Prescription charges

[TopGun]

Free in Wales, to be free in Scotland and NI. England charges.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7641637.stm

[Saint_clark]

Oddly enough, I just got back from picking up a prescription.

[bridge too far]

And cancer patients to get free prescriptions in England soon.

 

My mother has cancer drugs - they cost the NHS £30,000 a year just for her :shock:

 

She doesn't have to pay ATM because she's a pensioner and also I imagine a lot of cancer patients currently get their drugs via the pre-payment scheme (£27 for 3 months / £102 for 12 months).

 

Thank the lord for the NHS, I say

[Badger]

And cancer patients to get free prescriptions in England soon.

 

My mother has cancer drugs - they cost the NHS £30,000 a year just for her :shock:

 

She doesn't have to pay ATM because she's a pensioner and also I imagine a lot of cancer patients currently get their drugs via the pre-payment scheme (£27 for 3 months / £102 for 12 months).

 

Thank the lord for the NHS, I say

 

Isn't this dependent on where you live,and the policy of your local NHS Trust though ?

[Colinjb]

Thank the lord for the NHS, I say

 

Absolutely! And just imagine what it could do if it was run properly!!!

[bridge too far]

Isn't this dependent on where you live,and the policy of your local NHS Trust though ?

 

Not necessarily. It depends on whether the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has approved the drug. If it's approved, all PCTs have to fund their patients who need it.

 

In my mother's case, her drug was approved about 4 years ago.

 

It's a tough one, though, isn't it? How on earth can anyone (PCT, doctor etc) decide who can have which drugs, given that there just isn't enough money in the pot to pay for everything.

[TopGun]

Not necessarily. It depends on whether the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has approved the drug. If it's approved, all PCTs have to fund their patients who need it.

 

In my mother's case, her drug was approved about 4 years ago.

 

It's a tough one, though, isn't it? How on earth can anyone (PCT, doctor etc) decide who can have which drugs, given that there just isn't enough money in the pot to pay for everything.

 

What are these stories about PCTs refusing to pay for drugs about then? I believe some are sanctioned by NICE too. Mind you, the drug companies are greedy bastards.

[bridge too far]

Absolutely! And just imagine what it could do if it was run properly!!!

 

And just remember, too, how badly run it was a decade or more ago (almost to the point of extinction).

 

The 1995 version of the Patient's Charter gave a waiting time guarantee of 18 months. We now have a maximum waiting time of just 18 weeks, and many areas are way below that. The 1995 document states: "In addition, you can expect treatment within one year for coronary artery bypass grafts and some associated procedures." A year for a life-saving bypass? That's unthinkable now, with waits down to no more than a few weeks.

 

There are always elements of any large organisation that could do with improvement, but I think the strides made in health care (both treatment and buildings) over the past decade are commendable.

[EastleighSoulBoy]

What are these stories about PCTs refusing to pay for drugs about then? I believe some are sanctioned by NICE too. Mind you, the drug companies are greedy bastards.

 

I do wonder how much the drug companies spend on R&D and then how much they recoup through charges to the NHS. Also, after a certain period of time I believe they lose the licence to sell the drug under a brand name and Doctors may prescribe generic versions which are, inevitably, cheaper?

[TopGun]

I do wonder how much the drug companies spend on R&D and then how much they recoup through charges to the NHS. Also, after a certain period of time I believe they lose the licence to sell the drug under a brand name and Doctors may prescribe generic versions which are, inevitably, cheaper?

 

They all have shareholders to pay...

 

I believe the brand patent lasts 10 years but don't know how price levels are agreed.

[bridge too far]

I do wonder how much the drug companies spend on R&D and then how much they recoup through charges to the NHS. Also, after a certain period of time I believe they lose the licence to sell the drug under a brand name and Doctors may prescribe generic versions which are, inevitably, cheaper?

 

I believe that recently a number of deals were done with some of the drug companies to produce generic versions of some drugs.

