Tesco enters the Pharmacy market

ROVER

Should be good news as detailed in todays Independent.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/every-little-helps-medicine-costs-to-tumble-as-tesco-enters-market-2924777.html

kkelly77

ROVER wrote: »

Should be good news as detailed in todays Independent.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/every-little-helps-medicine-costs-to-tumble-as-tesco-enters-market-2924777.html

The one that opened in Naas, is that the Tesco in the town centre or the larger one on the Monread Road?

racso1975

kkelly77 wrote: »

The one that opened in Naas, is that the Tesco in the town centre or the larger one on the Monread Road?

Monread road

theseason

Yes and no... yes prices are too high and they should be reduced but it's not actually dealing with the main issue in the pharmacy market which is the government (which sets the cost price of all medicines for pharmacists and then only pays them 92% of that price in the community drug schemes) setting these prices too high, and this the vast majority of the money to the large pharma companies rather than the community pharmacies. For this reason the community pharmacies have to charge extra markup on the private prescriptions because of the loss on the community drug schemes...

Tesco will be ok because they will have a mostly private prescription market and the lower markup they apply won't have to subsidize many medical card patients

PseudoFamous

There's been a pharmacy in Tesco Arklow for a bit longer than a year, now.

Jesus Wept

theseason wrote: »

Yes and no... yes prices are too high and they should be reduced but it's not actually dealing with the main issue in the pharmacy market which is the government (which sets the cost price of all medicines for pharmacists and then only pays them 92% of that price in the community drug schemes) setting these prices too high, and this the vast majority of the money to the large pharma companies rather than the community pharmacies. For this reason the community pharmacies have to charge extra markup on the private prescriptions because of the loss on the community drug schemes...

Tesco will be ok because they will have a mostly private prescription market and the lower markup they apply won't have to subsidize many medical card patients

Only 92%? 92% of something is the vast majority.
Am I understanding this incorrectly??

ceegee

The-Rigger wrote: »

theseason wrote: »

Yes and no... yes prices are too high and they should be reduced but it's not actually dealing with the main issue in the pharmacy market which is the government (which sets the cost price of all medicines for pharmacists and then only pays them 92% of that price in the community drug schemes) setting these prices too high, and this the vast majority of the money to the large pharma companies rather than the community pharmacies. For this reason the community pharmacies have to charge extra markup on the private prescriptions because of the loss on the community drug schemes...

Tesco will be ok because they will have a mostly private prescription market and the lower markup they apply won't have to subsidize many medical card patients

Only 92%? 92% of something is the mast majority.
Am I understanding this incorrectly??

The 92% is what the HSE pays the pharmacy for medical card items (plus a dispensing fee) so for expensive items the pharmacy loses money every time it gives them out to medical card patients

starviewadams

Just as the right time for me too considering the govt are no longer paying for my crazy pill prescription!

The chemist I go to charges the HSE €8.50 for a 30 day supply of my ad's and the pharmacist last week there said they'll be charging me around €40 for the exact same script,madness!

Freddie59

I hope Tesco are genuine about this. The same went on with the petrol at the start and now they're no cheaper than anywhere else. If the pharmacists are marking up by an alleged 354%, then surely the Tesco prices should be through the floor if they're only charging a 20% markup???

ted1

It's 3.50 prescription charge then 20% mark up

jive

Reality is the pharmacy market is already competitive. This perceived thought that they are ludicrously expensive is not down to all the pharmacies in the country collaborating with each other to rip off the nation (one could easily just decide to undercut and reap the rewards, there's a reason they don't/can't). The reason they are expensive is largely down to the drug suppliers and Government.

HonalD

racso1975 wrote: »

Monread road

Given that there is a sizeable boots beside them, this is curious.

wmpdd3

Thats true, Tesco do a massive range of over the counter generic products in the UK but they wont be licensed for sale here. EG, 12 Tesco paracetamol are £0.14p.

They may go down the Boots route and lobby the gov to offer services like the morning after pill.

At the end of the day there's only 9 to 10% profit on grocery, thats why they are going into the pharmacy market.

m1nder

Pretty soon, there will be no town centres. Just giant Tesco's everywhere.

UDP

m1nder wrote: »

Pretty soon, there will be no town centres. Just giant Tesco's everywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfSi0D7KESk

msg11

PseudoFamous wrote: »

There's been a pharmacy in Tesco Arklow for a bit longer than a year, now.

