Get your medication cheaper

cormie

Not so much a bargain alert, but I just learned today that pharmacies have a "dispensing" fee and on cheaper medication this makes up a high % of final price. For example, a 3 month supply was about €25, but a 6 month supply was €34. As far as I know, a months supply is about €13 so it can be quite a saving in the long run and also saves you having to go every month!

Kristopherus

As a general rule, Cormie, GPs will not give a prescription for longer than 3 months supply. Pharmacist 1, Cormie 0

cormie

6 months is the limit as far as I know on a prescription

Kristopherus

Medical Council circulated all GPs some years ago to stick to a 3 month script because there was increasing evidence of misuse.

sesna

Kristopherus wrote: »

Medical Council circulated all GPs some years ago to stick to a 3 month script because there was increasing evidence of misuse.

Legal situation is 6 month which can be gotten at once.

This is not practical or good practice though for possible drugs of abuse - painkillers, sleeping tablets, anti-depressants, etc but should present no problem for heart medication, pills for eg.

slave1

yep, 6 months not a problem, depends on the doctor/patient relationship I'd expect

rubadub

Kristopherus wrote: »

Medical Council Cartel circulated all GPs some years ago to stick to a 3 month script because there was increasing evidence of misuse. decreasing profits for signing scraps of paper

sesna

rubadub wrote: »

Considering the original post was bs, the reply is even more trite.

Prisoner6409

€25 for moving some pills from one box to another, what a ripoff. It's no wonder there is a growing trade in online pharmacies and medication tourism.

sesna

Prisoner6409 wrote: »

€25 for moving some pills from one box to another, what a ripoff. It's no wonder there is a growing trade in online pharmacies and medication tourism.

Getting medication from online pharmacies is illegal. Did it ever occur to you that the drug manufacturer has to be paid for the tablets they produce also (hint there is a cost involved in producing medication), as does the supplier and staff involved. They dont just magic up tablets out of thin air and "move them from one box to another".

cormie

sesna wrote: »

Considering the original post was bs, the reply is even more trite.

How is my original post BS? I'm telling people how to save money in an ethical, legal, time saving and sensible way...?

sesna

sesna wrote: »

Getting medication from online pharmacies is illegal. Did it ever occur to you that the drug manufacturer has to be paid for the tablets they produce also (hint there is a cost involved in producing medication), as does the supplier and staff involved. They dont just magic up tablets out of thin air and "move them from one box to another".

no but they often just stick a label on an over the counter product and charge a heft fee for the privilege!

sesna

cormie wrote: »

How is my original post BS? I'm telling people how to save money in an ethical, legal, time saving and sensible way...?

The original remark to which the reply was made - 3 month maximum repeats on prescriptions issued as a memo from the medical council.

cormie

Ah right

Well even a 3 month supply is a good bit cheaper than a 1 month, if you can get a 6 month prescription, you'll save even more

sesna

Deleted User wrote: »

no but they often just stick a label on an over the counter product and charge a heft fee for the privilege!

If product is available without prescription, why would you not just buy it as such over-the-counter to avoid this "hefty fee"

sesna

cormie wrote: »

Ah right

Well even a 3 month supply is a good bit cheaper than a 1 month, if you can get a 6 month prescription, you'll save even more

Agreed - the saving is about 3 euro for every additional month you can afford. This is approximately what the dispensing fee per month is I think.

rubadub

sesna wrote: »

If product is available without prescription, why would you not just buy it as such over-the-counter to avoid this "hefty fee"

Some people might be unaware which drugs are OTC, there was a thread a while back where somebody got a script from their doctor which had an OTC drug on it, but as it was on a script and was handed in they were charged additional fees, neither the doctor nor the chemist told them it was OTC.

I imagine the poster might have been referring to "drug tourism", like people living on the border might nip up to a regulated pharmacy up north to get their St.Johns Wort which is now prescription only here.

sesna

rubadub wrote: »

Some people might be unaware which drugs are OTC, there was a thread a while back where somebody got a script from their doctor which had an OTC drug on it, but as it was on a script and was handed in they were charged additional fees, neither the doctor nor the chemist told them it was OTC.

I imagine the poster might have been referring to "drug tourism", like people living on the border might nip up to a regulated pharmacy up north to get their St.Johns Wort which is now prescription only here.

The poster clearly referred to medication from the internet and drug tourism separately. OTC medications are only OTC when certain circumstances which conform to the licence are met such as area of use, dosage, dosing frequency, duration of use, pack size, age of patient, etc. I suspect this is what happened here and therefore it would not be OTC. This is set out in legislation. But of course everyone has some anecdote of some grave injustice perpetrated on them by doctors, other healthcare professionals, any servivce they must pay for. No wonder Whineline is so popular. Of course for every one bad experience we never heard about the other 100 positive interactions.

