Colesevelam prescription cost

[BasilG]

So I posted on here a couple of weeks ago that my consultant has decided to put me on Colevelam for BAM even though I haven't been diagnosed with it but she felt it would be better to trial the medication first to try and get my symptoms under control. I saw my consultant privately so therefore I was given a private prescription-cost £483.00 for 3 months supply. I cant afford that, I only have private health care through my husbands job. So my local pharmacist suggested that I ask my GP to do a NHS prescription and was told by the surgery's pharmacist if you have been seen privately then you have to pay for your private prescription. It was my GP that suggested I see someone privately as would be a lot quicker. its coming up to 3 years I have suffered with IBS-D and living on loperamide which I am now needing to take more of daily, surely the amount of appointments and time I have taken up equates to a lot more cost on the NHS than a prescription!! As it stands now my consultant has written to my GP asking them to prescribe still waiting on an answer. Has anyone else been in this situation?

[FRreedman]

It may also be to do with negligence insurance, as your GP will be liable for any action for negligence if he prescribes the wrong drug, which is the main reason for GPs not wishing to prescribe drugs for private practitioners. If they prescribe them for an NHS consultant , then the NHS picks up any negligence claim, as they are both provided by the NHS.

[BasilG in reply to FRreedman]

Never thought of that. I cant believe the cost of medication absolutely horrendous.

[Whitesugar]

You could ask your GP to refer you to the same consultant on the NHS and get it that way. The Cholestyramine powders are a much cheaper option. I take them and no longer have diarrhoea after 40 years. I didn't have the test, but the same happened with me. I saw the consultant privately and he wrote to my GP to say he wanted me to have a trial of medication. I had no problem with getting it on the NHS. Good luck.