Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

MASSIVE difference in cost of exact same prescription between pharmacies!!!

124»

Comments

  • #92
    mathepac
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,991 ✭✭✭mathepac


    nino1 wrote: »
    ... Now you have the likes of tesco charging 20% mark up, most independents charging 50% mark up and boots somewhere in between. ...
    Which is great if you live near a Tesco with a pharmacy or even a town that has a Boots, otherwise it might be cheaper to pay the crazy inflated prices in a local pharmacy.

    If pharmacies could dispense 3 months' prescriptions at a time it might be cost-justifiable to travel to fill them but they'll only do one at a time to maxime the take from dispensing fees.

    And another bug-bear is with dispensing tablets & capsules.

    The NHS in the UK standardised on packaging tablets in 28-day lots some years ago. Lots of these drugs are produced in Ireland so we get the 28-day packages sold into the pharmacies. But we also get drugs produced in Ireland which are packaged in 30-day lots. The pharmacists in Ireland open the 30-day packages and snip off two tablets from the foil wrapper in order to dispense 28 tablets, which means I must get 13 rather than 12 prescriptions renewed and filled each year, generating extra revenue for doctors and pharmacists and extra cost for the taxpayer or private patient as the case may be

    My doctor informs me he writes prescriptions for month at a time, not 28 days


  • #93
    L1011
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 69,413 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    percy212 wrote: »
    It is still better than nothing. Perfection is the enemy of progress. Thanks for your positivity.

    No, its not better than nothing - it'd be confusing and inaccurate to the point of being useless.
    mathepac wrote: »

    My doctor informs me he writes prescriptions for month at a time, not 28 days

    If the prescription says 30 days, demand 30 days. If it says 28, tell your GP to stop writing 28 on it.

    Most pharmacies are more than willing to do 3 or even 6 months at a time - if they have stock and the medication is suitable for it. If you're being refused a multiple-month dispensing it is going to be for a good reason, not some conspiracy as you seem to think. Ask why, and if the reason doesn't stack up - stop using that pharmacy.

    Its an open market with competition which is WHY there are price variances.


  • #94
    mathepac
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,991 ✭✭✭mathepac


    mathepac wrote: »
    Which is great if you live near a Tesco with a pharmacy or even a town that has a Boots, . ...
    MYOB wrote: »
    ... Ask why, and if the reason doesn't stack up - stop using that pharmacy. ...
    If only ...


  • #95
    L1011
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 69,413 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    mathepac wrote: »
    If only ...

    If you're in a town with only one pharmacy, you need to evaluate whether its better to have that pharmacy still there or not then. Shop local vs. extract cheapest price.


  • #96
    WhyTheFace
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭WhyTheFace


    mathepac wrote: »
    Which is great if you live near a Tesco with a pharmacy or even a town that has a Boots, otherwise it might be cheaper to pay the crazy inflated prices in a local pharmacy.

    If pharmacies could dispense 3 months' prescriptions at a time it might be cost-justifiable to travel to fill them but they'll only do one at a time to maxime the take from dispensing fees.

    And another bug-bear is with dispensing tablets & capsules.

    The NHS in the UK standardised on packaging tablets in 28-day lots some years ago. Lots of these drugs are produced in Ireland so we get the 28-day packages sold into the pharmacies. But we also get drugs produced in Ireland which are packaged in 30-day lots. The pharmacists in Ireland open the 30-day packages and snip off two tablets from the foil wrapper in order to dispense 28 tablets, which means I must get 13 rather than 12 prescriptions renewed and filled each year, generating extra revenue for doctors and pharmacists and extra cost for the taxpayer or private patient as the case may be

    My doctor informs me he writes prescriptions for month at a time, not 28 days

    Think you might be going to the wrong pharmacy. I get two meds, one comes in a 28 day back the other in a 30. For convenience the pharmacist adds two tablets to the 28 pack. Why would a pharmacist take two from a 30 pack? That means he has to add them to another pack which makes no sense.

    Also, my pharmacist on Talbot St just charges cost price + a set dispensing fee. No mark up involved.


  • Advertisement
  • #97
    The Glass Key
    Closed Accounts Posts: 987 ✭✭✭The Glass Key


    WhyTheFace wrote: »
    Think you might be going to the wrong pharmacy. I get two meds, one comes in a 28 day back the other in a 30. For convenience the pharmacist adds two tablets to the 28 pack. Why would a pharmacist take two from a 30 pack? That means he has to add them to another pack which makes no sense.

    Also, my pharmacist on Talbot St just charges cost price + a set dispensing fee. No mark up involved.

    Oh yes they do. Just asked my wife about her eltroxin tablets which she obviously has to take every day of her life and they are prescribed in 28's but come in 30's. Every so often she'll get then and half the quantity is made up of the 2's cut off the ends of the 30 packs.

    Just because you have common sense don't think that extends to doctors or pharmacists.


  • #98
    Ocean Blue
    Closed Accounts Posts: 612 ✭✭✭Ocean Blue


    The Glass Key wrote: »
    Oh yes they do. Just asked my wife about her eltroxin tablets which she obviously has to take every day of her life and they are prescribed in 28's but come in 30's. Every so often she'll get then and half the quantity is made up of the 2's cut off the ends of the 30 packs.

