Cost of asthma treatment in the UK

Hi,

I'm French and I will move in three weeks time to Glasgow to live with my boyfriend and look for a job. I have mild asthma, meaning I never had severe acute crises but I cough a lot and can have serious difficulties in breathing even when not exercising. This is much better thanks to my treatment which is two doses of Seretide accuhaler twice daily. The problem is, I'm not familiar with the NHS system. I've read that prescriptions medicine are not covered by the NHS which worries me a lot since the cost of my treatment is almost £700 per year (thankfully refunded by the French ""NHS""). I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to afford it. Is that true? Can I get private cover for these costs?

Cheers,

Rita

[Hidden]

The cost of a prescription ios £7.20 an item so pay once for sertide and once for salbutamol. Can by a pre-payment certificate if you need more than that!

[Hidden]

hi Ritariba,

you can pay 28 pound for a 3 month certificate and works out a good saving if you are

on 2 perscriptions or more.

IT saves me alot of money as on 9 lots of meds.

hope this helps and hope one day we get ours free like some places.

love Glynis x

[Hidden]

Hi Ritariba, you can apply online to set up a direct debit from your bank account to pay £10.40 a month for 10 months for a precription prepayment certificate which works out much cheaper especially if you have more than one item per month and frequent courses of antibiotcs and steroids. The website address is nhsbsa.nhs.uk. When you register with a doctor (GP) here you will be asked to make an appointment with the asthma nurse who will make sure you're on the right treatment and well controlled.

[Hidden]

Thanks a lot everyone. I'm relieved this seems much cheaper than what I feared!

[Hidden]

From next year prescriptions in Scotland will be free, so no need to worry then Also the cost per item is a lot cheaper there.

[Hidden]

Prepayment is even cheaper in scotland. It's either 13 or 14 for 4 months. Plus if you speak nicely to your dr when u register he may give u a larger quantity of medication per prescription. I Order all my medication just before it runs out so means it a wee while before I buy the next. So you may only need 3 a year.

[Hidden]

Prepayment is even cheaper in scotland. It's either 13 or 14 for 4 months. Plus if you speak nicely to your dr when u register he may give u a larger quantity of medication per prescription.

[Hidden]

I live in ~Scotland and can tell you.

a single item on prescription costs £3

a prepayment certificate for a year is £28 and you can ahve as many items and only need to produce your prepayment certificate.

There is hope that prescriptions will soon be free in Scotland but I dont think it is top of Alec Salmonds list of things to do jsut now.

Olive

[Hidden]

Anyone else got the feeling were living in the wrong country?! Lol

[Hidden]

I ahve saved a fortune since moving back to scotland. it was so expensive for scripts in england. One bonus about living in scotland!