Pharmacies

[Biddy51]

Hi does anyone know if pharmacies get totally reimbursed by the NHS for prescriptions? I like many other people I’m sure are getting grief. Every time I pick up my medication from my pharmacist it’s a polite battle! Either he can’t order the same brand or the company has stopped producing it, are some of the excuses I’ve been given, but on further investigation I’ve found him to be wrong. It’s really not fair having auto immune disease and being menopausal.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

I suspect.....they try to get the cheapest option...that way can perhaps make small profit from NHS if they can buy at slightly under price paid

If anyone works/worked in pharmacy knows anything would be interesting to hear

Yes it shouldn't need to be a battle at each prescription.....yet frequently it is

[Biddy51 in reply to SlowDragon]

This is his response - Do you know if pharmacies get a full reimbursement for NHS prescriptions? This is not a simple answer. In an ideal world yes but in reality I don't think so. Prices fluctuate and if the item is more expensive then they won't make a change to the price until the end of the month. But you don't know this before hand/ at time of dispensing so in reality you can be making a on each script.

E.g. Evorel Conti Patches are £10 on the 1st of the month. It goes out of stock and the only stock you can get is £20. You can't decline an NHS script but have no way of knowing if you will get reimbursed £20 at the end of the month at time of dispensing. Plus all scripts get bundled together and payment is made in bulk for that month 3 months down the line. It's not itemised. So you have no way of knowing if they have made a mistake and undercharged you. The more scripts you do as a pharmacy the government claws back - up to 15%.

Its not easy at the moment.

[Biddy51]

I’ve asked the question with an online pharmacy. See if I get straight answer. Will let you know.

[Hidden]

I used to, until I insisted I only be given one brand only each time.

[Biddy51 in reply to Hidden]

What! Even HRT? 😉

[Hidden in reply to Biddy51]

No, another item. I dread the pharmacy, there's always mistakes and delays, or they have one item missing.

[Biddy51 in reply to Hidden]

Me too! I’ve even moved to another pharmacy, just as bad!

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

I might have it topsy turvy but I am under the impression that there is an agreed price which the pharmacy gets reimbursed. If they can get a medicine at a lower price, they do well. If they have to pay more, they lose out.

So, if distributor A has brand B on "buy ten get one free", the pharmacy would gain.

But there are inevitably complications such as when prices change.

[Biddy51 in reply to helvella]

You know more than me. 😉 I just need some sort of leveraged. Something to try and stop him from giving me grief every single time I go to get my prescription. Any thoughts any one?

[Hidden in reply to Biddy51]

Say you're allergic to some of the ingredients in the other brands. ''Allergy'' is the feared word of our times.

I actually am very sensitive to ingredients, so its true for me.

[Biddy51 in reply to Hidden]

With Levo Thyroxine I was warned not to be fobbed off with cheaper brands. The one I was warned to stay away from is Teva. I manage to continually stand my ground on this and get Actavis 50mg & Mercury Pharma 25mg. But it has been a year or more with a new pharmacist that has given me a real head ache with one excuse or another every time I visit. If I was a normal healthy laid back person it would be easier, but I’m not well and find life difficult at the best of times. I’m now getting stick because of the HRT that I’m taking isn’t cheap enough for him to order! I was told that I was lucky to have the last pack and he couldn’t get any more EVER! After I said there was no point me being here without it, he said he could order more at the end of February. This is Evorel Conti HRT patch which there is no alternative to supplied by the NHS.

[Hidden in reply to Biddy51]

Funnily enough my brand of choice is also Actavis but for another product. They come in proper blister packs, with consistent quality, are easy to take and effective.I don't get on with the generic pills they pop into a bottle. Which were totally inconsistent in quality.

[Lora7again in reply to Hidden]

I took Actavis when I was on Levothyroxine it is well tolerated imho

[DoeStewart]

Hi Biddy51 - I worked in a pharmacy and all medication on prescription is reimbursed by the NHS. As most medicines are now generics, the pharmacist will look round for the company who is supplying the cheapest brand. The NHS have a price they pay to the pharmacy for every drug given out. I worked for an independent pharmacy. The amount reimbursed is very much more than that paid out, I know why the NHS is in such a state. For instance, a box of antibiotics (penecilian) may cost the pharmacy 40p - they can be reimbursed £5 for that. Plus they are paid a dispensing fee for every item given out - when I worked there a number of years ago it was £3:00. Obviously they are also paid a salary by NHS. With cheap imports the medicines can cost coppers but pharmacists want to make as much profit as they can so if the brand you want costs more then they are unlikely to want to stock it. Will your GP write the brand on your prescription?

