Prescription Drugs availability

[Daydream believer]

In a thread about tool kits it came up that a forumite has had his issue of drugs cut from three months to two.
He sails in Greek waters, so has to buy extra ones over the counter. I sail in near UK waters (France Belgium etc) & usually go for 10 weeks, then return home get the boat scrubbed ( coppercoat) stock up with another 3 months supply & then go off again.

Being winter I would suspect that few forumites have had the problem yet, but have any been told that the issue period will be cut from 3 to 2 months? If so, will this cause problems & how will they manage that?

[jordanbasset]

In a thread about tool kits it came up that a forumite has had his issue of drugs cut from three months to two.
He sails in Greek waters, so has to buy extra ones over the counter. I sail in near UK waters (France Belgium etc) & usually go for 10 weeks, then return home get the boat scrubbed ( coppercoat) stock up with another 3 months supply & then go off again.

Being winter I would suspect that few forumites have had the problem yet, but have any been told that the issue period will be cut from 3 to 2 months? If so, will this cause problems & how will they manage that?

Last ordered my prescription, 3 months worth, back at the end of October. There was no change then but it could have changed in the meantime of course

[john_morris_uk]

I wonder if the same rule applies if you pay for a private prescription?

[Stemar]

There was always the option to extend for a holiday. Is that being done away with as well?

[Tomahawk]

This is being done by the Clinical Comissioning Group.... the unaccountable arm of the NHS who decide how money is spent.

Apparently it is to reduce drug wastage by people who get everything but don’t use all the drugs. All it does is cause a lot of trouble for people and treble the amount of paperwork for doctors pharmacies and the bookkeepers. So all in all. typical solution to a non probelem creating work for administrators and degrading the quality of service.

[Champagne Murphy]

Nowadays I simply repeat my prescriptions online, the script is sent to my chosen pah Armani where I (or my representative) can pick it up in a day or two. I can’t imagine that its impossible to make a repeat request online and have a son/daughter/friend pick it up and post it.
Best check on the legality of that though!

[duncan99210]

My practice is still issuing 3 months at a time. They won’t do any more than that as, in theory, if you’re out of the UK for more than 3 months you loose your NHS entitlement. However, I’ve had visitors pick up prescriptions for me an bring them out to Greece when we’ve been away over 3 months (repeat request submitted on line). Nothing to stop you getting a package posted out to you.
That said, I’ve found that Greek pharmacies will sell most of my meds over the counter: I take the empty packet of whatever I need in and they simply sell me the new stuff. Only thing it doesn’t work for is some painkillers which are available in Greece but need a local doctors prescription.

[BlowingOldBoots]

For different travel reasons, I have had my prescriptions cut from 2 to 1 month, Scottish Health Board. I queried this and was told they just don’t want to issue so many drugs in one go. For me it was more a buffer and convenience, but now find I am always having to reorder between trips.

[Sandy]

Sounds like very good stock control to me. When both my parents died we returned at least two black bags per parent of unused drugs to the pharmacist, in my late fathers case one bag was controlled drugs.

[oldmanofthehills]

They have changed system in Bristol area to two monthly but now no automatic repeat for some people, or automatic requests from some pharmacies such as Boots. One has to login on line specifying every item

An absolute nightmare for my injured/disabled son who has needed to spend extended time away and takes two opiates, one muscle relaxant, one anti-inflamitory plus 3 drugs to mitigate side effects ( the latter as less vital short term). I can collect for him even though some of its controlled substances, but on one occasion I had to courier them abroad making sure prescription was on inside plus covering letter for customs while making sure exterior gave no indication of contents.