ppiper

Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
GP.
Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.

Am I justified in complaining ?
Are there any guidelines for GPs / Pharms ?

Angry of Sevenoaks, UK

cas

"ppiper" <pel422@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118868469.117689.58640@z14g2000cwz.googlegro ups.com...
Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
GP.
Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.

Am I justified in complaining ?
Are there any guidelines for GPs / Pharms ?

Angry of Sevenoaks, UK

That's scandalous, typical of the so called profession! you could have
brought it from you local dentist without a prescription for £ 3.0. I saw
some there yesterday.The same rip off happens when medication is taken off
prescription ,they re package it and charge high prices for instance
paraceatmol...ibroprophen... enteric coated aspirin 0.75 mgs for heart
conditions.I would recommend that you buy these medications at the local
supermarket, without the fancy packaging there just as good. You can also
get things like cod liver oil capsules 1000mg x 60 for about £2.0 instead of
£ 6.0 or more at the chemist.You are justified in complaining ,best thing to
do is to write to the local newspaper to warn others ,then perhaps the
pharmacy's will look after the patients in a more honest way ...cas

RWP

You went to the doctor to get something you could have bought over the
counter for £3...probably Corsodyl or something similar.

The £6.50 is just a contribution to the cost of your treatment, it does not
have any relation to what you were prescribed. Sure, sometimes things are
cheaper than £6.50, but most often they aren't. The pharmacist doesn't keep
any of the £6.50, it just gets taken from his remuneration each month. In
all the trip to the Gp, his time, the pharmacists time, etc. will cost way
more than £6.50.

It's £3 though, hardly worth worrying about If you are still worried let
me know and I will post you six shiny 50 pence pieces. Take Cas's advice
only if you want to take the advice of a person who is a stranger to the
proper use of an apostrophe!

Next time try asking the pharmacist first, he would have probably sold you
the Corosdyl anyway.










>
> "ppiper" <pel422@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1118868469.117689.58640@z14g2000cwz.googlegro ups.com...
> Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
> GP.
> Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
> counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.
>
> Am I justified in complaining ?
> Are there any guidelines for GPs / Pharms ?
>
> Angry of Sevenoaks, UK
>
> That's scandalous, typical of the so called profession! you could have
> brought it from you local dentist without a prescription for £ 3.0. I
> saw some there yesterday.The same rip off happens when medication is taken
> off prescription ,they re package it and charge high prices for instance
> paraceatmol...ibroprophen... enteric coated aspirin 0.75 mgs for heart
> conditions.I would recommend that you buy these medications at the local
> supermarket, without the fancy packaging there just as good. You can also
> get things like cod liver oil capsules 1000mg x 60 for about £2.0 instead
> of £ 6.0 or more at the chemist.You are justified in complaining ,best
> thing to do is to write to the local newspaper to warn others ,then
> perhaps the pharmacy's will look after the patients in a more honest way
> ...cas
>

Rachel Schofield

As an ex dispensing technician in my local community pharmacy I think this
should have been picked up by either the Pharmacist or any of the Assistants
who handled the prescription. The GP would probably have been unaware as to
wether you paid for your prescriptions or were, for some reason, entitled to
free prescriptions. GPs are also usually oblivious to the cost of
over-the-counter medicines so just write prescriptions and leave it to
Pharmacy staff to sort out. If you mention it to the Pharmacist next time
you go in he/she will probably apologise for his/her mistake and maybe
mention it to staff to be more aware of these cheaper-to-buy items. They
can't really do much else once the prescription has been sent off and paid
for at the end of the month.

"ppiper" <pel422@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118868469.117689.58640@z14g2000cwz.googlegro ups.com...
Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
GP.
Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.

Am I justified in complaining ?
Are there any guidelines for GPs / Pharms ?

Angry of Sevenoaks, UK

Rachel Schofield

Well trained Pharmacy staff in an efficiently run Pharmacy are told to
advise customers if an item is cheaper to buy over-the-counter. It is part
of their jobs, as customers are not expected to know these things. However,
Pharmacy staff are only human and these things can sometimes be missed,
especially when they're busy trying to dispense medication for prescriptions
that are already there, waiting to be done. The Pharmacist or the owner of
the Pharmacy does not benefit from charging people 6.50 for items that can
be bought cheaper O.T.C as the government gets the 6.50, the Pharmacy just
gets the replacement cost of the item without any profit. So it's much more
beneficial to just sell what can be sold O.T.C rather than go through the
time and effort involved in dispensing the item, labelling with patients
details and instructions, entering items onto Patient Medication Records,
getting prescription checked by Pharmacist, etc.etc. It's just human error,
not done intentionally to rip people off.

As for pricing, chemists charge prices based on what it costs them to obtain
the goods from their suppliers. Usually they don't have huge wharehouses to
store excess stock (the Pharmacy I used to work in was a converted store
room in a Health Centre!) so cannot bulk buy to the same extent as a big
supermarket chain. So yes, some things are cheaper in supermarkets, just
like a tin of beans is cheaper from a supermarket than it is from your local
corner shop.

