Prescriptions to display drug cost

Skeeter said:
No half decent pharmacist would allow you to pay £8.20 for something worth less than that available off the shelf.

However, you'd be surprised at the amount of people who will still insist on taking the branded products even when theirs an unbranded one available for a fraction of the cost.
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I'm talking about prescription drugs - wouldn't that require a private prescription if they wanted to charge less than the flat rate?
 
I know damn well i can get my tablets for half the cost I have to pay for them on the NHS, it's going to annoy the hell out of me if I'm reminded everytime I look at the box.
 
arknor said:
such as brand tshirt £30 manufacturing and shipping cost like £5

loads of drugs where the patent has expired are a rip off though.
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Everyone knows that designer clothes are an absolute ripoff and are sold for significantly more than they cost to produce. I don't think anyone would be surprised that your £50 Armani t-shirt actually cost a total of £3.50 for a Chinese sweatshop to make and then have shipped to the UK.

However, don't forget to amortise the "design" cost of that t-shirt in the sale price (after all, that's really what you're paying for when buying "designer" clothes).

chanjy said:
I get the impression sometimes that requiring £8.20 per item can be a little earner for people who go to the GP and get prescribed generic antibiotics or painkillers. Would be interesting to see how many prescriptions the NHS makes money on!
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Based on my few years working in a pharmacy, I'd estimate a substantial majority.

However those few £ "profit" they make on that majority are quickly wiped out by the drugs that cost thousands of times more than the prescription charge, and all of those prescriptions for people who don't pay.

Also, don't forget that a "cut" of that prescription charge goes to the pharmacist.
 
Dis86 said:
Wildman, never mentioned recycling of drugs. Just the labelling of the costs to try and reduce wastage.
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that would achieve nothing. If you are prescribed expensive drugs that will keep you with your family and loved ones for a few more months and a some quality of life you are seriously not going to give a crap about the costs.

People aren't going to suddenly stop taking prescribed meds because they think they can help the NHS save money. The expesnive stuff doesn't get handed out like candy. Doctors only prescribe these or hospitals only administer them because they are needed. I don't see hospitals puting IV lines into people with drugs for ***** and giggles, its done because it can save someones life. A simple label showing that your drugs cost £xxxxx will not do anything appart from maybe raise awarenes that some meds aren't cheap. it certainly will not help the NHS with cost savings. They can do that by firing most of their worthless jobsworth managers and actually getting in real medical staff who can make a difference for openers................
 
I see little to no point in putting the cost of medicines on packaging for people who will not be the deciders of which medicine is used. The actual people who need to make sure they are using medicine appropriately are the prescribing practitioners - but surely they can see the cost in the BNF/BNFC when they are checking the appropriate dosages, because they do check that don't they!
 
Thekwango said:
in fairness that is only likely to be your view as I am assuming you aren't in the situation you talk about above. I'm quite sure someone on medication that was prolonging their life wouldn't really be worrying too much the cost to the NHS (assuming the quality of life was there and even if it wasn't their primary concern is very unlikely to be the cost to the taxpayer/NHS)
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Oh no, quite rightly so. I would only be sure if I was unfortunate enough t be put in said position.

However, from personal experience (Granddad having cancer) it's not unsua for treatments to cost in the realms of £30k a year. Granddad was being treated but it was never going to cure him.

Over the two years I saw his suffering (i.e. quality of life diminishing). Siting here now it's easy for me to say sod that extra 2 years of suffering, spend that £60k elsewhere. But I appreciate if I was on deaths door my view might change.
 
wildman said:
that would achieve nothing. If you are prescribed expensive drugs that will keep you with your family and loved ones for a few more months and a some quality of life you are seriously not going to give a crap about the costs.

People aren't going to suddenly stop taking prescribed meds because they think they can help the NHS save money. The expesnive stuff doesn't get handed out like candy. Doctors only prescribe these or hospitals only administer them because they are needed. I don't see hospitals puting IV lines into people with drugs for ***** and giggles, its done because it can save someones life. A simple label showing that your drugs cost £xxxxx will not do anything appart from maybe raise awarenes that some meds aren't cheap. it certainly will not help the NHS with cost savings. They can do that by firing most of their worthless jobsworth managers and actually getting in real medical staff who can make a difference for openers................
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But it's not about the expensive ones. It's about the ones who go to the docs for a stubbed toe and demand painkillers. Or have the sniffles and want antibiotics. It's about making those people think twice. Lots of small savings add up to one big saving. Incremental gains and all that.
 
ikillbears said:
i think its a good idea. id be interested to see how much the pharmaceutical companies are ripping every one off by
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The pharmaceutical companies have to charge such a high price for their developed drugs. They only have a limited time to cash in on their exclusive use of the drug that they had to spend a lot of money in hiring researchers to develop.

