Firstly a sunny hello - looking forward to the weekend.
Just wondered if anyone has ever been refused a brand of meds and told ’because it's too expensive and my consultant needs to write the brand name on the prescription.’
I have always used the brand Arava Leflunomide 10mg as it works for me. Drove to hospital Hobbs Pharmacy said not that brand but can have a cheaper one. I am somewhat astounded to be honest.
I am now trying Lloyds pharmacy who promised to call but never did - so right now stuck with my biologic (which is more key to be honest and no Leuf)—going to see if my Dr can prescribe.
Has anyone else experienced such nonsense ?
Best - Hessie ☺️
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Hessie5
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Yes this is very common across the board. My dads gp refused to give him the brand he wanted . He got a solicitor it worked. My sisters son was born with glaucoma childrens hospital prescribed a particular brand for gp to do on repeat who chose to use a cheaper brand it caused havoc with his pressures . Hospital reissued prescription with a letter saying had to be this brand and still Gp refused. The consultant got involved directly with gp who then reluctantly complied. Then she couldn’t find a pharmacy who stocked it only the cheaper brands why?? Because the companies always buy the and stocks the cheapest drugs. We eventually found an independent pharmacy who ordered in as prescriptions arrived not from a warehouse. God bless him he knows when the repeat is due and orders in advance.
Not uncommon I'm afraid. It's all down to the pressure from CCG's of keeping within prescribing budgets in GP Practices I’m afraid, or the Pharmacy to enable them to make more profit. You can sort of see the point, if a patient is able to take or tolerate generics (or bioequivalent) than the more expensive branded med then it makes good monetary sense to prescribe them. But, if, like you, the branded one is proven to be the one you respond to best, or has the most tolerable side effects if you have any, & that is the one specifically named to be prescribed by your Rheumy, then that is the one that should be dispensed. But if yours was just named as leflunomide by your Rheumy then the least expensive one will be dispensed, or even if it is by brand the chances are it will be a generic dispensed. Have you tried any of the generics at all? Just a thought if you have & you have had a problem with them then you've a better chance of your Rheumy naming Arava on your script & a case for it being prescribed.
...thanks for the feedback - I was always given that brand and even told by the pharmacist the other brand may have more side effects at one point and was kind enough to order it in for me.
I guess confused as now she says too expensive despite having it! I just never heard of this even my consultant’s assistant was addled - however, judging by the responses, I think I have been living under a rock 😁 hey ho shall deal with this next week! Have a good weekend ☺️
There was a policy shift toward generic drugs in the UK a few years ago. It has saved the NHS a lot of money. This from a Kings Fund report in 2015:
“In effect, and all other things being equal, increasing generic prescribing has saved the NHS around £7.1 billion since 1976 and allowed 490 million more items to be prescribed without an increase in total spending “
I only had Arava but it might be other generic brands are cheaper and the NHS must buy from cheapest supplier or it might be its in short supply from Arava and they got it from elsewhere.
Hi - Hobbs chemist said she has it but I can't have it barr humbug 😏 so shall chase this again next week - or ask if I can pay the difference - don't want to change having been on this brand for some time now. All the best and thanks for your response ☺️
I loved Arava it worked so well, so I hope you get it back.
This has been the case across the UK for some time. Some specialist units/hospitals get around the issues by providing certain drugs either directly via the hospital pharmacy, or via a home delivery system arranged with a company like Healthcare at Home. It’s entirely cost driven, because the cost of the medications when the prescription is issued by the GP has to be met by the GP even though they generally have no input in the prescribing decision, they only do what they’ve been told to by a hospital. To be honest, I can see why general practice can get a bit peeved with that, though. It’s to the point in Wales where it’s not even a case of struggling to get the right brand but that issuing certain drugs entirely has been outright refused by GPs in a nationwide move. There are certain items that they won’t even entertain issuing the prescription for anymore. Since we’ve moved to England, anything expensive or that has to be specifically branded when there’s a more generic version available comes via home delivery at the prescribing hospital’s expense: at least you haven’t got the faff of trying to remember who you have to contact to order more of which drug, and when exactly you need to order that one from there, because they say you have to give a fortnight’s notice, but the community pharmacy is only a week for that other thing, and oh, yeah, the consultant only writes 3 months’ worth at a time, so I need to try and scare up a script via his secretary before I can give my two week’s notice anyway...I often felt like half my life was spent negotiating with a small army of pharmacists 👀🤦♂️
Hi Charlie-G - it is a bummer, and I have certainly learnt with all the responses saying it's quite the norm. Wish I had known this before... I am not going to stress about it, just deal with it next week as I have run out. Really appreciate the feedback though - have a awesome weekend -Hessie ☺️
People living in poverty, but who fall outwith the free prescription safety net, as used in other parts of the UK, usually do not have £105 to pay a yearly fee or circa £26 for a quarterly charge.
The inconsistencies in what imedications are free under the medical exemption certificate scheme are discriminatory.
