So in need for some heavy weight drugs for my first aid kit I trots off to ASDA pharmacist section to be told both I want need a prescription (serious chest and bowel infections).

I had to book a slot at my GP's and this morning and was given a private script. Luckily for me this GP and I get on well since I told him years ago I issued him with his lifetime NHS GP prescribing number (quite true) so he only charged me for the drugs, not any private time and private paperwork.

So the reason for all the above, well a NHS prescription would be £8.60 per item (free if over 60) and both these courses of drugs in total are costing me the princely sum of £3.50 buying them via my GP surgery (its a prescribing practice). I know its swings and roundabouts but it does show some interesting facts about the cost of everyday drugs.

Reason for wanting them is I am going well off the beaten track on foot from mid October for a month (yes you all get a holiday from me ). FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

I get my anti histamines on prescription, £8.60 for £1.00 worth of tablets, but then i do have a pre paid subscription this year so just order as many as they allow, along with my other meds to stock up and then cancel the prescription Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

we get free prescriptions up here in Scotland. ( and free bus travel )

personally I think it's ridiculous and the Scottish taxpayers are paying for both of these priveledges.

I've been in the pharmacy and seen people leaving with huge bags of medication.

my feelings are we should all pay our way for what we need, but that's how I was brought up

Iain

I get free prescriptions on account of my old age which also allows me to remember when the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson first introduced the prescription charge, or prescription tax depending on your point of view, of two shillings (10 pence in this new fangled money) per item. This charge was hitting some people and a local GP started to prescribe cough mixture literally by the gallon (just under five litres in real terms) but the problem was that the pharmacy (we used to call them Chemists in those days) didn't have any suitable containers and asked those with "gallon" prescriptions to bring their own containers. Somehow I don't think that would be a starter these days.

J

iain cooper wrote:

we get free prescriptions up here in Scotland. ( and free bus travel )

personally I think it's ridiculous and the Scottish taxpayers are paying for both of these priveledges.

I've been in the pharmacy and seen people leaving with huge bags of medication.

my feelings are we should all pay our way for what we need, but that's how I was brought up

Iain

Lots of points for debate there Iain but my point is with this post is setting out if I want to pay the system blocks me and the drugs I want are cheaper than the NHS would charge me on a NHS script.

I have a bus pass and once I cannot drive it will be invaluable but it has a great upside, if 10 pensioners use our local bus system its ten cars not blocking up already congested roads for the youth of today as the text and drive.

I think small charges should deter waste of both scripts and doctors time but guess what, the biggest users of health care by group (in Scotland they are the ones eating fried Mars Bars) would be exempted so it only hits the middle income bracket yet again.

As for Scottish taxes I wish we got the same central subsidy per person in Yorkshire compared to those North of the wall. Mind you Northern Ireland may just be about to become subsidy capital of UK.  FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

My wife has the Ventolin inhalers at £8.60 per inhaler if on a prescription. We stock up on them when in Spain - no prescription required and they cost only 2.75 Euros each.

Whenever my Doctor prescribes me something, he often tells me if it is cheaper to buy over the counter rather than on prescription. When my wife worked as a GP's receptionist, many people would phone up for a repeat prescription for Paracetemols! How much do the NHS waste on them?

Anyway, I'm 60 in November so it'll all be free from then.  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

But no bus pass Steve. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

iain cooper wrote:

we get free prescriptions up here in Scotland. ( and free bus travel )

personally I think it's ridiculous and the Scottish taxpayers are paying for both of these priveledges.:

Yorky Bob wrote:

But no bus pass Steve.

Yep, get one of those as well because I live in a London Borough (Havering).

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/adul...don-oyster Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Kinhell are you saying London is treated differently to the rest of England were you only get a bus pass once you claim a state pension (Womna). FFS. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Yep, of course we are treated differently. We are the Capital and therefore we are your leaders - we know how to look after ourselves! I can use it to go to work and I'll save £11.80 per day. Thats over £2,800 per year! Ker-ching! Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Yes you can be and kept captive in all that pollution and not allowed to come up North on that mickey mouse pass.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-elderly-person-bus-pass FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

iain cooper wrote:

we get free prescriptions up here in Scotland. ( and free bus travel )

personally I think it's ridiculous and the Scottish taxpayers are paying for both of these priveledges.

I've been in the pharmacy and seen people leaving with huge bags of medication.

my feelings are we should all pay our way for what we need, but that's how I was brought up

Iain

Been proven to be cheaper to provide a blanket "free-for-all" policy, than it is to police the system, hence why we don't pay in Scotland

Another poor SNP policy

dunkley201 wrote:

iain cooper wrote:

we get free prescriptions up here in Scotland. ( and free bus travel )

personally I think it's ridiculous and the Scottish taxpayers are paying for both of these priveledges.:

I think you should include the English taxpayers, subsidising the Scots' welfare culture.

(I'll get me coat.....)

Bob

Why are your illustrious leaders so desperate to keep Scotland part of the Union? Give you a clue, it's not because we take more out of the system than we pay in

I don't have a bus pass. Not much point in having a bus pass if there aren't any buses. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE