Yesterday I was midly apalled that I am now not allowed to get free prescriptions on the NHS, because apparently I earn too much? I do 6 hours a week at work...which is too much according to the NHS and I can therefore more than afford my prescriptions.I have to get new inhalers around every month to two months. For both inhalers it costs about £15+ and when my Rhinitis starts to play up I have to have some nasal spray and tablets to get it under control..but I have yet to find out how much they are.
£15 every month/two months for the rest of my life..well that is a LOT of money. Prescriptions are free for everyone in Wales, will be free in Northern Ireland by 2010 and in Scotland by 2011.
The BMA has accused the government of supporting an "outdated" system in England which can harm health, saying that charging can put people off paying for the medication they need.
This is definitely true, if my inhalers weren't necessary for keeping me alive, I probably wouldn't bother with them. The list of people exempt from paying for prescriptions can be found here and as you'll see, those are some pretty serious conditions, which makes me wonder why they don't include Asthma in the list of serious conditions. If I don't take my inhalers for just one day I start to feel the effects of it and it's inevitable that I will have an asthma attack, so what would happen if I couldn't afford the prescription?
Asthma is a life threatening condition therefore prescriptions should most definitely be free. I don't mind having to pay for my other medication but a lifetime's supply of inhalers is going to cost an absolute bomb when you work out the exact amount. The prescription system in England is very outdated if you ask me they need to rethink who pays and who doesn't pay for their prescription.
i totally agree with this - my dad has parkinson's disease (early onset, i might add) so he has to take a heck of a lot of pills everyday, but because we can apparently afford all of this stuff we've got to pay for it... surely this is penalising people for being ill and for being employed? what's the government playing at?
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I totally agree. Our Government have got it all backwards. We just reward people who don't work and penalise people who do. Just pop out a couple of kids and your covered! I live right on the Welsh border and I have to pay prescriptions, my bf doesn't! So frustrating! xx
ReplyDeleteDo you not get free prescriptions when you have a chronic illness?
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend has diabetes and he has a medical exemption certificate...
Working in a pharmacy, I do think the system is outdated. The system is unfair as well depending on which part of the UK you live in, not only as far as prescriptions are concerned but the whole health care services as well.
ReplyDeleteI see NHS money wasted on a daily basis. Then you get the massive wages paid to paper pushers in hospitals who are there to meet targets nevermind caring for the patients. You get GPs worth 100k a year. I know they're dedicated to their jobs and vital for people, but 100K !!?? when we need nurses and pharmacists as much (after all their mistake could cost a life too) and they earn 1/3 of that ! We get returned meds by the lorryload because "it's free so I got it on my prescription and now it's gone out of date and I haven't even used it" and "oh I don't like banana flavour" ! Our local hospital spends 40k a year on someone to put up paintings and all that... can they just not invite the local art clubs to expose their stuff instead? The list is endless...
Going back to prescriptions, what I find really unfair, is that so many of the conditions listed for medical exemption are now perfectly manageable and people do have a good quality of life and the condition does not affect them to the point where it does disable them. A lot of diabetics work. A lot of people who have had thyroidectomy work. Then you have the "my condition can kill me". Fair enough. But as you said, an asthma attack could be deadly, and it is vital that you use maintenance treatment. And with the progress in medicine, the more severe cases can have 2-3 regular inhalers as well as meds too. Heart disease is as deadly. You don't take your meds you're at risk of a stroke/heart attack. None of them get free prescritpions. Surely considering the costs involved in hospital treatments they'd ensure people would take all their meds.
The whole system sucks. It's always the taxpayer that ends up paying, getting taxed twice because they pay NI AND they pay the prescription fee. How many of the people on the lower wages (I'd say min wage to £10 a hour at least because once you've paid all the bills there's never much left) have a worse quality of life than the ones who get it all free ?
The whole system needs a good shake indeed. But the politicians nowadays are more worried about what duck pond and other Xmovies they can put as expenses than running the country, and really this is why we're in the rubbish we're in now.
On another note, are you aware that you can get prepayment certificates if you pay for medication and you get more than (I think) 4 items in 3 months? Might save you a few quid.
Sorry for the long comment, once you get me started on this I just can't stop ranting !
Lovely interesting blog by the way ! x
quite simply YESSSSS!
ReplyDeletethis makes me so angry, I won't get started or I'll never stop my ranting! haha
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xx
Thanks for the comment - yep I've definitely done more than my fair share of New Look sale shopping!
ReplyDeleteI wholeheartedly agree with this post. I'm also asthmatic, so it struck a chord with me. I am, at the moment, puffing on an empty inhaler & wheezing my way through life, as I hate paying the prescription charges so much (although I am going to have to asap, have held out as long as I can!)
Not going to say more, as I feel a big rant brewing, so best I leave it there!
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I think it's outdates and totally unfair, I don't need prescriptions for anything so I can't actually say I know how you feel, but it must be very frustrating! xxx
ReplyDeleteIt's very odd that England is the only country within the UK to not announce plans for free prescriptions. Makes me want to move to Wales!
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem.
ReplyDeleteNow I buy a pre-paid prescription card each year which costs around £120 for unlimited prescribed medicine.
Otherwise I'd be forking out around £50 a month for my medicines!!!
It's worth looking into.
xx