[Lora7again in reply to DoeStewart]

I never buy branded drugs because you will pay more for a brand name imho I recently purchased some Ibuprofen tablets 200mg and they were very cheap Ithink they were by RelonChem who I have never heard of before.

[DoeStewart in reply to Lora7again]

Yes always more for a branded drug . When I first started at the pharmacy almost all the drugs were branded and the antibiotics were in jars of 1000. There are a few medicines were the branded one works better than the generic. The pharmacist used to say it can be the fillers or coating on the tablet that makes the difference. I also buy unbranded ibuprofen and paracetamol as the active ingredient is the same.

[Lora7again in reply to DoeStewart]

I worked for a large hospital pharmacy for many years so I do have a little knowledge about drugs.

[Biddy51 in reply to DoeStewart]

Thanks so much for this! Yes my GP clearly puts it on the prescription. I have auto immune disease and have a medical exemption card. Is this why I’m getting grief every time I go in for my meds possibly?

[DoeStewart in reply to Biddy51]

No - nothing to do with your exemption card, anyone who is on thyroxine has an exemption. It doesn't matter a jot to the pharmacist whether your paying or not, makes no difference to the medication he supplies. Can you try a different pharmacy?

[Biddy51 in reply to DoeStewart]

I’ve already swapped once lol! They all seem to be the same. 😉

[DoeStewart in reply to Biddy51]

Oh dear 🙈. Don't know what else to suggest to be honest. Just keep doing what your doing, insist on what's on your prescription. I was given Teva levothyroxine instead of my usual brands, this was before I knew anything about Teva. I was so ill but thankfully realised it was the Levo . Pharmacist has on my records that I am not to have that brand. Maybe in your pharmacy you could get them to put on your records the exact brand that you want?

[Wetsuiter in reply to DoeStewart]

i thought pharmacists were either self employed running their own business, or employed by the pharmacy they work for.

Why would the NHS be paying a salary?

The dispensing fee mentioned is supposed to be paid (at least partly) to the unqualified dispensing staff (my mum s pharmacist boss used to call it a 'christmas bonus', but nhs paid it).

So as i understand it, a pharmacy has to take the payment from the nhs, pay for the drugs, pay the pharmacist, pay other dispensing staff, pay Ni and the government pension sceme, pay bonus to dispensing staff, plus pay all the associated utilities, taxes, rates, rent etc of running the shop.

Obviously the example of payment of £5.00 for a 40 pence drug sounds bad, but then payment of £10 for a £20 patch also sounds bad.

That and the shortages there seem to be of certain drugs (HRT is one) makes it harder for all of us.

I may be wrong in all of this by the way

[DoeStewart in reply to Wetsuiter]

The dispensing fee goes to the pharmacist not the dispensing staff? It most certainly wasn't paid to me as a dispenser. I may have got all the prescription ready but the final say is with the pharmacist - they check and ok what your giving out, the buck stops with them - they got the fee. I worked for a pharmacist who owned his own shop, he still worked on behalf of the NHS and was paid accordingly. He paid the staff out of the petty cash tin. I can honestly say in all the years I worked there I never saw an item we bought in for a prescription cost more than he was going to be reimbursed? Lots of items that were prescription only are now sold over the counter so are off the NHS pricing list. There have been 3 independent pharmacies in my area that have sold in the last 5 years - every one of them for over a million pounds. I totally understand the on cost of running a shop but it is my belief that the NHS pricing board needs a total overhaul .

[kissemiss]

re: pharmacies

Last time I picked up my prescription of t3. The bag with my jars of Lio was carefully taped closed. When I wanted to check my tablets the pharmacist said "you have got exactly the brand your doctor asked for....two of us have made sure everything is correct."...but when I got back home I noticed that half the tablets were past the expiry date. When I went back to complain about this I was told that I had to go back to my busy gp and get a new prescription. The reason was because once the medication has left the Chemist it cannot be returned. They took back the out of date tablets and binned them. Normally I am so careful and check everything over and over again before leaving but I was somehow persuaded not to.

[Biddy51 in reply to kissemiss]

I always stand and check mine in the shop as I don’t live near the pharmacy.