Anyone struggled to get the rotigotine skin patch?

[18jeffries]

I've been prescribed the rotigotine skin patch by my consultant but my GP surgery are saying they can't prescribe it!! Presume this is down to funding. Anyone else had this problem?

[Joolsg]

healthunlocked.com/rlsuk/po...

This has happened to others in the UK.The above post shows it happened 3 years ago. The NHS definitely allow it but due to local funding cuts , some surgeries with their own budgets will try to refuse expensive meds like rotigotine.

Ask your neurologist to write/phone your GP to demand it as the only suitable treatment for you.

It is frightening that with NHS budget cuts we could all be refused the only drugs that give us relief from this dreadful disease. Bet they wouldn't refuse cancer or heart drugs but RLS can cause just as serious consequences. Yet another example of this disease not being taken seriously.

[18jeffries in reply to Joolsg]

Thank you for your reply. Have tried many other drugs but I am hoping this patch will be of help. I will persevere!

[scafftag in reply to Joolsg]

As far as I can make out, they'll bend over backwards when it's something terminal, but anything else, you get the shortest time they can give you, and the cheapest prescription. And don't get me started on physiotherapists!

[martino]

My surgery often doesn't have all the patches prescribed but they always arrive the next day

[Avosyl]

When my daughter tried the patches she commented that with them she didnt feel like she had RLS they were so good. However its not her doctor who will not supply them. It is the chemist who refused them. All down to the expense. Seems they can only get so many at a time and have to be kept at a certain temp. The Scottish NHS will not give them until she has tried everything going and proved that nothing else works. She is on a tablet that makes her sick and has to take an anti sickness tablet with it and certainly knows she has RLS now. All down to cost. In England they are prescribed without any problem.

[Joolsg in reply to Avosyl]

It depends on the surgery. As you can see from the link above, some people cannot get the patch in England. Even in the same county there can be some surgeries which prescribe the patch and others which refuse.

[Pippins2 in reply to Avosyl]

Avosyl I have never come across a pharmacist in the UK who has refused to give a patient a medication prescribed by a GP. I have heardof it in the States. I would suggest going with the prescription to a different pharmacy x

[18jeffries in reply to Pippins2]

I haven't managed to get it on a prescription yet. I have a letter from the consultant telling my gp it's what I need but my gp says he isn't allowed to prescribe it!

[happylegs]

I've had restless legs (and shoulders) for years, made much worse when my doctor put me on Ropinirole. Recently, a specialist prescribed Rotigotine patches and the RL has 99% cleared up. Wonderful ! I've looked up the cost to the NHS and (in Jan 2017) it was £81.10 / month for a single-dose patch - fairly expensive but not bank-breaking.

[18jeffries]

Just thought I would let you know. My perseverance paid off and my surgery have agreed to prescribe the patch, as a consultant has recommended it! Fingers crossed it works!