Free prescriptions for all, actually costs much less than publicised, as NHS administrative costs involved in collecting fees is not deducted before the costs of free prescriptions is put into the public domain.
Busy dispensing pharmacies are also put under unnecessary pressure to collect and process the monies collected.
If you are prescribed expensive medication, as many of us on this forum are, paying £8.80 (or whatever it is) seems almost meaningless.
At the end of the day the savings on prescription charges are minimal, hence the fees were abolished in Scotland.
Reducing high salaries and a clearing out of non essential non clinical, managerial roles within the NHS has the potential to save more money 😉
But it isn't billions, it's small amounts of money within the NHS budget.
That's the point I am making.
Means testing would raise the costs exponentially, bring in yet more administrative jobs, offices, equipment and so on, with the real possibility of actually raising the medicine costs to the NHS.
Better to rid the NHS of non essential, non clinical staff and streamline at the higher levels.
I’m glad you mentioned this as both myself & my daughter have had this repeatedly with various meds not Leflunomide though ( it was over 20 years ago when I was on that drug). We both take Esomeprazole & our script has to be written for the exact name Nexium or we are given a cheaper less effective version by our pharmacy. I’ve had issues when they changed my Thyroxine brand to Teva but can’t do anything about that unfortunately as no one stocks the one I’ve been on for 40 years now. Last week my daughter had to speak to a GP on the phone about a problem she had & unrelated he said you are on a lot of medication & some expensive brands. You are costing us a lot of money you have a duty of care to the NHS to swap to cheaper versions!!! She shouted at him & told him she would be complaining about him & his attitude which she has done.
Somehow the receptionist knew what had happened or overheard I’m not sure but spoke to my daughter to say he was horrified at how the GP had spoken to her & would support her in her complaint even saying he had actually reported it himself. We seem to have to fight for everything these days. I hope you get sorted especially if you have symptoms with the new brand x
How very upsetting to be spoken to in that way - I would have to raise ’an unacceptable’ complaint.
I did phone Hobbs Head Office when the pharmacist refused, and the chap said to write to their MD, I was also going to write to my local MP but wanted to post to this forum first.
If something works and you are told the new brand may have more side effects, why would I want to change! It’s baffling. I shall take it up further as said happy to pay the difference to get the Arava. We have enough to contend with having RA without layering more stress.
Thanks. I think it was a shock as she had asked for a call back from GP for an urgent unrelated problem & he changed the subject to her medications. We mostly get Nexium but I can’t get my original Thyroxine brand. Good luck x
Hi Hessie, I posted somewhere recently on here about the pharmacy giving me a cheaper brand of Fentanyl patches (but not any DMARDs, which I don’t take) but the pharmacist said is to ask my GP to write Durogesic on the script as otherwise pharmacy would use a cheaper brand. (I can’t risk those as I do know some have soya bean oil in the adhesive to which I am allergic!) so yes I think you need to specify the brand of medication you require. I do recall Araba being the main brand of Leflunomide as I took it several year ago, albeit briefly. Good luck and hope it is sorted very soon for you.
Thank you - remarkably Lloyd’s pharmacy has phoned and have it ready for me without the need to amend the prescription so all good. So shall stick to them not Hobbs. Have a lovely weekend. Hessie 😌
Oh yes I’m like others have had so many problems with all kinds of meds. When I was on ssz the local pharmacy wanted to give me the non enteric coated cheap version even though GP had stated brand and salozophyrine (sorry forget how’s it’s spelled, flaring brain fog lol). Anyway occasionally particularly with HRT a lot of the pharmacists having problems getting supplies so it’s a ring around game. Definitely with you though if there’s a particular brand of meds that agree with you and cause you no harm why should you have to change ? I’m a firm believer that giving out cheaper versions of essential medications are a waste of money as nine times out of ten in my case they have to go back to be destroyed because of really bad sometimes life threatening side effects 🤬 I know that’s not always the case but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Hope you manage to get the Arava even if they allow you to pay the difference which I doubt they will and be prepared for a shock in the price they can sometimes be REALLY expensive.
Thank Leics, I do need the coated tablets and finally one pharmacy have managed to order in for me so extremely grateful to Lloyds Pharmacy. All the best 😌
I had this with co-codemol. I was prescribed Zapain and they were definitely different and not as effective as my usual brand. I was also told to stop taking the effervescent type - solpedol - as it was costing too much (but was more effective in delivering quick pain relief). I seem to have OxyNorm thrown at me though! Weird ................
Hi - it seems that a lot of people have had a similar story, now I know I shall ensure my consultant writes it on the meds going forward. Hope yours gets sorted - best, Hessie 😌
If someone such as an agency carer is helping with giving the medication then it needs a prescription. I stay at a women's crisis house (NHS) from time to time, when they get my other medication they request the GP prescribe paracetamol else they cannot let us have it if we get a headache. As more services are switched from hospital care to more community based approaches this increases the amount prescribed.
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