These are outsourced too local pharmacies, just with Tesco livery and placed in store of course !

concubar

thanks ,

brought a smile to my face after another sh1t day

:):):):):):)

talla

ceegee wrote: »

The 92% is what the HSE pays the pharmacy for medical card items (plus a dispensing fee) so for expensive items the pharmacy loses money every time it gives them out to medical card patients

Complete and utter rubbish. Yes the government pays the pharmacy 92% of the wholesale price of drugs. However every pharmacy(independent and chain) has agreements with wholesalers for direct discounts of the drugs they order in the first place which exceed the 8% that the government hold back. They also receive bonus stock e.g. order 10 packs of a drug and get 5 free etc.
The problem with the pharmacy market is in the good times, pharmacies were opening up left right and center without having a clue how to actually run a business. They kept no control of stock and now that margins are being squeezed, they are only starting to begin managing their stock.

Private patients in Ireland get completely ripped off. When you walk into a pharmacy you are automatically charged a markup of 50% on the your prescription everywhere(some pharmacies have started charging a smaller markup on a select number of drugs). Then there is a dispensing fee of 3.50 to 5 euro.

e.g. the advertised cost of a drug is €20. The private patient will be charged between €33.50 to €35 for that drug.

Then theres the madness of the DPS scheme. This is also considered a private scheme where a 50% markup is charged on prescriptions for a family up €120. Anything after that, the patient is not charged but the government is. The government pay the cost of the drug - 8% (which I've already explained is not the true cost) and pay the pharmacy a markup of 20%. Its ludicrous. In the UK, pharmacists are paid a flat fee of £1.90 for each item by the government. No markup is paid, the only way a pharmacy can survive is by having proper stock management and negotiating the best discount rates with suppliers.

greendom

If Tesco are involved it's because they see profit, they have no interest in lowering prices.

msg11

greendom wrote: »

If Tesco are involved it's because they see profit, they have no interest in lowering prices.

You can still have lower prices and make a profit ? Let's not forget supermarkets like Tesco are a business and do like to make money and profit. They never said they are a non profit organisation.

We shall have to wait and see what way they will price there stuff.

jimmycrackcorm

I heard a Cavan pharmacist on Newstalk earlier talking about it. He basically said that independent pharmacists were ok about Tesco coming on because only private patients were being screwed and the vast majority was under the DPS.

Nanazolie

Considering that pharmacies make their biggest profits from sales of non pharmaceutical items (anything from photo frames to kids toys to chocolate bars), they should consider beating Tesco at their own game and start selling groceries. After all, the pharmacies I go to already look like convenience stores tended by inexperimented "sales assistants". I deeply regret the closure of our local chemist where you could get serious advice on medications. Something which, no doubt, will be lacking in Tesco's pharmacies

DomhnallOg

Welcome to Tesco, welcome to competition, welcome to the real world. I cannot understand why the market is regulated. Once the pharmacist qualified and registered that should be enough.

monkeypants

UDP, where does that clip come from, is it part of a larger movie?

Vic_Mackey

monkeypants wrote: »

UDP, where does that clip come from, is it part of a larger movie?

Time trumpet by fabulous Armando Iannucci (Also behind The Thick Of It and other fantastic shows). You can get the whole series on DVD for half nothing!

jacool

Tesco open pharmacy.
OP opens can of worms!

daheff

people said the same thing about boots coming to ireland....lower prices blah blah

didnt happen


and tesco have a habit of entering new markets, undercutting existing business to put them out of business and then upping their prices

ChewChew

Just one example, I bought the largest bottle of exputex in my pharmacy 2 days ago and it was 5.50Euro. Today I was in Tesco Naas and noticed the pharmacy so just had a sneak peak over the counter and the largest bottle was 4.65Euro. So not a bad difference at all.

Naas pharmacy will be handy for people who are actually doing a full shop, I can't imagine too many people will go specifically for their weekly/monthly once off script.

