TRUST YOUR CHEMIST AT YOUR PERIL

ceegee

stimpson wrote: »

200 x 600mg. Equivalent to 600 x 200mg.

30 boxes of 20 ibuprofen at €5 each = €150

Ok, didnt realise you were talking about 600mg strength. €5 for 20 generic ibuprofen still seems
higher than average though.

The main reasons I can think of for the price difference are the pack size being much larger than what can be sold here (equivalent of 180 200mg tablets), higher strength tablets being cheaper to produce (the cost of the ibuprofen itself is quite cheap so a 600mg tablet is only marginally more expensive to produce than a 200mg tablet) and the size of the market place (double the population so relative costs of licensing is cheaper).

Aside from all that, the price being paid by the pharmacy here is nowhere near the cost price in Portugal, I dont know of any pharmacy here with a markup of over 50% so even if they sold them at cost price, youd still be paying a multiple of the Portuguese price. Its annoying but aiming your annoyance at pharmacies is misplaced in this instance

mountai

ceegee wrote: »

Speaking as a pharmacist, I can guarantee it happens on a daily basis, often in cases where a patient has been started on meds in hospital and this info has not been relayed to the GP, or where a patient visits an out of hours service and doesnt notify them of an existing condition or meds. There are of course issues where doctors make mistakes, and where these are serious the medical council may be notified. Where they deem it appropriate a doctor may be disciplined or struck off.

Regarding the data-base, there is no publicly accessible one, though I presume the medical council keep a record of all reports

Ah Yes the "Medical Council" ---- Another bunch of cover up merchants , who sit in judgment in SECRET . Just today , a family from Donegal sued the HSE for negligence in the matter of their unfortunate Daughters birth circumstances. They only brought the case because the HSE refused to answer questions they had a right to demand answers to . ARROGANT B---ARDS. .

ceegee

mountai wrote: »

I would encourage EVERYONE to ask for a price for their prescription in future and then go to another Chemist and compare prices . Its mind blowing 50% difference in 100 meters. NO MORE RIP OFFS FOR ME !!!

I dont think anyone here would disagree with everyone shopping around, I, and several others, were just pointing out that just because your specific meds work out cheaper in the other pharmacy doesnt mean that pharmacy is a ripoff, they may well be cheaper for people on other meds. Or they may be overpriced, though in todays market a pharmacy charging that much more across the board than a nearby competitor wouldnt be long going out of business

L1011

Tails142 wrote: »

Total cartel, when was the last time you saw a chemist going out of business.

One closed down in Ballymun recently. ODC on O'Connell Street went in to admin. McSweeney Group went in to liquidation and closed a number of branches. I could go on.

Northern Monkey

I'm on a regular prescription and have been to a few chemists to get a months supply and agree the prices can vary massively.

My experiences have been:

Local chemist in Dublin €55
Boots in Dublin €45
Local chemist in Northern Ireland £12.85
Boots in Northern Ireland £12.65

They were all the same brand of medication and dispensed as a private prescription in NI (so no NHS to skew the price)

stimpson

ceegee wrote: »

The main reasons I can think of for the price difference are the pack size being much larger than what can be sold here (equivalent of 180 200mg tablets), higher strength tablets being cheaper to produce (the cost of the ibuprofen itself is quite cheap so a 600mg tablet is only marginally more expensive to produce than a 200mg tablet) and the size of the market place (double the population so relative costs of licensing is cheaper).

Aside from all that, the price being paid by the pharmacy here is nowhere near the cost price in Portugal, I dont know of any pharmacy here with a markup of over 50% so even if they sold them at cost price, youd still be paying a multiple of the Portuguese price. Its annoying but aiming your annoyance at pharmacies is misplaced in this instance

The fact that you think a markup of the order of 50% wouldn't be out of the question tells me all I need to know.

ceegee

stimpson wrote: »

The fact that you think a markup of the order of 50% wouldn't be out of the question tells me all I need to know.

