NHS crack down on Free Prescriptions (England only)

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by Les4048

The NHS are a wonderful body of dedicated people but I’d wager a bet that the most of the £200 they’re being charged will go straight into the drug companies profits. The NHS are getting done over on a regular basis by drug companies who put profits before saving lives. Just take a look at generic medicine in the supermarket, exactly the same ingredients but at a fraction of the price of the branded drugs

I think the patent system for medicines in the U.K. is reasonably fair.

When it cost what it does to get a new medicine to market it is fair to allow the company that developed it to recoup the cost - and to fund new research.

Glaxo is a good example - Ventolin, Ceporex, eumovate, Dermovate, Zantac, imagram to name but a few of its products that it has researched in the U.K. and sold world wide to the enormous benefit of the U.K.

After 30 years the patent expires - and as it can take on average about ten years from first patenting a compound to it being available to patients via Rx then all the research costs need to be recouped in a short period.

Also - consider how countries that do not recognise the patent system fail to bring any viable new medicines to the market - Russia and China being two classic examples. China prefers to put its faith in things like Rhino horn

And - do consider that where possible the NHS always provides the generic version - the Rx is written using the generic name.

As for costs - do note that because of this - even when a generic Rx is filled with the branded version - in the case of routine medicines like Ventolin and Eumovate - the cost to the NHS is substantially less than the cost of a Prescription.

Check out the BNF to confirm this.

[SCP440]

On a recent trip to Cyprus I bought several Ventolins in a Chemist, no prescription needed I just asked for them and paid. They were less than half the price of the prescription here and they were genuine Ventolin, the ones I get from the Chemist here are another brand.

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by SCP440

On a recent trip to Cyprus I bought several Ventolins in a Chemist, no prescription needed I just asked for them and paid. They were less than half the price of the prescription here and they were genuine Ventolin, the ones I get from the Chemist here are another brand.

You can insist on a branded product if you suffer from Asthma - simply ask your Surgery to stipulate Ventolin on your Rx. It’s the same with epilepsy medication - the body cannot tolerate changes in formulation. And some genetics are of very dubious quality.

I received a generic salbutamol rather than my normal Ventolin and the carrier gas smelt like fly spray and actually made my hay fever induced asthma worse rather than better.

It was then that a really excellent Asthma Care Nurse sorted my Rx out for Ventolin only.

[bendrick]

Prescriptions in Wales aren't really free at all


They were introduced as a shameless bribe to voters by the Labour Party led Welsh assembly just a few weeks before the 2007 Assembly election to ensure their re-election.


The money to pay for free prescriptions in Wales comes out of the Welsh health budget so England could do exactly the same if it wishes to out of their Health budget.


However beware what you wish for.


The real price that we do pay in Wales for supposed free prescriptions is far larger waiting lists for consultations and operations in almost every sphere of medicine compared to England. Less specialists less surgeons and less consultants in order to fund so called free prescriptions


We even have more actual numbers of people on many waiting lists than in England despite having only a 17th of the population.


I've lost count of how many times that I've pointed this out to English people whining about free prescriptions in Wales.

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by bendrick

Prescriptions in Wales aren't really free at all


They were introduced as a shameless bribe to voters by the Labour Party led Welsh assembly just a few weeks before the 2007 Assembly election to ensure their re-election.


The money to pay for free prescriptions in Wales comes out of the Welsh health budget so England could do exactly the same if it wishes to out of their Health budget.


However beware what you wish for.


The real price that we do pay in Wales for supposed free prescriptions is far larger waiting lists for consultations and operations in almost every sphere of medicine compared to England. Less specialists less surgeons and less consultants in order to fund so called free prescriptions


We even have more actual numbers of people on many waiting lists than in England despite having only a 17th of the population.


I've lost count of how many times that I've pointed this out to English people whining about free prescriptions in Wales.

Well there is certainly a few questions regularly asked about why the NHS in Wales underperforms Mismanagement by Labour or underfunding by Westminster?

It was certainly underperforming in the Blair Brown years so it is certainly not a question that fall easily to traditional party political lines.

But I take issue with the premise that Rx’s are “not really free”. Because this would only be true if the funding per capita for each Home Nation was the same.

