Doctors Repeat Medicines ( going away for 3 months)

[w1ntersun]

Hi,

 

I have read the same thread as above from July before some of your more clever ones say use the search.

 

My wife has been diagnosed with High Blood Pressure and now takes 3 diferent pills.

 

The GP saya she can only supply 3 months. We go away end Dec until Mid April. Her next appointment with the Doc is 15 Dec. this effectively means she needs 5 months supply to get her through.

 

Questions to those in the same boat. ( or Motorhome so to speak )

 

1. Have you ever bought prescripton drugs in Spain and what sort of cost was involved ?

 

2. The Doc says we have to pay for a private prescrition for the extra drugs. Any one had to do this and what is the cost ?

 

3 Anyone claimed back successfully from the NHS for drugs bought abroad ?

 

Richard

 

 

[hallii]

Hello Richard,

 

What I do is leave the repeat prescription request with my son, he puts it in and collects the drugs, he then posts them to me wherever I am.

 

I usually use a camp site as a postal address.

 

I also get my repeat prescriptions in 2 weeks early, at the end of 12 months it mounts up, I usually have enough for 4 months.

 

Geoff

[colinfrier]

Hi

I live in Spain and there is no problem buying prescription drugs over the counter in any pharmacy just take in the old box the name may vary but the pharmasist will match the drug.

Colin Frier

[enodreven]

Hi,

 

Have you checked the price of the drugs she needs as sometimes they can be cheaper on a private prescription.

 

Just a thought, hope it helps

[libby]

Here in Sussex Mrs H was told just put your order in for however long you need and it will be made up.

 

With my few I do what many others do and order short each time so I always have at least 3 months ahead at any time, this does enable me to be able to jump and fly to OZ at a moments notice.

 

If you know you're going to be away longer, then by accumalting some first its easy to order a 3 months supply before you go, which means you then have 6 months if need be,

 

Which is fine if you only have a few but if Mrs H did that she would need to carry a spare suitcase.

 

[Don Madge]

Hi Richard,

 

We are in the same boat or motorhome.

 

We get three months supply from our GP and buy the remaining months where ever we are,we have bought our medication all over the EU and Turkey/Morocco.

 

This year we are off to Turkey on the 29th December and I've got three months medication from my GP plus a private prescription (no charge) which a friendly motorhome pharmacist is dispensing at this moment.

 

You won't have any problems getting your medication at Conil as we got some last year when we met you at Rosaleda.

 

Regards

 

Don

[BGD]

Hi Richard –

 

I would echo what Colin has said.

 

A chemist (“farmacia”) shop in Spain stocks and sell over the counter a much wider range of drugs/pills than in the UK….and many more of them without the requirement to show a prescription.

For example, anti-biotics are readily available over the counter.

Farmacias have a big green cross symbol above the shop, often illuminated to indicate that they are open. Also, like in the UK they have a system of out-of-hours duty rota in each town, so even if the first one you visit is shut, there will normally be a sign in the window giving the address of the one in that town which is opne out of normal hours.

 

It’s also perfectly possible to visit a Doctor or Health Centre here as a foreigner, as a “private patient” to obtain a repeat prescription for a drug that you couldn’t simply buy over the counter at a farmacia. You’d have to pay for the consultation but this wouldn’t be expensive (maybe 20 or 30 euros perhaps for a quick consultation and the prescription).

 

One limiting factor I’m afraid though for Brits: don’t expect a Spanish Doctor or Health centre staff, or farmacia staff to speak any English.

Spanish is the language here; English/French/German etc are foreign languages. (It’d be like going into the same places in Britain as a Spaniard and expecting them to be able to speak Spanish).

You may get lucky and find someone behind the desk/counter who can speak a bit of English on the coasts of the Costas; as the staff are professional people and may have studied some English at school/University. But inland, across all the rest of Spain, it’ll be highly unlikely.