Jesus Wept

ceegee wrote: »

The 92% is what the HSE pays the pharmacy for medical card items (plus a dispensing fee) so for expensive items the pharmacy loses money every time it gives them out to medical card patients

I can't fathom that the 8% makes the difference when the price to the consumer in this country is upto 500% more than that in the UK. Everyone in distribution channel is juicing it.

talla wrote: »

Complete and utter rubbish. Yes the government pays the pharmacy 92% of the wholesale price of drugs. However every pharmacy(independent and chain) has agreements with wholesalers for direct discounts of the drugs they order in the first place which exceed the 8% that the government hold back. They also receive bonus stock e.g. order 10 packs of a drug and get 5 free etc.
The problem with the pharmacy market is in the good times, pharmacies were opening up left right and center without having a clue how to actually run a business. They kept no control of stock and now that margins are being squeezed, they are only starting to begin managing their stock.

Private patients in Ireland get completely ripped off. When you walk into a pharmacy you are automatically charged a markup of 50% on the your prescription everywhere(some pharmacies have started charging a smaller markup on a select number of drugs). Then there is a dispensing fee of 3.50 to 5 euro.

e.g. the advertised cost of a drug is €20. The private patient will be charged between €33.50 to €35 for that drug.

Then theres the madness of the DPS scheme. This is also considered a private scheme where a 50% markup is charged on prescriptions for a family up €120. Anything after that, the patient is not charged but the government is. The government pay the cost of the drug - 8% (which I've already explained is not the true cost) and pay the pharmacy a markup of 20%. Its ludicrous. In the UK, pharmacists are paid a flat fee of £1.90 for each item by the government. No markup is paid, the only way a pharmacy can survive is by having proper stock management and negotiating the best discount rates with suppliers.

Dispensing fees are never ever listed on receipts either, it's utter bull****, they should be forced to list the charges applied.

kearneybobs

Sooo.........where's the bargain alert here?

bogman

None lol, a bit like when Tesco started selling petrol ill bet, slightly cheaper when they started, no difference with them and the competition now

thesandeman

To bring things down to basics: How much is a pack of Anadin Max Strenght? Usual price is 1.75-2.49 depending where you go. Also have they a cheaper generic version? Boots generic version is just as expensive as Anadin.

DomhnallOg

DomhnallOg wrote: »

Welcome to Tesco, welcome to competition, welcome to the real world. I cannot understand why the market is regulated. Once the pharmacist qualified and registered that should be enough.

No regulation, no control over the supply of drugs. The majority of people really don't inderstand the work a pharmacist does.

digitaldr

This is great news - I can now get my fags, doughnuts, inhalers and lipitor all in the same place!

halkar

Drugs are like smokes. Smokes taxed because they kill you. Drugs taxed because they cure you.
Crestor over 40€ here. I get them for 12€ from abroad. Who is taking in the difference here? Government or pharmacist ? :rolleyes:

rom

Next time your in tesco buying a big box cause your saving. Look at the smaller sizes. A lot of the time its cheaper to buy the smaller size. Why ? cause they want to make money here which they call "treasure island"

kellso81

halkar wrote: »

Crestor over 40€ here. I get them for 12€ from abroad. Who is taking in the difference here? Government or pharmacist ? :rolleyes:

Neither, it's the drug company who makes it

Nonoperational

To be honest it will make very very little difference.

For medical card patients it will make absolutely no difference at all.

For DPS patients over €120 it will make absolutely no difference at all.

For private patients under €120 the markup will be 20% and a €3.50 fee. Just to show how bull**** newspaper headings can be blown out of proportion:

Cost of 30 Aspirin: €1.85
20% markup: €0.37
Tesco fee: €3.50
Final price: €5.72
Markup: >200%

Actually there are a good number of pharmacies charging 20% markup on private scripts already. The potential savings are being over stated.

On over the counter stuff the markup may be slightly reduced too but it will be small money. The like of 24 paracetamol for 20p etc won't be here, at the moment anyway.

meathstevie

24 paracetamol for 20p is perfectly possible in Ireland, you can get it in Fermanagh, Down, Antrim, Derry, Tyrone and Armagh.

bk

daheff wrote: »

and tesco have a habit of entering new markets, undercutting existing business to put them out of business and then upping their prices

And then Lidl and Aldi come along and undercut them. That is how an open competitive market works.

I hope Tesco look to license their cheap Paracetamol, etc. soon.

It will really drive people to their stores and then people will also buy their more expensive cosmetics and drugs.

Next time your in tesco buying a big box cause your saving. Look at the smaller sizes. A lot of the time its cheaper to buy the smaller size. Why ? cause they want to make money here which they call "treasure island"

Tesco UK and Walmart in the US do the same. People think they are getting better value by buying bigger boxes or 2 for 1 deals, but they are often more expensive then buying separately.

