Prescription charges (predictions)

Frank the tank

They currently stand at £7.20 per item.

Now I may be proved wrong (I'm no mystic Meg) but I would be amazed if they were not one of the first easy hits in the new chancellors budget.

I predict a rise to £7.50 Could even be £8.00 but I'll opt for £7.50.

He may even decide to take certain catagories of people off the free list.

bompington

Currently something like 90% of prescriptions in England are free (they all are in Wales and are planned to be in Scotland by next year)

So increasing the charge would not make much difference.

Cutting down on free prescriptions is a different story, that could save a few bob certainly.
But Cameron has made a big deal about protecting the NHS, he's going to look very bad if he even touches it. I suppose it depends on the extent to which they can get away with the "Labour cleaned out the piggy bank" approach - Liam Byrne has certainly left them with an open goal there.

Pross

My prediction is that my next one will be free as the Welsh Assembly made that decision a few years back and it has been one of their few bits of good publicity (along with the abolition of tuition fees, SATS and hospital parking charges).

pb21

bompington wrote:

Currently something like 90% of prescriptions in England are free

90% that is a lot!

My brother has epilepsy so is on the list. I do find it a bit strange that he gets all prescriptions free though. Obviously his anti seizure meds should be, though recently he had a bad back and got some pain killers free as well.

Frank the tank

pb21 wrote:

bompington wrote:

Currently something like 90% of prescriptions in England are free

90% that is a lot!

My brother has epilepsy so is on the list. I do find it a bit strange that he gets all prescriptions free though. Obviously his anti seizure meds should be, though recently he had a bad back and got some pain killers free as well.

Few years back I was waiting to collect my prescription at hospital, and there must have been ten people in front of me and I was the only one who handed over any money.

alfablue

pb21 wrote:

bompington wrote:

Currently something like 90% of prescriptions in England are free

90% that is a lot!

My brother has epilepsy so is on the list. I do find it a bit strange that he gets all prescriptions free though. Obviously his anti seizure meds should be, though recently he had a bad back and got some pain killers free as well.

Its quite right though - if he failed to get other necessary drugs then it could impact on his epilepsy. People with chronic diseases and endocrine disorders are entitled, and it is a good thing.

term1te

A nice lady in Boots once sold me the prescribed drugs at full price, as it was cheaper than the prescription charge.

Instead of a flat rate charge, maybe they should have an excess charge, similar to insurance. So you pay for the first say £50 of drugs in a year, then the rest are free? Although I don't know how it would be implemented.

Bunneh

I get Citalopram for my head problems and they're free. that said I am currently on benefits ( ) but I must admit I'm kinda looking forward to paying for my medication, lol.

rick_chasey

Means tested?

Or would that be too inefficient to work out effectively?

Ho hum

Term1te wrote:

A nice lady in Boots once sold me the prescribed drugs at full price, as it was cheaper than the prescription charge.

Instead of a flat rate charge, maybe they should have an excess charge, similar to insurance. So you pay for the first say £50 of drugs in a year, then the rest are free? Although I don't know how it would be implemented.

I thought that there was already some sort of annual fee you could pay which capped the amount you had to spend if it was endng up a lot per year? I could be wrong though. :?

paulgw

alfablue wrote:

pb21 wrote:

bompington wrote:

Currently something like 90% of prescriptions in England are free

... People with chronic diseases and endocrine disorders are entitled, and it is a good thing.

Not quite accurate. I have a chronic condition (coronary heart disease) for which I need meds for life which I pay for. So I'm one of the 10% who gets charged.

I buy an annual pre-paid certificate for about £100 which covers it though.

Stewie Griffin

Term1te wrote:

A nice lady in Boots once sold me the prescribed drugs at full price, as it was cheaper than the prescription charge.

Instead of a flat rate charge, maybe they should have an excess charge, similar to insurance. So you pay for the first say £50 of drugs in a year, then the rest are free? Although I don't know how it would be implemented.

My GP once advised me to go to the Chemist and ask for a particular brand of whatever I required at the time, cant remember now. I asked him if he was going to give me a prescription and he said "only if you want to pay twice as much as you should".

Lancslad

[/quote]
I thought that there was already some sort of annual fee you could pay which capped the amount you had to spend if it was endng up a lot per year? I could be wrong though. :?[/quote]

There is my dad has used this for years, its called a pre-payment certificate

alfablue

paulgw wrote:

alfablue wrote:

pb21 wrote:

bompington wrote:

Currently something like 90% of prescriptions in England are free

... People with chronic diseases and endocrine disorders are entitled, and it is a good thing.

Not quite accurate. I have a chronic condition (coronary heart disease) for which I need meds for life which I pay for. So I'm one of the 10% who gets charged.

I buy an annual pre-paid certificate for about £100 which covers it though.

Yes, sorry, I was using quite a broad brush there - there is a list of specific conditions.

I had a period of serious illness (and now have a chronic condition) and I was spending up to £80 per month - till I discovered the quarterly "season ticket".

cee

why not just tell the doctors to stop handing out totally uneccessary prescription for things.

sure....lots of people need medication and all that...

however...doctors seem to give out antibiotics for colds as a precaution!

bompington

cee wrote:

why not just tell the doctors to stop handing out totally uneccessary prescription for things.

sure....lots of people need medication and all that...

however...doctors seem to give out antibiotics for colds as a precaution!