 

I know that drug companies DO spend a lot on R & D (Mr TF tests novel drugs and the labs works 24/7 with hugely expensive equipment). But they also spend a lot on 'corporate entertainment' for prescribing physicians (e.g. ski trips, conferences in exotic places). And if they think they're not going to make a lot of money out of a drug, they'll stop the research / trials, even if the trials are showing the drug to be efficacious.

[Colinjb]

And just remember, too, how badly run it was a decade or more ago (almost to the point of extinction).

 

The 1995 version of the Patient's Charter gave a waiting time guarantee of 18 months. We now have a maximum waiting time of just 18 weeks, and many areas are way below that. The 1995 document states: "In addition, you can expect treatment within one year for coronary artery bypass grafts and some associated procedures." A year for a life-saving bypass? That's unthinkable now, with waits down to no more than a few weeks.

 

There are always elements of any large organisation that could do with improvement, but I think the strides made in health care (both treatment and buildings) over the past decade are commendable.

 

Certainly it is delivering better, but after having recently dealt with the NHS through my job...... good god its a f*cking mess of red tape and short sightedness. The most obvious case of many accountants in their own little holes failing to be able to grasp a bigger picture I have EVER seen.

[bridge too far]

I believe that recently a number of deals were done with some of the drug companies to produce generic versions of some drugs.

 

I know that drug companies DO spend a lot on R & D (Mr TF tests novel drugs and the labs works 24/7 with hugely expensive equipment). But they also spend a lot on 'corporate entertainment' for prescribing physicians (e.g. ski trips, conferences in exotic places). And if they think they're not going to make a lot of money out of a drug, they'll stop the research / trials, even if the trials are showing the drug to be efficacious.

 

Bad form to quote myself I know but, in a spooky coincidence, this article in the Guardian today:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/sep/29/health.medicalresearch

 

This is about a drug that could halve deaths from heart attack and stroke.

 

This extract says it all, really

 

"We spent a few years around about 2000-2002 trying to persuade a number of companies to do this, but got nowhere. Basically, their whole business model is around people paying a few hundred pounds a year for the latest blockbuster drug. A pill with established medicines that halved cardiovascular risk and could be available for £20 a year could be seen as a threat."

[Penfold]

They are free in Jersey too.

[Kadeem Hardison]

That is so racist against the English man.

[tombletomble]

I do wonder how much the drug companies spend on R&D and then how much they recoup through charges to the NHS. Also, after a certain period of time I believe they lose the licence to sell the drug under a brand name and Doctors may prescribe generic versions which are, inevitably, cheaper?

 

R+D budgets of big Pharma companies runs in to many many billions. You also have to remember that for every drug that makes it to thew market there could have been an other 3-4 that made it part way through the trial process, costing billions and then have to be shelved due to unforeseen problems.

 

The drug company then only has 10 years to recoup the money before generic version come on two the market. Making new drugs is very very expensive.

 

 

 

(Also, the executives/shareholders do like big dividends)

[70's Mike]

The whole system needs reviewing.

I have had leukamia for 11 years and have to pay for my prescriptions ( i buy a pre payment certificate).

I was diagnosed as diabetic 1 month ago and now do not have to pay.

 

no logic

[bridge too far]

The whole system needs reviewing.

I have had leukamia for 11 years and have to pay for my prescriptions ( i buy a pre payment certificate).

I was diagnosed as diabetic 1 month ago and now do not have to pay.

 

no logic

 

Mike, my mother has leukaemia too. But you would be able to get your leukaemia drugs for free once this change for cancer drugs goes through (although I do realise that you don't now that you've been dx with diabetes - my mother has that too).

 

Tough luck for you - I hope you're coping OK. Did you know that there's a very good support website for CML, if that's what you have? I'll PM it to you if you don't know of it already.

 

Even so, £102 a year is better than the £30,000 a year that the drug actually costs (assuming you're on Glivec). In the US and other parts of the world, people have to pay the real cost of the drug.

[Toomer]

The whole system needs reviewing.

I have had leukamia for 11 years and have to pay for my prescriptions ( i buy a pre payment certificate).

I was diagnosed as diabetic 1 month ago and now do not have to pay.