People think this because naturally you assume that when you buy in bulk, you get a discount, but the retailers twist this around and charge more for it, but make it look cheaper by putting things like "Extra Value Pack" etc. on it and putting big easy to see displays at the end of isles.

Now I always assume that the bigger packs are more expensive. Just look at the per litre/kg etc. price in small text on the price tag.

halkar

kellso81 wrote: »

Neither, it's the drug company who makes it

No, drug companies are same as tobacco companies. They have set prices for their products. I often seen drugs made in Ireland much cheaper in mainland Europe.

digitaldr

bk wrote: »

Tesco UK and Walmart in the US do the same. People think they are getting better value by buying bigger boxes or 2 for 1 deals, but they are often more expensive then buying separately.

People think this because naturally you assume that when you buy in bulk, you get a discount, but the retailers twist this around and charge more for it, but make it look cheaper by putting things like "Extra Value Pack" etc. on it and putting big easy to see displays at the end of isles.

Now I always assume that the bigger packs are more expensive. Just look at the per litre/kg etc. price in small text on the price tag.

This is one of the things I like about Aldi & Lidl - they just to go in for straight discounts and their prices are much more stable i.e no massive hikes after a promotion is over. When I shop in Tesco I often find myself reaching for my calculator! I've also noticed that they don't display unit prices for Weetabix (bigger boxes often work out dearer).

digitaldr

meathstevie wrote: »

24 paracetamol for 20p is perfectly possible in Ireland, you can get it in Fermanagh, Down, Antrim, Derry, Tyrone and Armagh.

Don't you mean the UK??

dermiestv

digitaldr wrote: »

Don't you mean the UK??

Always good for a wind-up!

wmpdd3

Its the over counter stuff that adds up. If they stocked these items at this price x 1.15 plus VAT, they would be a bargain alert:

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/shelves/Medicine_in_Tesco.html

Anytime I have to get a prescription, the doctor knows to look up the generic product before even writing out the script.

When I bring it to chemists in town, the product is not usually in stock, one chemist had to order it in for me, their advice was,'If you on the medical card, just ask you doctor to change you to the brand name and I'll be able to give it to you today.' I dont have a medical card.

Groinshot

I've got no problem with tesco opening up pharmacies. Tesco sell computer goods, but yet people come to my shop to buy them because they get support there. We can't compete with their prices, it'll be the same in the pharmacy market.
For instance: I'm put on antibiotics by doctor X who has mugs, pens, etc with the antibiotic brand all over their office, I walk to my local pharmacy, pharmacist then said to me "I'll give you the generic version" and saved me 15 quid. Definitely will go back there until tesco start offering a similar service.

Slightly Off-topic, but would anyone here trust Tesco Value <insert Drug here> ?

wmpdd3

See above, Tesco dont do any 'value' products, also none of the Tesco products are licensed for use in Ireland.

I think some of the Tesco own brand meds are made in Co. Waterford, might be wrong.

Thats brilliant that your local pharamacy would sub a generic for the branded one on the prescription, that really is a brilliant service.

Jimdagym

As a nation, Irish people actually seem afraid of generics.
IMO, medical card holders should ALWAYS be given the generic form when available, and they can purchase the brand name for the difference in price.

digitaldr

Jimdagym wrote: »

As a nation, Irish people actually seem afraid of generics.
IMO, medical card holders should ALWAYS be given the generic form when available, and they can purchase the brand name for the difference in price.

This will be coming in soon - it's called price referencing (it already applies in the UK).

Bizarrely a pharmacist is not allowed to suggest a generic alternative to what's on the prescription. By doing so a pharmacist is going out on a limb for your benefit - can't imagine Tesco doing this.

bk

digitaldr wrote: »

Bizarrely a pharmacist is not allowed to suggest a generic alternative to what's on the prescription. By doing so a pharmacist is going out on a limb for your benefit - can't imagine Tesco doing this.

Always insist that your doctor prescribes the generic. If s/he refuses, switch doctor.

palmcut

Many hospital prescriptions are written generically.

Some GPs do write generics on their prescriptions.

Sometimes the original is out of stock either at wholesale level or in the pharmacy. In cases like this the pharmacist can suggest a generic to the patient provided that there are no bioavailability problems.

Some patients refuse generics when offered.