There could be 2 reasons for this:

1. GPs are more ignorant than the general population and don't actually know that antibiotics don't help with viruses

2. GPs know that perfectly well but they are fed up with the kind of grief that they get when they say "you have a minor illness that will get better all by itself in a few days, go and take some paracetamol", so they give antibiotics as a cheap and harmless placebo.

I wonder which it is?

Pross

Exactly. We could save a lot of money if people didn't bother GPs with colds etc. too and even more if people cancelled appointments instead of just not turning up :evil:

deptfordmarmoset

Term1te wrote:

A nice lady in Boots once sold me the prescribed drugs at full price, as it was cheaper than the prescription charge.

Instead of a flat rate charge, maybe they should have an excess charge, similar to insurance. So you pay for the first say £50 of drugs in a year, then the rest are free? Although I don't know how it would be implemented.

There is a similar system - the Pre-payment Prescription card. I've got one for my numerous renal meds. It's about £110 for a year, paid by direct debit, and all prescriptions are free thereafter. They are also available for shorter periods - 3 months, I think.

EDIT: oops, I see this has already been answered.

solsurf

Free for me, probably could afford to pay if I had to.

What about giving people who look after themselves a tax break that would be great. For example run a marathon get 10% tax back, cycle the Fred whitton and get 55% back.

TommyEss

Eleven pounds and twelvety?

Anonymous

I take loads of medication for various ills.

I do a pre payment thing where I pay about a tenner a month by direct debit and that covers me for all prescriptions. Otherwise it would be about 50 quid a month!!

ExeterSimon

The trouble with free prescriptions, free hospital parking etc in Wales is that they still get the same pot of money to deal with. So in order to give out free drugs another area has funds cut.

In Wales waiting times are attrocious mainly because of this alternate dishing out of the pot.

In England where we, mostly, pay for prescriptions the waiting times across the board are very good (A&E, cancer, 18 week referal to treatment etc).

The free prescriptions in Wales isn't as popular as many people think. The free parking is though!

bigmat

I get mine free because I'm diabetic, I agree its a bit weird I can get free hayfever tablets and all sorts of other unrelated stuff, but I'm not complaining. I can even get free energy gels!

cee

bompington wrote:

cee wrote:

why not just tell the doctors to stop handing out totally uneccessary prescription for things.

sure....lots of people need medication and all that...

however...doctors seem to give out antibiotics for colds as a precaution!

There could be 2 reasons for this:

1. GPs are more ignorant than the general population and don't actually know that antibiotics don't help with viruses

2. GPs know that perfectly well but they are fed up with the kind of grief that they get when they say "you have a minor illness that will get better all by itself in a few days, go and take some paracetamol", so they give antibiotics as a cheap and harmless placebo.

I wonder which it is?

I was thinking more on point 1...hadnt considered point 2.

or secret option number 3......pressure from the drug companies....of course...only if you like a conspiracy.

I really dont care why gps hand out unneccesary prescriptions. Whatever the reason. they should stop!

mask of sanity

cee wrote:

bompington wrote:

cee wrote:

why not just tell the doctors to stop handing out totally uneccessary prescription for things.

sure....lots of people need medication and all that...

however...doctors seem to give out antibiotics for colds as a precaution!

There could be 2 reasons for this:

1. GPs are more ignorant than the general population and don't actually know that antibiotics don't help with viruses

2. GPs know that perfectly well but they are fed up with the kind of grief that they get when they say "you have a minor illness that will get better all by itself in a few days, go and take some paracetamol", so they give antibiotics as a cheap and harmless placebo.

I wonder which it is?

I was thinking more on point 1...hadnt considered point 2.

or secret option number 3......pressure from the drug companies....of course...only if you like a conspiracy.

I really dont care why gps hand out unneccesary prescriptions. Whatever the reason. they should stop!

This is just a guess but I have a feeling that GP's are aware that antibiotics are not able to treat viral infections. Probably comes up somewhere in their five+ years in med school... :P

Pross

ExeterSimon wrote:

The trouble with free prescriptions, free hospital parking etc in Wales is that they still get the same pot of money to deal with. So in order to give out free drugs another area has funds cut.

In Wales waiting times are attrocious mainly because of this alternate dishing out of the pot.

In England where we, mostly, pay for prescriptions the waiting times across the board are very good (A&E, cancer, 18 week referal to treatment etc).

The free prescriptions in Wales isn't as popular as many people think. The free parking is though!

My own recent experience with regards to waiting times (for my daughter) has been that they have been very good. Diagnosis of brain tumour on a Friday, straight into hospital with steroids etc. to reduce swelling and operation on the Monday morning but that is an extreme case. Also, all scans and other routine ops were carried out with little delay - it seriously improved my opinion of the NHS when it is really needed. Unfortunately free parking didn't apply at the UHW and I can see why it is a major issue for people although you could get it for £3 per day if you knew to ask.

Marko1962

I think it's great that some people get free prescriptions if they have certain illness's, I've had a kidney transplant and need to take immunosupressent drugs twice a day and other drugs in order to stop my kidney being rejected and I have to pay for them.... good job I'm paying through the pre-pay thingie or else it would cost me a fortune...