Irish Medicines Board moved St Johns Wort to prescription only based on evidence of high interaction profile with other medicines. From wikipedia - "St John's wort has been shown to cause multiple drug interactions through induction of the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP3A4, but also CYP2C9. This results in the increased metabolism of those drugs, resulting in decreased concentration and clinical effect. The principal constituent thought to be responsible is hyperforin."

sesna

sesna wrote: »

If product is available without prescription, why would you not just buy it as such over-the-counter to avoid this "hefty fee"

Because I'm not a pharmacist or a doctor so therfore 1. Can't read prescriptions and 2. I do not know of the name of every OTC drug on the market, so if my GP puts it on my prescription, it's very difficult to tell the difference.

cormie

rubadub wrote: »

like people living on the border might nip up to a regulated pharmacy up north to get their St.Johns Wort which is now prescription only here.

I know of a place where it's OTC down south. It would be more on the herbal health shop side of a business rather than pharmacy though.

anotherlostie

cormie wrote: »

I know of a place where it's OTC down south. It would be more on the herbal health shop side of a business rather than pharmacy though.

St John's Wort is prescription controlled in Ireland. If there are health shops selling it, they are doing so illegally.

In terms of saving the fiver, that's fine with relatively cheap medicine like the pill where people often get 3 or 6 months at once, but if you're paying €50 per month for something, forking out over 300 quid to save €25 probably won't make sense.

cormie

anotherlostie wrote: »

St John's Wort is prescription controlled in Ireland. If there are health shops selling it, they are doing so illegally.

In terms of saving the fiver, that's fine with relatively cheap medicine like the pill where people often get 3 or 6 months at once, but if you're paying €50 per month for something, forking out over 300 quid to save €25 probably won't make sense.

Yeah that's right, it really only works with cheaper medicine, but works well

Jesus Wept

What a scam, I was entirely unaware of this.

anotherlostie wrote: »

but if you're paying €50 per month for something, forking out over 300 quid to save €25 probably won't make sense.

I think it would if you have enough cash to do so.
It's a saving of 8.3%.

concubar

hi,
i used to get my drugs on dps scheme , used to be 50 - 60 month , went up and up again, now currently at approx 120 odd.


now i buy online at <Mod Snip>


blood pressure tabs im on ,

Product Name:Coversyl Arginine / Perindopril Arginine 5mg,
Pack Quantity: 30 tablets,
Price: £14.59,
Quantity Bought: 4,
Sub Total: £58.36

searched online and this place was cheapest, reliable source, i could find,
you will need to give them medical details, doctor , etc.....

and other tabs i take ,
makes more sense for me,

worth a look ? :cool:

Kurtosis

concubar wrote: »

hi,
i used to get my drugs on dps scheme , used to be 50 - 60 month , went up and up again, now currently at approx 120 odd.


now i buy online at ...


blood pressure tabs im on ,

Product Name:Coversyl Arginine / Perindopril Arginine 5mg,
Pack Quantity: 30 tablets,
Price: £14.59,
Quantity Bought: 4,
Sub Total: £58.36

searched online and this place was cheapest, reliable source, i could find,
you will need to give them medical details, doctor , etc.....

and other tabs i take ,
makes more sense for me,

worth a look ? :cool:

Hmmm, not really worth a look, because it's kind of illegal. And by kind of illegal, I mean illegal.

sesna

Deleted User wrote: »

Because I'm not a pharmacist or a doctor so therfore 1. Can't read prescriptions and 2. I do not know of the name of every OTC drug on the market, so if my GP puts it on my prescription, it's very difficult to tell the difference.

In future just politely check legal status of medicine. I know I will.
Just out of interest what mysterious drug was it?

delllat

buy online

sesna

delllat wrote: »

buy online

Dont be surprised when you get Customs officials/IMB/ Gardai knocking on your door though or if you suffer ill-effect/no-effect due to your medication being counterfeit.

parsi

sesna wrote: »

Dont be surprised when you get Customs officials/IMB/ Gardai knocking on your door though or if you suffer ill-effect/no-effect due to your medication being counterfeit.

And why is it illegal ?

Is it illegal in order to save the cosy cartel here ? I'm sure there are plenty legit pharmacies selling legit drugs online to legit prescription holders.

Who knows - some of our own pharmacists may be selling gray imports or even counterfeit drugs because according to them us plebs wouldn't know the difference...

sesna

parsi wrote: »

And why is it illegal ?

Is it illegal in order to save the cosy cartel here ? I'm sure there are plenty legit pharmacies selling legit drugs online to legit prescription holders.

Who knows - some of our own pharmacists may be selling gray imports or even counterfeit drugs because according to them us plebs wouldn't know the difference...

Its illegal because the law says it is illegal. If you're not happy about it maybe try to lobby your local TD, minister for health instead of whining about it with nasty allegations which have no basis in fact.

Davy

This has gone far from Cormies original post, and is going round in circles with legal or illegal, so think its better CLOSED