Cancelled prescriptions?

I've been asked to enquire about this by my mother's hairdresser (yes, really)! It's not specifically asthma-related, but it is general medical and I thought that folks here would be able to help.She regularly visits a pain clinic and is on strong painkillers due to back problems. Earlier this week she visited her GP and got a repeat for her painkillers. When she visited the local pharmacy they said that they couldn't dispence the script because it had been ""cancelled"".Baffled by this, she went back to the GP surgery where she was told that her GP had overspent (his daughter, also a partner in the practice, was on maternity leave and they'd had a locum in for a long time) and thus could not afford the prescription! She could have the meds but only if she paid for them! Since she is over 60 and doesn't need to pay for them, she went off to the pain clinic (I think this is at Russell's Hall Hospital, but I'm sure Cathy will correct me if I'm wrong!) and got them prescribed there instead. She is now in the process of changing her GP.So, she has two questions...1) Has this ever happened to anyone else?2) Is it even ""legal"" (or at least, within regulations, etc)?Any info happily received!

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This is appalling.

And rubbish.

So what if they've overspent? Loads of GP practices do. If she's been having pain killers on the NHS, then a budget overspend is a rubbish excuse for not providing them. OK, maybe they're expensive......but no-one should be told that they have to pay for them just because the GP practice has overspent on the budget.

Was she told this by a receptionist, by any chance?....apologies to anyone who is a receptionist.....the ones at the surgery where I work are wonderful, but the ones at my own practice are terrible.

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May I have permission to cross-post this to DNUK, Mr Steve?

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Of course you may

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This is totally shocking and not what we pride ourselves in having said NHS for.

Not exactly the same, but my Uncle-in-law (!) lives in Portugal part year and the UK for the rest, and is a temporary resident in the UK at the Doctors. He has today been told he would have to pay for his enteric coated high dose aspirin tablets....he is 75. I don't understand this one either...and yes, I did mean high dose aspirin, one wonders why he cant just take 2, but they have to be enteric coated.

He gets them on a regular NHS script but they are now making him pay. Figured it

was something to do with the temporary resident bit????

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Having posted on DNUK (a doctory site) the conclusion has been formed that there is a lot more to this story than has been told, either that or the recepionist (from whom the information came) thought she knew more than she actually did.

The reason I initially said that it was rubbish was that loads of practices I have known have over-spent on budget many times, but that doesn't mean that you stop giving people medication. That is morally and politically impossible. It would mean many practices being effectively unable to function for weeks at a time, which, as we all know, simply doesn't happen.

Sus, I would suggest you uncle-in-law's problem may very well be down to temporary residency issues. I do know that, in order to be eligible for NHS benefits, you do have to be resident in the country for a certain amount of time each twelve months. Don't know if this might be relevant in your uncle-in-law's case?

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An Idea Yes i know its rare but!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Was thinking about this today and you friendly hardresser should contact Pals for the surgery she was at. They will be able to explain it or if she has been given wrong info they will be able to act on her behalf. Would like to know the outcome of it!