General Chat

This has left me speechless!

Last time I went to see my GP he asked me if I took anything other than what he prescribed......I said yes (jokingly!) - a 1/4 of an Aspirin a day because it's supposed to be good for you. I said "sometimes I take it, sometimes I don't and sometimes I take a whole one if I've got a headache". So off I went and thought no more about it.......until today!

I order my repeat prescriptions online. Imagine my surprise when I saw in the list for me to order *100 x 75mg Aspirin tablets* - is my GP out of his mind!!! Why on Earth would I want to pay nearly £8 for 100 Aspirins!!!!

I buy 16 tablets for 20 pence and break them in to 4 - (or sometimes leave them whole if I've got a headache lol.) - that's 64 doses for 20p.

That's 2 months worth which equates to 10p a month. Now even on jobseekers allowance of £65 a week anyone can afford 10p a month surely!! I wonder how many other people are actually being prescribed these and at what cost to the NHS?

I think next time I go I'll tell him that I also take a multivitamin and a garlic capsule a day, now those would be worth me paying £8 for LOL.

Rant over LOL

Mary

That is classic Mary!! lol

How ridiculous .we dont pay for our prescriptions now as OAP.s, but when we did the doctor would tell us to buy a medicine over the counter cos it would be cheaper that way.
Think your doc must have had a senior moment lol :D

:D :D :D - it's a good one isn't it PH! lol

Shirley.......a VERY senior moment! LOL

Mary

Mary, we dont like the taste of the 75mg tabs you get on prescription, even though we get them free. I buy 75mg tablets from the chemist, cheaply. What annoys me is the number of medicines I have to discard because I prove allergic to them and even unopened boxes can not be returned. OH was sent the wrong insulin, £30 worth and it has to be destroyed because it left the chemist.

LOL Mary......know what you mean.....Iron tablets £1.75....digraceful what they charge the NHS.....and an eye test phewwww!......you would think some-one would wake up,.... :-(

Hi Rita
i wouldnt sugget hat you pay for your prescription,...but things at such a low price as paracetamol at well under 50p dont need to be on perscription....(which at one time i was given a script for).....thuoht they were having a larf!!! :P

He/She probably thought they were doing you a favour but were not very good at arithmetic. Nothing wrong with yours.

Vera

I have no problem with any medicines being prescribed which are necessary - I would however question whether anyone in this country is SO poor that they couldn't afford the equivalent of 10 pence PER MONTH?? - but that really wasn't what my post was about.

I don't even need to take them, I mentioned it more as a joke!

It hasn't been proven that taking Aspirin daily helps prevent heart problems (in an otherwise healthy person with no evidence of heart problems) - it was an idea mooted a couple of years ago, but since then that advice has been rescinded as it was shown to have little or no effect.

Then several months ago it was reported that taking Aspirin daily MAY help to prevent bowel cancer - again not proven!

The only thing that Aspirin has been proven to do is kill pain, hence why it is called a *pain killer* lol.

If anyone really needed blood thinning drugs they would be prescribed and rightly so, they would not be OTC medicines.

In all fairness to my GP, I think what he meant to do was just note what I was taking, but somehow it's ended up as being *have a prescription* ;-)


Jean

I understand how you feel, it does seem so wasteful. But I guess they have to err on the side of caution.

Mary

becareful coz it must be the 75mg and not the normal ones which you can get over the counter!!!

Why Kemp? What is the difference, apart from the normal ones are 300mg, which when cut in to 4 pieces = 4 x 75mg? Serious question, not being facetious.

Mary

My dad came home with a peg, a pipe into his stomach to feed him. This meant we had boxes containing large sachets of liquid food. Many,many boxes!

None of us liked the peg so we soon had him eating,I do think well chewed food is pureed food.

So, we were left with a house full of boxes of liquid nourishment which I believe is extremely expensive. It was all well in date but the only thing that could happen to it was for the chemist to take it back and destroy it. The carers were not allowed to pass it on to other people who could use it. I still have tins of thickener which are unopened. They get used to thicken jam!

My Mum left hospital after her knee replacement with a 'standard issue' box including heparin injections (12, when she only needed 5), painkillers (which she couldn't take as Dr told her to stick to her normal ones). The unused, unopened stuff could not be returned. I know it would cost to have somebody make up individual packs based on individual requirements, but it does seem a criminal waste of supplies.

I thought aspirins had been reduced to 16 in a packet so that it would help prevent people taking overdoses.....or was your GP teaching you not to have a 'joke'.?.....jl

CM ..........nothing different but you understand just what I,m saying some very elderly people dont and would take the whole tablet..........


My hubby had a heart attack last year and when we asked for Asprin over the counter to go with his other 6 drugs they gave us the larger ones!!!! when we told her what she had given us was wrong the lady said 46 was young for a heart attack!!! so its all down to assumption .......

Ah right! Kemp, thank you. I had heard this before, about making sure one buys the 75mg ones, but it was put in a way as suggesting there was something different about them.........and I didn't think there was.

But yes, point taken about some people not understanding or being confused about the dosage, or even not being able to see to cut the standard ones in to 4 pieces.

Mary

I had a blood test at hospital last September prior to a planned minor op. under anaesthetic.
Yesterday I had reason to visit my local GP's surgery and the nurse suggested a blood test, so I told her of the previous one, but she says there was no record on my notes.
I thought that computer recording was supposed to make it easier to share information.??
So NHS paid for pre-op. tests( various) and then cancelled the op. when I had already been sitting outside the operating theatre for some hours, gowned and waiting my turn..... and then didn't share the information with the GP's practice just a few miles down the road.
How much did this all cost, when one includes all the letters re. appointments etc.?

NHS have given my family some wonderful care over the years, but there are many areas where alot of money is wasted now.

Gwyn

my partner has a failing heart at the age of 45....he has a pace maker ....and a load of tablets which has to be taken every day with out fail ......we have to pay £45.00 a month for his tablets even thou hes classed as disabled and is working .....ive stopped taking my tablets as we cant afford them .. there should more help for those people who work ............

ally6740

If your husband is likely to be needing these tablets for a long time you can buy a seaon ticket for either 12 months or, if I can remember, (before I was 60) 4 months. It is quite a saving. The pharmacist or surgery should be able to advise you on where to make an application.

Vera

ally6740 - Assuming you live in England, you really ought to get a
Prescription prepayment certificates (PPC).

Not too sure how up to date these figures are, even though it says the following

Prescription costs as of April 1 2011
The current prescription charge is £7.40. (normally per item)
From 1 April 2010 a three monthly PPC is £29.10. This saves you money if you need four or more items in three months.
A 12 month certificate is £104.00 and saves money if 15 or more items are needed in 12 months.

PPCs are available by 10 monthly direct debit instalment payments. The prescription prepayment certificates allow anyone to obtain all the prescriptions they need for £2 per week.

www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/Healthcosts/pages/Prescriptioncosts.aspx

Even if they are out of date, the saving is considerable, and would certainly cost less than your OH's current bill p.m.

Edit - the PPC costs are correct. Just checked the link to use for ordering a PPC.

Link and info to be found here
www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/ppc