NHS prescriptions as Private

[SolomonQ]

i think the dispensing fee used to be near a pound when i was starting my degree and then im sure dispensing fee was exactaly that dispensing. 4 years on and its gone down to 90p but it includes all these other payments like containers and DDA and the rest of it.

this measly fee of 2p is wat you say your geting for sorting out the exemption, my God, would the same kind of thing be allowed to happen with doctors, i mean they just about accepted 30 minutes extra opening time PER WEEK per 1000 patients, at most thats an hour extra a day. wooo hooo!!!! well done whoeva negotiated that, its really gona help.

[johnep]

Is it legal for Drs to use the white side as a private script form?. Did two scripts today for amoxicillin and metronidazole. also can a Dr issue private scripts for NHS pts. Done to avoid NHS charge. We charge £4/item. Expect to see more now that charge going up next week.
Last year took tills a couple of days to catch up and pts charged old rate.
(tills have NHS charge button).
johnep

[lamzee]

I always thought that it was a breach of terms of service for a GP to write a private rx for a NHS patient, unless it is a "private appointment " for malaria tablets or something.

But then who is going to complain--doc still gets NHS money, patient pays less than NHS charge and shop gets mark-up plus dispensing fee, so everyone wins. I still think it is technically a breach though.

[SolomonQ]

I dont see why the NHS doctor isnt allowed to prescribe private prescritions during an NHS counsultation, because end of the day this will be saving the NHS money that it will have to pay the pharmacy for dispensing the medicine, unless ofcourse the NHS plans to make money out of people who have to pay the3 prescrition charge put require a low cost POM medicine e.g. co-codamol 30/500 or amoxicillin 500mg. in which case its a disgrace that the NHS of UK has to stoop so low. I have particulary noticed the low quantity of medicines supplied for customers who are not exempt e.g. heart medication for patient who is under 55 so still needs to pay the Rx charge (7.10 per item), most such patients come with a motnhs supply prescribed.

[johnep]

Yes I have noticed that scripts for say, diclofenac for 21-28 for charge paying pts. Presumably most acute pts are charge whereas most repeats are exempt.
johnep

[Tony Schofield]

Originally Posted by SolomonQ

this measly fee of 2p is wat you say your geting for sorting out the exemption, my God, would the same kind of thing be allowed to happen with doctors, i mean they just about accepted 30 minutes extra opening time PER WEEK per 1000 patients, at most thats an hour extra a day. wooo hooo!!!! well done whoeva negotiated that, its really gona help.

It was imposed. No-one wanted to perform invasive, intrusive exemption checks. We are not fraud inspectors or tax collectors. The DOH put the cash in and told us we were breaching our terms of service if we didn't intrude into people's lives in this manner.

[Zoggite]

I've worked it out: at £24/hour, 2 pence pays for exactly 3 seconds of a locum's work...

[Tony Schofield]

But a contractor will have total staff costs, premises costs and all the fun of the fair, the cost of a pharmacist being only part of that. How much time is actually paid for by this insulting "fee".

As I said, it wasn't negotiated.

[lamzee]

Counter assistant 6pounds per hour----12 seconds work.

"do you have your benefit on you Mrs Bloggs"
"no I don't"
"fair enough I'll mark the box"

Total time 6 seconds.

Gross profit 1p

10,000 items a month == 2000 forms(guess) === 20pounds
Take off contractor's overheads (guess) ==10 pounds

That should cover the cost of all the tea your staff would drink in a month.
:-)

[Pharmanaut]

Originally Posted by lamzee

That should cover the cost of all the tea your staff would drink in a month.
:-)

Probably pay for the toilet rolls.