    Just because you have common sense don't think that extends to doctors or pharmacists.

    Eltroxin comes in a 28-day pack. As it's a very common drug and lots of doctors/patients request 30-day supplies the pharmacy may have a little tub of pre-cut 2's to save time. If they were running low on stock thry may have given her some of these to make up the quantity. So those 2's are to convert 28 to 30, not the other way round.


  • #99
    WhyTheFace
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭WhyTheFace


    The Glass Key wrote: »
    Oh yes they do. Just asked my wife about her eltroxin tablets which she obviously has to take every day of her life and they are prescribed in 28's but come in 30's. Every so often she'll get then and half the quantity is made up of the 2's cut off the ends of the 30 packs.

    Just because you think you have common sense don't think that extends to doctors or pharmacists.



    You can ask the pharmacist to put in 30 tabs in your 28 day pack if you want. They will never not give you 30 tabs, or 31 tabs if you so wish.


  • #100
    The Glass Key
    Closed Accounts Posts: 987 ✭✭✭The Glass Key


    Ocean Blue wrote: »
    Eltroxin comes in a 28-day pack. As it's a very common drug and lots of doctors/patients request 30-day supplies the pharmacy may have a little tub of pre-cut 2's to save time. If they were running low on stock thry may have given her some of these to make up the quantity. So those 2's are to convert 28 to 30, not the other way round.

    You are correct I've just checked the box, but wife needs to check with her doctor as the prescription according to the pharmacists label on the current box is for 26 tablets??


  • #101
    The Glass Key
    Closed Accounts Posts: 987 ✭✭✭The Glass Key


    WhyTheFace wrote: »
    You can ask the pharmacist to put in 30 tabs in your 28 day pack if you want. They will never not give you 30 tabs, or 31 tabs if you so wish.

    LOL not the one we use! I keep telling my wife to change as they make mistakes but on the other hand if we haven't got a prescription for something they know we have they'll give us 5 days supply while we get a prescription.


  • Advertisement
  • #102
    Ocean Blue
    Closed Accounts Posts: 612 ✭✭✭Ocean Blue


    The Glass Key wrote: »
    You are correct I've just checked the box, but wife needs to check with her doctor as the prescription according to the pharmacists label on the current box is for 26 tablets??

    Maybe check with the pharmacy first? Could be as simple as they were short two tablets on the day, though most likely that would have been pointed out to you if it were the case. Either way probably easily solved by the pharmacy.


  • #103
    mathepac
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 4,991 ✭✭✭mathepac


    WhyTheFace wrote: »
    ... Why would a pharmacist take two from a 30 pack? That means he has to add them to another pack which makes no sense....
    You'll have to ask the pharmacist that question I'm afraid.

    A times I've had the "off-cuts" dispensed to me as part of my monthly prescription.


  • #104
    WhyTheFace
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭WhyTheFace


    mathepac wrote: »
    You'll have to ask the pharmacist that question I'm afraid.

    A times I've had the "off-cuts" dispensed to me as part of my monthly prescription.

    That was a rhetorical question. They would never take two out to convert a 30 pack to a 28. They would chop two out of a 28 day pack to make up 30 tabs.


  • #105
    rubadub
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,382 ✭✭✭✭rubadub


    percy212 wrote: »
    Someone offered to create a site like pumps.ie ...
    Maybe I will set it up myself. Easy enough....
    Pumps only list 2 items, petrol & diesel. If all pharmacies just sold asprin & paracetamol you could fairly compare it to pumps.ie

    People have tried to get supermarket price comparison sites online for ireland before and failed. I think some people were asked to leave when spotted recording prices in supermarkets. And these prices are freely up for all to see.


  • #106
    Kurtosis
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,881 ✭✭✭Kurtosis


    WhyTheFace wrote: »
    That was a rhetorical question. They would never take two out to convert a 30 pack to a 28. They would chop two out of a 28 day pack to make up 30 tabs.

    Not true, this can happen. For example if a patient is on six medicines of which five come in packs of 28 and one comes in a pack of 30, or if a doctor prescribes 28 tablets of an addictive painkiller which comes in a pack of 30.


  • #107
    WhyTheFace
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭WhyTheFace


    penguin88 wrote: »
    Not true, this can happen. For example if a patient is on six medicines of which five come in packs of 28 and one comes in a pack of 30, or if a doctor prescribes 28 tablets of an addictive painkiller which comes in a pack of 30.

    True. A proper pharmacist would ensure an even amount of each medicine is given and add tablets as required. The exception being controlled drugs which are strictly limited by what the doctor writes on the script.


  • #108
    Kurtosis
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,881 ✭✭✭Kurtosis


    WhyTheFace wrote: »
    True. A proper pharmacist would ensure an even amount of each medicine is given and add tablets as required.

    Again, not true. Why add two tablets to five boxes of medicine rather than remove two tablets from one? That's involves increased tampering with ordinary packs as well as increased risk of an error occurring.


  • #109
    nunn351
    Registered Users Posts: 89 ✭✭nunn351


    I think this new Pharmacy is the way forward , where you pay an annual €25 and prescriptions are less than half-price .

    Only problem is that they are in Dublin only .- Think they are called Healthwave in Dundrum


Advertisement