Even if we researchers don't get paid a lot of money lab regents and equipment are expensive and break throughs don't happen often.

For what it's worth I don't work in pharmaceuticals. My research is in academia in synthetic biology.
 
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I do wonder how much my last bout of antibiotics cost the NHS. I had celuitis in my foot and found out I was allergic to penicillin when they have it to me by IV. they tried another one (flucoxocilin I think?) but I had a bad reaction to that as well.

The infection was pretty bad (whole foot and started going up my ankle) so she x-rays they put me on something else. I can't remember what though. The doctor said its normally used for "very poorly" patients but I'd he didn't use it, it would probably spread to my bones. And that didn't sound very healthy at all. I had to have that by IV everyday for a week. Must have cost a fair bit!
 
It's a good idea. I was paying £7.50 prescription cost for some cream that costs £3.50 to buy over the counter for years :mad:.
 
Dis86 said:
But it's not about the expensive ones. It's about the ones who go to the docs for a stubbed toe and demand painkillers. Or have the sniffles and want antibiotics. It's about making those people think twice. Lots of small savings add up to one big saving. Incremental gains and all that.
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Most antibiotics cost pennies anyway, so those people are actually probably helping the NHS out :p (if you ignore the extra drain on doctor's time)
 
I can't really see what they are hoping to achieve with this, it strikes me as one of those lets rally the masses into thinking we care about the NHS. There's no way you can possibly know what savings would be made by putting the price of medication on a prescription what difference is it going to make to the end user? If you're very ill you'll most likely have a shed load of things that are higher on your priority list that how much your medication cost and you won't care anyway as long as it helps you cope with the symptoms and makes you better. Plus £150 millions is a drop in the ocean for the NHS as a whole, there are far better ways to save way more money than 'lets show the masses what we pay" I was reading something recently that put the cost of locum doctors in just A&E alone was in the region of £80 millions a year add the cost of agency nursing at £5.5 billion and there's an area that could hold some real savings should it be looked at properly.
 
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Haggisman said:
Most antibiotics cost pennies anyway, so those people are actually probably helping the NHS out :p (if you ignore the extra drain on doctor's time)
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Not really they increase the chances of resistance and therefore shorten the life span of what current medications they have thereby creating a need for more costly alternatives. Their cumulative efforts (along with other factors) have the potential to completely destroy civilisation as we currently know it. That in my opinion is not helping the NHS out or humanity for that matter.
 
Mark A said:
It's a good idea. I was paying £7.50 prescription cost for some cream that costs £3.50 to buy over the counter for years :mad:.
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We have a great local pharmacist who often points out the "over the counter" equivalent if it's available. I'm not sure if it's common practise, but it should be imo.
 
DampDog said:
We have a great local pharmacist who often points out the "over the counter" equivalent if it's available. I'm not sure if it's common practise, but it should be imo.
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It was probably my own fault as I used to get my brother to pick my prescriptions up for me as he went past every day. The time I went in to pick it up the pharmacist said why don't you just buy it over the counter instead of on prescription for half the price. Then she said she would have a word with the doctor and get me 2x500ml tubs instead of the 1x200ml tube I had been getting for years. So worked out good in the end, but I was a little miffed I had been paying double for years, plus my national insurance etc.
 
I can't speak for other people but I have a pretty good relationship with my local pharmacist and I always use the same pharmacy for any medication. I've had heart problems for years so unfortunately take a shed load of medication daily. If I had to pay the full cost it would be close to £80 a month. To keep it in hand I buy a prepayment card to keep the cost manageable at £104 a year. Prompted by this thread, I did have a quick 'Google' for the cost of some of my medication and it varies from under £1.40 an item to over £45. (per month) Personally I appreciate that some of these medications I depend on are expensive and am thankful for how the NHS works. That said I'm not sure I need to know the cost of every item or that me knowing that fact can save costs. Once they're prescribed the monies spent, so unless people are just collecting medication they don't take how will it save any money?
 
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