"cas" <casquets@tesco.net> wrote in message
news:_base.11745$q46.2475@newsfe1-win.ntli.net...
>
> "ppiper" <pel422@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1118868469.117689.58640@z14g2000cwz.googlegro ups.com...
> Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
> GP.
> Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
> counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.
>
> Am I justified in complaining ?
> Are there any guidelines for GPs / Pharms ?
>
> Angry of Sevenoaks, UK
>
> That's scandalous, typical of the so called profession! you could have
> brought it from you local dentist without a prescription for £ 3.0. I
> saw some there yesterday.The same rip off happens when medication is taken
> off prescription ,they re package it and charge high prices for instance
> paraceatmol...ibroprophen... enteric coated aspirin 0.75 mgs for heart
> conditions.I would recommend that you buy these medications at the local
> supermarket, without the fancy packaging there just as good. You can also
> get things like cod liver oil capsules 1000mg x 60 for about £2.0 instead
> of £ 6.0 or more at the chemist.You are justified in complaining ,best
> thing to do is to write to the local newspaper to warn others ,then
> perhaps the pharmacy's will look after the patients in a more honest way
> ...cas
>

Rachel Schofield

As an ex dispensing technician in my local community pharmacy I think this
should have been picked up by either the Pharmacist or any of the Assistants
who handled the prescription. The GP would probably have been unaware as to
wether you paid for your prescriptions or were, for some reason, entitled to
free prescriptions. GPs are also usually oblivious to the cost of
over-the-counter medicines so just write prescriptions and leave it to
Pharmacy staff to sort out. If you mention it to the Pharmacist next time
you go in he/she will probably apologise for his/her mistake and maybe
mention it to staff to be more aware of these cheaper-to-buy items. They
can't really do much else once the prescription has been sent off and paid
for at the end of the month.

"ppiper" <pel422@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118868469.117689.58640@z14g2000cwz.googlegro ups.com...
Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
GP.
Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.

Am I justified in complaining ?
Are there any guidelines for GPs / Pharms ?

Angry of Sevenoaks, UK

Rachel Schofield

Well trained Pharmacy staff in an efficiently run Pharmacy are told to
advise customers if an item is cheaper to buy over-the-counter. It is part
of their jobs, as customers are not expected to know these things. However,
Pharmacy staff are only human and these things can sometimes be missed,
especially when they're busy trying to dispense medication for prescriptions
that are already there, waiting to be done. The Pharmacist or the owner of
the Pharmacy does not benefit from charging people 6.50 for items that can
be bought cheaper O.T.C as the government gets the 6.50, the Pharmacy just
gets the replacement cost of the item without any profit. So it's much more
beneficial to just sell what can be sold O.T.C rather than go through the
time and effort involved in dispensing the item, labelling with patients
details and instructions, entering items onto Patient Medication Records,
getting prescription checked by Pharmacist, etc.etc. It's just human error,
not done intentionally to rip people off.

As for pricing, chemists charge prices based on what it costs them to obtain
the goods from their suppliers. Usually they don't have huge wharehouses to
store excess stock (the Pharmacy I used to work in was a converted store
room in a Health Centre!) so cannot bulk buy to the same extent as a big
supermarket chain. So yes, some things are cheaper in supermarkets, just
like a tin of beans is cheaper from a supermarket than it is from your local
corner shop.

"cas" <casquets@tesco.net> wrote in message
news:_base.11745$q46.2475@newsfe1-win.ntli.net...
>
> "ppiper" <pel422@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1118868469.117689.58640@z14g2000cwz.googlegro ups.com...
> Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
> GP.
> Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
> counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.
>
> Am I justified in complaining ?
> Are there any guidelines for GPs / Pharms ?
>
> Angry of Sevenoaks, UK
>
> That's scandalous, typical of the so called profession! you could have
> brought it from you local dentist without a prescription for £ 3.0. I
> saw some there yesterday.The same rip off happens when medication is taken
> off prescription ,they re package it and charge high prices for instance
> paraceatmol...ibroprophen... enteric coated aspirin 0.75 mgs for heart
> conditions.I would recommend that you buy these medications at the local
> supermarket, without the fancy packaging there just as good. You can also
> get things like cod liver oil capsules 1000mg x 60 for about £2.0 instead
> of £ 6.0 or more at the chemist.You are justified in complaining ,best
> thing to do is to write to the local newspaper to warn others ,then
> perhaps the pharmacy's will look after the patients in a more honest way
> ...cas
>

Rex Harrison

"ppiper" <pel422@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118868469.117689.58640@z14g2000cwz.googlegro ups.com...
Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
GP.
Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.

Am I justified in complaining ?

-------------------------------------------------------

No, you have no legal right to know of a cheaper alternative.

Rex Harrison

"ppiper" <pel422@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118868469.117689.58640@z14g2000cwz.googlegro ups.com...
Today I paid the full £ 6.50 charge for a Mouthwash prescribed by my
GP.
Neither GP or Pharmacist pointed out that I could buy it over the
counter for £3.50. I discovered this later.

Am I justified in complaining ?

-------------------------------------------------------

No, you have no legal right to know of a cheaper alternative.