We all pay the same taxes and NIC throughout the U.K. - but England gets back per capita far less than we put in. Wales (and Scotland and NI) receive far more. See my previous post on this that gives the latest percentages.

So Rx’s are free at the point of delivery in Wales and the funding for this becomes available due to the higher distribution per capita than England enjoys.

I’m not surprised that you have to keep spinning the reality to justify this to us whining English - the question keeps being asked for very good reasons.

“Creative Accounting” and Spin does not fool anyone.

[topman]

Originally Posted by Darcydog

We all pay the same taxes and NIC throughout the U.K.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-42356953

[bendrick]

Originally Posted by Darcydog

Well there is certainly a few questions regularly asked about why the NHS in Wales underperforms Mismanagement by Labour or underfunding by Westminster?

It was certainly underperforming in the Blair Brown years so it is certainly not a question that fall easily to traditional party political lines.

But I take issue with the premise that Rx’s are “not really free”. Because this would only be true if the funding per capita for each Home Nation was the same.

We all pay the same taxes and NIC throughout the U.K. - but England gets back per capita far less than we put in. Wales (and Scotland and NI) receive far more. See my previous post on this that gives the latest percentages.

So Rx’s are free at the point of delivery in Wales and the funding for this becomes available due to the higher distribution per capita than England enjoys.

I’m not surprised that you have to keep spinning the reality to justify this to us whining English - the question keeps being asked for very good reasons.

“Creative Accounting” and Spin does not fool anyone.

Funding under the barnett formula is another question in point though isn't it?

The fact remains that so called free prescriptions in Wales are actually paid for in lives rather than money at the point of collection due to the fact that as I've already pointed out that the money spent on free prescriptions in Wales means less surgeons and consultants.

Personally I'd rather pay £8 for a prescriprion and get to see a consultant without a two year wait.

And when mentioning funding it is of course worth pointing out that Wales has a massive amount more of elderly people than the other 3 home countries per hundred thousand of population ( official figures) which puts a much greater strain on our NHS.

Nobody retires to a holdiay cottage in Birmingham after a lifetimes work do they? They all head for Wales? These huge numbers of English pensioners add a disproportionate cost to the Welsh Health service.

I spend hours battling the mad Welsh nationalists in their ludicrous campaign against the UK and the English I don't need to be pointing out the obvious to the English as well. We should all wherever we live in the UK enjoy the same level of Health provision, we all pay the same taxes when we work so why just like the mad nats try to create division.


By the way, on that point and to contradict my last paragraph you did decline to mention that 8million Londoners enjoy a greater spending grant from the UK government that 3 million Welsh people which kind of blows a hole in one of your main arguments.

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by topman

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-42356953

Many thanks - a very recent development that could possibly go some way to redress the unfairness of the Barnett Formula.

But this does not apply to Wales - as far as I am aware!

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by bendrick

Funding under the barnett formula is another question in point though isn't it?

The fact remains that so called free prescriptions in Wales are actually paid for in lives rather than money at the point of collection due to the fact that as I've already pointed out that the money spent on free prescriptions in Wales means less surgeons and consultants.

Personally I'd rather pay £8 for a prescriprion and get to see a consultant without a two year wait.

And when mentioning funding it is of course worth pointing out that Wales has a massive amount more of elderly people than the other 3 home countries per hundred thousand of population ( official figures) which puts a much greater strain on our NHS.

Nobody retires to a holdiay cottage in Birmingham after a lifetimes work do they? They all head for Wales? These huge numbers of English pensioners add a disproportionate cost to the Welsh Health service.

I spend hours battling the mad Welsh nationalists in their ludicrous campaign against the UK and the English I don't need to be pointing out the obvious to the English as well. We should all wherever we live in the UK enjoy the same level of Health provision, we all pay the same taxes when we work so why just like the mad nats try to create division.


By the way, on that point and to contradict my last paragraph you did decline to mention that 8million Londoners enjoy a greater spending grant from the UK government that 3 million Welsh people which kind of blows a hole in one of your main arguments.

Good points - we agree on more than we disagree I would suggest.

But what is the benefit that Londoners get that the rest of us don’t? Genuinely interested.

[topman]

Originally Posted by Darcydog

But what is the benefit that Londoners get that the rest of us don’t? Genuinely interested.

Better transport would be the most obvious, not quite as easy to quantify but still an obvious benefit.