 

But certainly it’s easy enough to go into a farmacia with your old pill/drug container and get them to understand that you want to buy some more of the same stuff.

You may find someone else on your site who can speak Spanish and who could go with you to the farmacia/Doctors, in exchange for a bottle of plonk maybe!

A simple way to ask in Spanish yourself at the counter would be to say: “Hola. Puedes ponerme mas de este tipo de drogas, por favor”, and show them the box/packet.

All farmacias have a computerised database which lists all drugs by their generic name (they may nowadays have a similar system in the UK?), and they can look up what it is you need and sell you the same thing although the commercial name on the box might not be the same.

 

Prices for drugs here seem pretty inexpensive in general. A weeks course of antibiotic tablets, over the counter, cost me I think about 9 euros last year.

 

Hope this helps….

 

Cheers,

 

Bruce.

 

 

[Pat]

Why not get your drugs then go back and say the dog has eaten them, you have lost them or they have fallen in a sink full of water.

 

A white lie I know but there!!!

 

Regards Pat

[w1ntersun]

Hi,

 

Thanks for all the input. We actually tried the early repeat subscription but they collared my wife and being honest she told them she was tring to accumulate stock.

 

I will now the best way to go after her next appointment on the 15 DEC

 

Cheers

 

Richard

[Patricia]

I can vouch that drugs are much cheaper abroad - well in France anyway. We were delayed in France one year and my husband had to have an injection every three months. In England this injection cost £354, in France 354€, at that time two-thirds of the cost in England.

 

In case anyone is worried about the language difficulties there is a scheme called "Pass the phone". You pay a few euros on account and if you are having problems you phone this firm and explain the problem. You then pass the phone and they will translate your conversation with the medical team or with anyone else for that matter e.g. breakdown firm, hotel receptionist etc. French is fine but my Spanish is almost non existant so it was a comfort to know that I had that back-up in case my husband was taken ill.

[spospe]

I have read this thread with amazement.

 

I have Atrial Fibrillation, a relatively minor heart condition (minor until it stops working) and am on two prescription drugs. We often find that we will be away when a repeat prescription is due and have never, ever had any problem at all in having said prescription given to me early.

 

Buying prescription medicine abroad? OK if you live abroad all the time, but if you are a UK resident for tax purposes, you are entitled to the services of the NHS.

 

What sort of a Little Hitler GP have some of you people got?

 

I suggest that you ask you GP’s for their decision in writing and inform them that you are going abroad; that your medicine will run out whilst you are away and if you die as a result your relatives will tell the whole sorry story to a National Newspaper.

 

 

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

w1ntersun - 2008-11-29 10:35 AM Hi, I have read the same thread as above from July before some of your more clever ones say use the search. My wife has been diagnosed with High Blood Pressure and now takes 3 diferent pills. The GP saya she can only supply 3 months. We go away end Dec until Mid April. Her next appointment with the Doc is 15 Dec. this effectively means she needs 5 months supply to get her through. Questions to those in the same boat. ( or Motorhome so to speak ) 1. Have you ever bought prescripton drugs in Spain and what sort of cost was involved ? 2. The Doc says we have to pay for a private prescrition for the extra drugs. Any one had to do this and what is the cost ? 3 Anyone claimed back successfully from the NHS for drugs bought abroad ? Richard

I think your GP is possibly being a bit of a jobsworth in her interpretation of the rules.  We have a similar problem, and by explaining the requirement to our GP we have arrived at the position where we have a prescription for 12 weeks supply of the drug. 

This, it is accepted, can be repeated before the previous supply has been fully used, usually a week or so before we travel, so that we can leave a small reserve at home, and travel with about one weeks surplus for our trip.  We always take the prescription with us, in case of protracted delay to return.

The request for the repeat prescription is usually annotated to the effect we need the extra supply because we shall be travelling for an extended period.