What do you consider an appropriate markup?
And what markup do you think other retail industries charge on similiarly priced products?

mountai

Northern Monkey wrote: »

I'm on a regular prescription and have been to a few chemists to get a months supply and agree the prices can vary massively.

My experiences have been:

Local chemist in Dublin €55
Boots in Dublin €45
Local chemist in Northern Ireland £12.85
Boots in Northern Ireland £12.65

They were all the same brand of medication and dispensed as a private prescription in NI (so no NHS to skew the price)

Thanks for that information. Of course the Chemists and the Accountants on these pages will explain that rents , wages , insurance , overheads etc are 4.5 times higher in this part of the world. My Mother worked for a major drugs wholesale many years ago. It was not uncommon to see 5/600% mark up on drugs her company supplied. Things havnt changed!!!

stimpson

ceegee wrote: »

What do you consider an appropriate markup?
And what markup do you think other retail industries charge on similiarly priced products?

You should be able to turn a healthy profit on 25-30%. Especially if, as you say the wholesale prices are grossly inflated.

ceegee

stimpson wrote: »

You should be able to turn a healthy profit on 25-30%. Especially if, as you say the wholesale prices are grossly inflated.

Any reason for deciding on that figure?

The average net margin for pharmacies in Ireland was 4% in 2011, I'm sure there are plenty of pharmacies who'd pay big money to hear your financial expertise on how to make a healthy profit at your reduced prices.

Also the inflated price I referred to is the cost of purchsing an irish-licensed product, pharmacies cant just ship over a load of portuguese ibuprofen and start selling them here

stimpson

4%? Pull the other one.

Pharmacies are valued at an amazing 2x turnover. You'd be a long time making that up on 4%

http://www.tca.ie/images/uploaded/documents/Pre-02%20(008)%20Pharmacy.pdf

L1011

stimpson wrote: »

4%? Pull the other one.

Head to the CRO for a few accounts if you want, they're all limited companies and even in chains often one limited company per store.

Jumboman

mountai wrote: »

" Profession " ANOTHER JOKE !!!!

The sad reality is that most of the "Profession" classes in Ireland are on the take. The legal "Profession" is a classic example of this.

mountai

Thanks for that link stimpson. Everyone should read this and see what a protectionist society these so called "Professionals" have gotten us into!!!!

nino1

Tails142 wrote: »

Total cartel, when was the last time you saw a chemist going out of business.

Three branches of o'reilly chemists in Naas and Newbridge, in the last few weeks!
or was that supposed to be a rethorical question?! :rolleyes:

Tails142

Tails142 wrote: »

I'm with the op, chemists are a rip off and make no effort to display their charges, e.g. dispensing fees.

Total cartel, when was the last time you saw a chemist going out of business.

Loads of chemists have gone out of business.

stimpson

stimpson wrote: »

4%? Pull the other one.

Pharmacies are valued at an amazing 2x turnover. You'd be a long time making that up on 4%

http://www.tca.ie/images/uploaded/documents/Pre-02%20(008)%20Pharmacy.pdf

That document is over 10 years old.;)

Jumboman

Deleted User wrote: »

Loads of chemists have gone out of business.

Owning a chemist is like having a licence to print money if they cant make it work they shouldnt be running any kind of business.

radia

stimpson wrote: »

You should be able to turn a healthy profit on 25-30%. Especially if, as you say the wholesale prices are grossly inflated.

So by that logic you should be able to buy a takeaway coffee for less than 10c.

If not (and I don't know anywhere that sells coffee for that price), why not, and why should pharmacies be any different?

[Hint: Markup =/= margin.]

kdowling

mountai wrote: »

You raise very valid points. Strangely enough , I have never heard of one situation where a Chemist has queried a prescription issued to anyone I know.

Mountai, you are showing your ignorance more and more with every post.
In a busy pharmacy this situation can arise a number of times every week.
Just because you have not heard of it happening to anyone you know doesn't been its a rare occurance but from your previous posts I am not surprised that you would come to such a conclusion!

