help again - can’t get Teva 20mcg -one pharmacy saying it’s cost

[Chouchou1234]

hi

can you help me

I have had Teva and seems better with swelling

1 . Trying to get repeat - the pharmacy changed owners and can’t get .

but called Teva wholesale said available

but my local usual pharmacy can get bit said they won’t due to price it’s 52 and nhs only reimburse £35

What’s the deal with this

1. Do I pay the difference or try something else?

I can’t get through the nightmare

or does the pharmacy have to fill the prescription?

Please explain as anxiety through the roof xx

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Try ringing lots of different pharmacies

Including Springfield in Richmond

thyroiduk.org/if-you-are-hy...

[Chouchou1234 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you

Can you tell me will a pharmacy refuse to

Order it because of price?

My other pharmacy said can order it but I have to pay the difference ?? Do pharmacy lie and say can’t get it ?

Xxx

Thank you x

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

There is no way for you (or anyone else) to pay an additional fee. If they tried that, the NHS would probably cancel their contract.

If you had a private prescription, then you could pay the whole cost - plus whatever markups they apply.

[Chouchou1234 in reply to helvella]

So is it their obligation to fulfill it ? If they loose money it ? X 🙈🙈 I’m confused x

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Chouchou1234]

I simply do not understand what is supposed to happen if the distributor price is higher than the NHS Tariff price.

When it is a small difference, I think the pharmacy is expected to take the hit. But when it is a larger difference, one which is unsustainable for the pharmacies, I really do not know of an answer.

And I have not yet managed to find a way of finding out!

[Chouchou1234 in reply to helvella]

I have got another pharmacy to get it. BUT they probably don't know re pricing. She’s ordered it .

So how will this work in future? Small pharmacy taking a hit of £30 approx a month .

The price they told me was £52 but June pricing was 59 .

Very stressful.

I am convinced the swelling is a lot better on Teva .

Do I look for an alternative

I have had bloods this morning- I took my t3 at 8.45pm and test done 8.45 am .

I couldn’t even walk to the blood test as so tired and weak. Let’s see x

Xx

[Batty1 in reply to helvella]

I would think the pharmacy is contracted with NHS to accept their cost and the pharmacy probably writes off the extra or maybe the pharmacy should be negotiating with manufacturers for cost or NHS should be negotiating and contracting with manufacturers and pharmacies …. Who knows.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Batty1]

helvella - How Pharmacies Get Paid

A brief overview of how pharmacies get paid for dispensing medicines.

helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...

[Batty1 in reply to helvella]

That’s an octopus

[Anthea55]

Teva levothyroxine comes in several sizes. From the Teva website these are 100mcg, 75mcg, 50mcg, 25mcg.

Teva liothyronine comes in 20mcg size.

You don't say whether you are wanting levothyroxine or liothyronine. What does your prescription say? Maybe your pharmacy are confused.

Hope that helps.

[Chouchou1234 in reply to Anthea55]

Hi Liothyronine x sorry typing in a panic xx 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

[Anthea55 in reply to Chouchou1234]

Well, if it's T3 you want then maybe the new people at your usual pharmacy aren't used to people being on T3 only and just assumed that you wanted T4.

Another thought is that you could take them your old packet to show them what you have been taking.

[Chouchou1234 in reply to Anthea55]

Thank you x I managed to get but what happens next month ? X thank you

[Anthea55 in reply to Chouchou1234]

EITHER stick with the new pharmacy

OR go to your old pharmacy, taking your empty packet with you, and explain that you will be wanting this regularly and can they stock it please.

Whichever it is you won't be expected to pay.

By the way you should be able to get a medical exemption certificate so that you get free prescriptions. I don't know all the details.

[humanbean]

The British National Formulary (BNF) has info on the types of Levothyroxine and Liothyronine that have been approved for prescription. I don't understand the pricing information though. Perhaps you could ask at a pharmacy what it means to them.

Levothyroxine

Look in the Medicinal Forms section and note that Teva appears many times in the Levo list, once for each dose :

bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/levot...

bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/levot...

Liothyronine

bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/lioth...

bnf.nice.org.uk/drugs/lioth...

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to humanbean]

One of the troubles is that the company names in that list are of suppliers - manufacturers, distributors and importers.

Where it says, for one example, Medihealth (Northern) Ltd, we cannot tell which make they are referring to. Indeed, the product they supply could change every day!

Though where it says Teva, we can be sure that is the product. Where it says "Eltroxin" we can be sure. And we can see different NHS Indicative Prices for Advanz Pharma Eltroxin and Advanz Pharma Levothyroxine.

Nor do we ever see company names such as Alcura - which sometimes mentioned by members as a pharmacy supplier.

[Wetsuiter]

Just jumping in here to say that there are pharmacies that do postal, so you're not limited to the local places. (I'm imagining something more like a warehouse, rather than a little shop). I stumbled across mine accidentally following a misunderstanding, and so far they've proved MUCH more efficient than face to face pharmacy. (And if anything needed immediately, like antibiotic, the Dr can send that particular prescription locally). Probably not allowed to list the pharmacy, but if anyone wants to know, they can message me.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Wetsuiter]

At least some of them are only available to patients registered with GPs in England.

Anyone know of services which operate for members in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales?

[Wetsuiter in reply to helvella]

Good point

[sparkly]

I could do with you living near me. I'm waiting for my chemist to off load 4 boxes of teva so they can re order more stock and hopefully get my Morningside brand in.

I'm going through same issue. I need Morningside brand and pharmacy can't specify to wholesaler what brand they need. I'm walking round with a prescription for 336 Morningside tablets that no one can fulfil. It's ridiculous when through not fault of your own you can only take a certain brand but chemist cannot order that brand in for you.