NHS scraps paracetamol prescriptions

About time, too.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5559151/NHS-BANS-counter-remedies-prescription.html

 

I've never understood people getting them on prescription when they are so cheap....

 

Same here. They cost the NHS a fortune too, because they can't buy them for 30p a packet or whatever

 

£8.35 isn't it now? I'm on a repeat prescription for an overactive thyroid so I have to get a note off the doctor but I remember going once and getting a prescription for paracetamol and giving it back to the doctor and going to savers for some instead. I wasn't working at the time so could have had them free but what's the point when they are less than a pound?

 

The only issue is if someone has to take a large amount of them. You can't buy big quantities from the shop/chemist but can (or could) get them on prescription.

 

This seems a sensible cost- saving move. Immediate reservations are:
Will the cost of over -the-counter medications significantly increase now?
Will these savings be re-invested into frontline services as additional funding or just be incorporated into existing funding ( which is a pittance of course) Remember we have to finance the DUP agreement.

 

My concern would be people who have limited mobility and would have had these things delivered with the rest of their prescription but may now need to find another way to get them.

 

Once you accept the principle that the NHS is not going to provide for things because they're 'cheap' to buy elsewhere who defines how cheap things have to be before the NHS doesn't supply them? The problem with arbitrary thresholds such as this is 1p either way can be enough to say the person needing the drugs must pay or get them on prescription. It also takes no account of ability to pay. It's all very well saying I can afford to buy my medicine from a pharmacy but what if I can't and they're no longer available on the NHS where I qualify for free prescriptions?

 

so you go in more than once simple innit.... or you and your partner do different check outs... The retail park near us has Asda, Aldi, B&M, Willco, The Range,Home bargains, Morrisons and pound stretcher the prices vary from 19p to 30p. So if my wife and I go in each and do different check outs then we can get 28 packs . The present cost of paracetamol is in the millions. Its high time that was stopped... also Ibuprofen and aspirin.

 

I take 75 mg asprin daily whereas most supermarkets sell it in 300mg doses don't know if you can buy at the lower dose

 

If someone needs such large quantities of pain relief I would hazard a guess they probably can't be going to multiple shops for their medication.

 

Kind of see your point, but in this case totally agree with stuff like Paracetamol, never would have even thought of accepting a prescription for something like that ( neither would my mum and dad have), if folk cant afford to pay for their own meds that can be bought at well under a quid somethings wrong.
Although I also can't see why they can't introduce a simplified system where they could be 'prescribed' at low cost

 

you can get 75 mg, Aspar pharmaceuticals make it, also check out junior aspirin that's a 75 mg dose I believe.

 

they could always ask friends and family to assist

 

You are taking a very simplified view of things. How many people do you think happen to have your exact retail park with those shops near them in one convenient place and a partner to help them out? Lots of elderly people need paracetamol and are not able to go around 8 different shops when they are in pain. I think people are confusing situtations where they may need to buy one pack every blue moon to relieve a headache and people who have long term pain who need paracetamol daily just to function semi-normally. Surely the real question is: why does it cost the NHS so much to prescribe them when shops can sell them at 19p and can anything be done to make it cheaper?

 

It’s the silliest thing I n the world that, I’ll never understand it.

 

The thing is, because it is the law, if makes you wonder how they expect the people who need large quantities to legally acquire it now. Surely the official answer isn't get friends and family (if you have any) to cheat the system. As the law was brought in to stop people from being able to buy it, it must follow that they expect people will be unable to access the medication they need now.

 

Was a decision taken to reduce suicide rates in the late 90s. Larger volume of paracetamol via pharmacy or GP puts a bit of control in place, including refusal to provide any tablets if concerns about "use" exist. It feels silly, I agree, if you're part of the majority who will use them as intended but it's protecting those genuinely at risk.

 

its all the red tape JD. I think that people who on them daily should still get them prescribed, but many get them occasionally and this definitely should stop. But read the article, it's not just paracetamol but a list of drugs/treatments that are being stopped... I mean FFS DANDRUFF SHAMPOO....REALLY?

 

I know what you mean but it's clearly extra strength shampoo for people who have severe dandruff, itching and inflammation of the scalp; it's not just a bottle of Head and Shoulders for those who have a few flakes. You certainly can't buy it for 19p from your local shop (infact 3 sachets are over £26 on chemistsdirect). I find it difficult to rejoice in anything medicinal being taken away from people. We won't see any difference in how much tax we pay and the article listing things the money will now apparently be spent on just smacks of painting 'X amount of money will be spent on x, y, z if we stop funding this' on the side of a big red bus. The only impact it will actually have on people's day to day lives is poorer people will now have to do without healthcare.