All you are doing with this thread is demonstrating your stupidity because you didn't shop around.
If you are that bothered about the price ring around a few chemists and go with the best price.
Do you have the same disdain for GP's that have different prices?

kdowling

Jumboman wrote: »

Owning a chemist is like having a licence to print money .

why is that?

Jumboman

Jumboman wrote: »

Owning a chemist is like having a licence to print money if they cant make it work they shouldnt be running any kind of business.

First of all, there are pharmacies. When supply of medication is controlled by wholesalers, there is not a lot of room to manouevre. Especially when the government are paying less for medical card.

L1011

Jumboman wrote: »

Owning a chemist is like having a licence to print money if they cant make it work they shouldnt be running any kind of business.

No, its not.

nino1

mountai wrote: »

I would encourage EVERYONE to ask for a price for their prescription in future and then go to another Chemist and compare prices.

What an amazing piece of advise, I never thought of doing that before but because of your insight I will avoid being ripped off now!

mountai wrote: »

NO MORE RIP OFFS FOR ME !!!

And the penny finally drops for mountai, well done!

btw if a GP charged you €70 and you found out that a GP 100 meters down the road charged €50 would you demand that you got the difference?

mountai

mountai wrote: »

As for Chemists ---- Many years ago, when the Pharmacist made up the various potions and drugs on the premises , it WAS necessary to have a huge knowledge of chemistry. These days, the drugs come pre-packed and all they do is count them into bottles and bags and charge us through the nose for this service. I suppose the most skillful talent they have is being able to read the GPs scrawl. Mind you , these days most Prescriptions are printed on a computer slip for them to dispense same.

Being a pharmacist entails a lot more than just reading doctors handwriting.

mountai

Northern Monkey wrote: »

I'm on a regular prescription and have been to a few chemists to get a months supply and agree the prices can vary massively.

My experiences have been:

Local chemist in Dublin €55
Boots in Dublin €45
Local chemist in Northern Ireland £12.85
Boots in Northern Ireland £12.65

They were all the same brand of medication and dispensed as a private prescription in NI (so no NHS to skew the price)

Any of you so called "Professionals" care to comment on this???.

---

I dont think so .

L1011

mountai wrote: »

Any of you so called "Professionals" care to comment on this???.

---

I dont think so .

The wholesale price charged in Ireland for nearly every drug is massively higher than the UK. Which you'd know if you did a tiny bit of research rather than just keyboard bashing and screaming.

The NI pharmacy may actually be making more margin on that transaction.

fisher8181

mountai wrote: »

Any of you so called "Professionals" care to comment on this???.

---

I dont think so .

Even though you are the op you really should not be allowed to post on this thread due to your extreme lack of knowledge on the subject.
I'm embarrassed for you reading the dribble you are coming out with.

mountai

MYOB wrote: »

The wholesale price charged in Ireland for nearly every drug is massively higher than the UK. Which you'd know if you did a tiny bit of research rather than just keyboard bashing and screaming.

The NI pharmacy may actually be making more margin on that transaction.[/QUOTE

Well well --- the poor chemists are charged 3.5 times the price of their raw materials than those in he North. Do you seriously expect anyone to believe this tripe!!. Name ONE other product that has such a huge price difference. Even if it were true , then shame on you lot for allowing the wholesalers to RIP YOU OFF LIKE THIS. You lot have this way because it suits you.

L1011

mountai wrote: »

Well well --- the poor chemists are charged 3.5 times the price of their raw materials than those in he North. Do you seriously expect anyone to believe this tripe!!. Name ONE other product that has such a huge price difference. Even if it were true , then shame on you lot for allowing the wholesalers to RIP YOU OFF LIKE THIS. You lot have this way because it suits you.

You appear to believe a hell of a lot of tripe, namely that which you generate in your own head.

Its not legal for a pharmacist to import products that are not licensed here, hence they are required to use the wholesalers here.

You haven't got a clue what you're talking about despite the huge amount of information available if you'd do even a modicum of research. I'd advise you stop making yourself look every more stupid.