The only reason I can think of for being so rigid is if there is a clinical need to check/monitor the dosage/patient, before writing repeats, or if it is the doctor's judgement that this is desirable.

[enodreven]

Hi, I'm not supporting the GP as ours will give us as long as we want, but I think I read some where that if you are away fro more than 3 months you may need to apply for a new GP

[Patricia]

Some years ago I rang the NHS office in Newcastle and asked what the position would be if we stayed abroad for a long period and was told categorically that if we were abroad for more than three months the doctor was obliged to strike us off his list. How he would know of course is debatable and the rules may now have changed. She went on to say that when we then returned to England we would have to ask the doctor if we could make a visit and we would HAVE to pay him but of course that this would not apply if we were a foreigner! Also there was a thread not long ago where someone was adamant that doctors had now been told that they could only write prescriptions for a maximum of two months.

 

Yes, as per my post above the cost of the injection was claimed from the local CPAM in France and we were reimbursed via our French bank account. In the past I have submitted the claim in England but you wait much longer for a refund.

[little-jack]

Seems to me that theres a wide variance of the rules over repeat prescriptions.

At our 'health centre' (1) We are only allowed to apply for a repeat prescription in the week before the prescription is due, which since it takes 2 clear days to get to pharmacist means drugs can only be collected 2 days before previous months supply runs out, and (2) the practice say that nhs rules only allow 1 months extra supply to cover holidays etc.

A good way, I reckon, of reducing nhs drugs bill.

Whatever happened to the service bit of nhs?

 

little jack

[enodreven]

Hi,

 

Here's a link which I think explains the position clearly

 

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1963.aspx

 

Hope that helps

[twooks]

Between us we usually carry enough meds to sink a battleship,

I always have a 2 week barrier in supply - just in case - apart from anything else some of the meds are pretty rare [although the Tesco pharmacy never seems to have a problem sourcing them :-S ]

I also ask for any holiday prescription well in advance of actually needing it - this gives some leeway if there are any queries.

we always carry a list of meds anyway - although not an actual prescription to be filled

although we have had prescription medicines in Denmark - no problem at all - and the pharmacist spoke better English than what I do [no surprise there then :D ]

 

the link to the NHS states

"No longer resident, means that you have left the country for more than three months or don't have a permanent address in the UK"

surely the crucial word is OR - so as long as you maintain a permanent address in the UK you are still classed as resident

 

good luck and happy travelling

 

 

 

B-)

[BrianR]

twooks - 2008-12-01 11:08 AM

 

the link to the NHS states

"No longer resident, means that you have left the country for more than three months or don't have a permanent address in the UK"

surely the crucial word is OR - so as long as you maintain a permanent address in the UK you are still classed as resident

 

B-)

 

Surely, if it states "or", then if you satisfy either of the two conditions you are no longer resident. So if you go abroad for more than three months you are no longer resident, even if you still have a permanent UK address.

[horse444]

(lol) although my doctor is very good and will give extra prescription if we say we are going away, I have never had any trouble buying medicine in Spain, and high blood pressure tablets are much cheaper than our prescription charges(maybe not so now with euro) I am diabetic and if I need anything I Just show repeat prescription. Dont' think you will have any problems, happy holidays ;-)

[Rowan Lee]

Having read about this "new rule" on this forum, I asked my GP about it. He said he didn't know anything about the rule, just let him know when we are going and how long for and he will write the prescription. He says he has quite a few patients who overwinter abroad. When I said I had read about this new 2 month rule, he said "OK, I'll give you two months this week and two months next week". My husband no longer has to pay for his prescriptions and I have an annual prepayment card, so it is not as though we are getting away without paying when we get extra in one go.

 

We are very lucky here with our GPs, you can nearly always get an appointment for the following day with your own GP, sometimes even for the same day. You can even get through on the phone! There are no ludicrous rules like there used to be at our previous practice when we lived in Washington (Co. Durham). I have every sympathy with those who have to put up with such practices.