 

no logic

 

Like you I have pre payment certificate (note to Mrs Toomer remind it runs out in mid November) 5 heart pills a day of different sorts, world cost about £40.00 every other month so well worth paying £100.00 up front. Have you had letter about your free flue jab yet Mike, just got back from a week away and my letter was waiting for me.

[70's Mike]

Like you I have pre payment certificate (note to Mrs Toomer remind it runs out in mid November) 5 heart pills a day of different sorts, world cost about £40.00 every other month so well worth paying £100.00 up front. Have you had letter about your free flue jab yet Mike, just got back from a week away and my letter was waiting for me.

 

BOOK in and under the needle next Saturday

[Secret Site Agent]

What are these stories about PCTs refusing to pay for drugs about then? I believe some are sanctioned by NICE too. Mind you, the drug companies are greedy bastards.

 

 

But their argument is that they invest millions in developing the drugs, and the money they make they invest in even more beneficial drugs.

 

Then they light their cigar with a fifty and leave in their helicoptor.

[Secret Site Agent]

Certainly it is delivering better, but after having recently dealt with the NHS through my job...... good god its a f*cking mess of red tape and short sightedness. The most obvious case of many accountants in their own little holes failing to be able to grasp a bigger picture I have EVER seen.

 

I have dealt with the hospitals too, (if you remember how the parking was in the General, and then it changed in 2001, that was me. Sorry.), and I must say, what a bunch of total indiots. I wouldn't trust them with my daughters money box, let alone public spends. They want it all for next to nothing, want to change it at the last minute and have us do it for free, then waste a fortune because you have done something and they would prefer it the way it was. so change it back. Then because they don't understand the contract they argue when you present them the final account because they fail to grasp that anything they give you in writing, that we confirm in writing, and they don't dispute is a variation to the contract.

 

It also gets me that the head honchos in the NHS have not 'come up through the ranks' so to speak, and they have their management degrees and three years managing Tescos, or a recruitment firm and think they can run a hospital. In my opinion a few Nurses, Doctors, Cleaners of Porters working their way up, being trained along the way to do the job of management is the way to go. I started at the bottom, and where I am I look up the food chain at my bosses allo the way up to Director level, and they all did my job, and I look down at those that work for me an they will one day do my job. And because of that we ALL have a unique understanding of the job, and this goes to the success of my company.

 

And no more golden goodbye's either. If they **** up, it's out the door onto the jam roll like the rest of us.

[bridge too far]

SSA I have to disagree with you about some of the points you make.

 

Most of the managers I've worked with in the NHS (including me) HAVE worked their way up from the bottom - Clinical Directors are clinicians, Operational Managers are usually ex nurses, FM managers are ususally ex porters, cleaners, caterers and estates personnel. Unfortunately some people choose to read the 'increase in pen pushers' as being administrators when they are, in fact, people doing the jobs they've always done but also having to manage other, junior staff at the same time.

[Secret Site Agent]

SSA I have to disagree with you about some of the points you make.

 

Most of the managers I've worked with in the NHS (including me) HAVE worked their way up from the bottom - Clinical Directors are clinicians, Operational Managers are usually ex nurses, FM managers are ususally ex porters, cleaners, caterers and estates personnel. Unfortunately some people choose to read the 'increase in pen pushers' as being administrators when they are, in fact, people doing the jobs they've always done but also having to manage other, junior staff at the same time.

 

I am glad to concede the point. I can only speak from experience in relation to the ones I have come across who, I have no doubt, couldn't hold a candle to your good selves. My quip about Tescos and the recruitment company et al are true though, and he wasted a lot of money that my company happily took from the PCT, basically due to arrogance.

[bridge too far]

I am glad to concede the point. I can only speak from experience in relation to the ones I have come across who, I have no doubt, couldn't hold a candle to your good selves. My quip about Tescos and the recruitment company et al are true though, and he wasted a lot of money that my company happily took from the PCT, basically due to arrogance.

 

I am surprised to hear about your experience with the General though. Their parking wouldn't have been the responsibility of the PCT but rather the hospital NHS Trust (Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust in fact).

 

I know the Head of Purchasing and Supply there and I'd be surprised if there was a poor contract in place.