steroids and epipens
But when they queried whether I had Myasthenia Gravis, those drugs were free
I don't mind paying but I never see anyone else pay at our surgery, they all say they're on benefits
Annie x
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Maybe have a look at the various support groups if you have a 'chronic' condition?
This isn't my point though ….. this is about General Practitioners not being allowed to offer Private Prescriptions.