[BGD]

BrianR - 2008-12-01 11:37 AM

 

twooks - 2008-12-01 11:08 AM

 

the link to the NHS states

"No longer resident, means that you have left the country for more than three months or don't have a permanent address in the UK"

surely the crucial word is OR - so as long as you maintain a permanent address in the UK you are still classed as resident

 

B-)

 

Surely, if it states "or", then if you satisfy either of the two conditions you are no longer resident. So if you go abroad for more than three months you are no longer resident, even if you still have a permanent UK address.

 

I'm with Brian on this.

To me, their weasel words mean that:

 

1. If you have left the country (interestingly, not "left the UK" but only "left the country".....so I wonder what happens if you go to Scotland from England for more than 3 months), your entitlement lapses.

 

2. If you no longer have a permanent address in the UK, your entitlement lapses.

(So I wonder what happens if your house gets repossessed and the Council then puts you into a variety of short-term Bed & Breakafst type temporary accommodations?)

 

 

In reality, I guess the words on their website are an attempt at simplifying the no doubt much more fulsome and complex wording in whatever the actual legal regulation that the Govenment of the day passed which covers this entitlement lark. But as written on the website, the above is my take on them.

 

There's probably some disclaimer on that NHS website somewhere saying summat like "In the event of any conflct or confusion in meaning between the explanations on this site and the actual original regulations, the meaning and interpretation of the original regulations shall prevail".

If someone else has a whole lot of time on their hands, they could probably burrow into the gov.uk mountain somewhere to get hold of the actual original regulation.

 

[michele]

You know what i have never read so much rubbish in all my life .

It makes me sad that honest tax paying british citizens can not just go and ask for the amount they need .

 

How sad I get so mixed up but I remember that we never used to have a reciprical agreement with many countries at one time so they got it for just the NHS price .

 

Now it seems the system is open to abuse and so many people want to abuse it but people who have worked hard all their lifes cant just because they want to take an extended holiday with money that they have worked for for years .

 

Well if the system is open to abuse then abuse it .

Collect your scripts cash them then say you have lost the drugs

they cant call you a liar so they have to give you another .

failing that put in for your repeat faster each time they soon build up for when you need them .

failing that rather than worrying about if you can get your pecific drugs abroad just ask the GP for a private script with 6 months worth on .

he or she wont care how many they have written as they get a fee for the private writing only .

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

I too was a bit puzzled by this, so I emailed the Dept of Health:

I wonder if you can please clarify?

A number of GPs are reporting that they are not allowed to prescribe more than 3 months supply of drugs in advance.  For example, for patients planning extended journeys.

This applies to those suffering conditions such as heart conditions, thyroid deficiency, etc, where the drug/medication is a constant requirement.

This becomes very restrictive for anyone suffering such conditions, who is planning to travel away from home in excess of three months, whether in UK, within the EC, or elsewhere.

1.       Can you please say if this is correct, or a misunderstanding?

2.       If correct, where this restriction originates?  References to Acts and/or Statutory Instruments would be appreciated.

3.       Subject to 1 above, since the person concerned would consume the same quantity of the drug, at the same cost to the NHS, over the same period of time, if they were continually resident at their home, what is the purpose of any such restriction?

4.       Again subject to 1 above, if the person concerned is travelling abroad, but is not resident abroad, for more than three months – for example taking an extended touring holiday – and their home remains in the UK, and their income is paid in the UK and subject to UK tax, so that the government continues to benefit from their income tax revenues, why should such persons be discriminated against in terms of supply of medications, via a vis persons who remain at home?

Many thanks and regards

Today I received their reply:

Dear Mr Kirby,

 

Thank you for your e-mail of 1 December about prescription drugs.   

 

As a general rule, patients travelling abroad for short periods may receive medication under the NHS for pre-existing medical conditions which treatment is being provided for prior to the date of travel.

 

The Department does not normally specify the period for which prescriptions may be issued, as that decision is best made by the patient’s GP, taking into account his or her detailed knowledge of the patient's medical history and current medical condition.  When a doctor prescribes a drug, he or she is clinically and legally responsible for any results of that decision to prescribe.  In view of this, it would not be considered good clinical practise for a doctor to prescribe large amounts of drugs to a patient going abroad for an extended period of time, whose progress that GP is unable to monitor.

 

However, a six month supply of medication is not permitted.  The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004 state that when a patient leaves the UK />/>and intends to be away for at least three months, that patient is removed from the list of the doctor responsible for treating him or her and therefore ceases to be eligible for NHS treatment.

 

Advice for people in this situation is to seek the medicines they need from the country or countries they are travelling to.

 

I hope this reply is helpful. 

 

Yours sincerely,

Having been given the source of the restriction, I had a look at the regs.  Anyone wishing to do so should get the right result of they google "General Medical Services Contracts Regulations 2004".  What they seem to me to say (that is relevant to this issue) is that doctors shall prescribe responsibly, and shall only prescribe for patients who are on their list, and that anyone who is absent from UK for over their months shall be removed from both the doctor's list, and the Primary Healthcare Trust's patient list.  On arrival back in the country, you then have to apply to be placed on a doctor's list.  If, in the meantime, your doctor has closed his list, you would have to apply elsewhere.  A doctor knowingly leaving on his list a patient who is absent from UK for over three months is liable to disciplinary procedure, ditto the PHT.  There is no provision for variation.

To be clear, you have no right to three months supply of the drug/medication, its supply is subject to the discretion of the doctor, whose decision is to be based on his clinical judgement.

I unreservedly withdraw my above allegation that one doctor was being "a bit of a jobsworth"!  It is depressingly instructive to read these regulations.  It is also very boring - you have been warned!  However, these regulations effectively constitute the contract of employment between a GP and the Dept of Health.  What struck me is that the point about continuing to pay UK Income Tax while absent, and therefore continuing to contribute, via general taxation, to NHS costs is not addressed.  Neither is the point that someone remaining in UK over the same period would continue to receive their medication, at the same rate and cost to the NHS, so what is the point of excluding from treatment someone who is away?  Beyond that, there does seem to be something unfair, and also somewhat silly, in all this.  Does anyone know what, actually, is the point of it all?  What is the advantage of de-registering and then re-registering, and the bureaucracy that is entailed?

Of course, if you go to your GP and ask for in excess of three months supply of medication, you are, in effect, giving notice of more than three months absence from UK, and the GP should therefore immediately remove you from his list, so presumably cannot prescribe even a three months supply.

Does anyone feel, as I do, that maybe a few letters to MPs might be worthwhile, to see if this silly provision can be modified, at least to allow a doctor use his discretion and clinical judgement over how long a period it is appropriate and safe to prescribe for?

[Tomo3090]

The problem is that your G.P. doesn't know if you ARE actually going away. Some prescription drugs have a high black market price and it is not unknown for some patients to sell on their supply to dealers and addicts, then go back and say they've "lost" their supply and get more for their own use.

 

We had a drug squad lecture a few years ago in work and they told us that one of the highest rises in drug taking, where prescription drugs are being abused, and dealing of prescription drugs, was among the 60-70 year old bracket who could lay their hands on a "legitimate" supply easier and with less chance of being busted than local dealers!

 

 

[RoyH]

Well done Brian for going to the trouble of all that.

 

On that premise, then my doctor ,who continues to supply me with my monthly (28 days) supply of blood pressure pills, should really call me in every 3 months to make sure that I'm still here and it is not someone else who is getting the repeats and sending them to me. I have not been sent for for at least 6 months now. Similarly my wife's cholesterol statin, she can't remember when she was last tested. I know we should look after ourselves and go at intervals under our own steam but still the Doc should send for you to keep him/herself the right side of the employment contract.