Medication.....How long are you out of the UK?

[derek pringle]

Bulletguy,

I sincerely hope you get what you want .However, your previous post seems to talk about people just doing what they want in their different ways,assumingly some people go away and don't need any meds etc. The problem could be ,God forbid, when the proverbial hits the fan and something drastic happens to some poor soul. I queried earlier if there could be a knock on re e111 and charges etc and it seems from Brians post that this could arise. Unfortunately with Gov't regs and the like ignorance of the rules is not normally an accepted excuse. It just needs someone like your G.P to be dealing with a case.

cheers

derek

[pepe63xnotuse]

I would like to think that BG would've already found this advice (before contacting his MP?), but if not:

 

https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/travelling-abroad/getting-supplies-anti-epileptic-drugs

 

 

[Muswell]

pepe63 - 2015-11-04 8:39 AM

 

I would like to think that BG would've already found this advice (before contacting his MP?), but if not:

 

https://www.epilepsy.org.uk/info/travelling-abroad/getting-supplies-anti-epileptic-drugs

 

 

Well it doesn't seem too difficult does it?

[Brian Kirby]

I think you both may, ever so slightly, be missing the point. Paul has never said he cannot get the medicine abroad, just that his GP will not supply more than three months supply, and he want to travel for longer than three months.

 

This comes from the DoH itself.

 

"Anyone who is deemed to be ordinarily resident in the UK is entitled to free NHS hospital treatment in England. “Ordinarily resident” is a common law concept interpreted by the House of Lords in 1982 as someone who is living lawfully in the United Kingdom voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of their life for the time being, with an identifiable purpose for their residence here which has a sufficient degree of continuity to be properly described as settled. It is unlikely that anyone coming to live in the UK, intending to stay for less than 6 months, will fulfil these criteria."

 

So, this is the accepted eligibility test for NHS treatment, which Paul seems to meet in full. I can't find any cut-off at three months here, or in the National Health Service Acts.

 

However, when the DoH issued the The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004, they included, in terms, a condition that says if you go away for more than three months, you must be de-listed by your GP. This effectively denies you access to NH primary care, and so to any medication you are receiving. We all pay for these treatments through taxation, so there seems to me no rational reason for this three month limit.

 

If one buys drugs while abroad as a result of an emergency, the cost is re-claimable via the bi-lateral EHIC agreements. If one has no GP because one is away for more then three months it is unclear to me whether the EHIC is still usable, but if it is not, the patient has to pay for the medication twice: once in UK via taxation, and the second time to get it over the counter. If it is reclaimable, one has to go to a doctor abroad, who has none of one's medical records to refer to, pay for a prescription, pay for the medication, and then claim the lot back.

 

Simple question. Why?

[Muswell]

Brian Kirby - 2015-11-05 7:06 PM

 

I think you both may, ever so slightly, be missing the point. Paul has never said he cannot get the medicine abroad, just that his GP will not supply more than three months supply, and he want to travel for longer than three months.

 

 

 

I understood that epilepsy web to say that you can get a repeat prescription and then John Bell and Croyden will send it to you. Perhaps not.

[derek pringle]

Brian Kirby - 2015-11-05 7:06 PM

 

I think you both may, ever so slightly, be missing the point. Paul has never said he cannot get the medicine abroad, just that his GP will not supply more than three months supply, and he want to travel for longer than three months.

 

This comes from the DoH itself.

 

"Anyone who is deemed to be ordinarily resident in the UK is entitled to free NHS hospital treatment in England. “Ordinarily resident” is a common law concept interpreted by the House of Lords in 1982 as someone who is living lawfully in the United Kingdom voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of their life for the time being, with an identifiable purpose for their residence here which has a sufficient degree of continuity to be properly described as settled. It is unlikely that anyone coming to live in the UK, intending to stay for less than 6 months, will fulfil these criteria."

 

So, this is the accepted eligibility test for NHS treatment, which Paul seems to meet in full. I can't find any cut-off at three months here, or in the National Health Service Acts.

 

However, when the DoH issued the The National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) Regulations 2004, they included, in terms, a condition that says if you go away for more than three months, you must be de-listed by your GP. This effectively denies you access to NH primary care, and so to any medication you are receiving. We all pay for these treatments through taxation, so there seems to me no rational reason for this three month limit.

 

If one buys drugs while abroad as a result of an emergency, the cost is re-claimable via the bi-lateral EHIC agreements. If one has no GP because one is away for more then three months it is unclear to me whether the EHIC is still usable, but if it is not, the patient has to pay for the medication twice: once in UK via taxation, and the second time to get it over the counter. If it is reclaimable, one has to go to a doctor abroad, who has none of one's medical records to refer to, pay for a prescription, pay for the medication, and then claim the lot back.

 

Simple question. Why?

 

Brian,

As I mentioned EH1C in a previous post it may not just be the purchase of meds. What happens if a serious illness occurs requiring very expensive hospitalization and care plus meds.

If it came to light the situation that these people are away a lot longer than they should be do they stand the risk of having to fund themselves?As I say ignorance is not normally accepted as an excuse plus if they already took several months supply of meds with them it would be hard to convince anybody they did not KNOW what they were doing.

cheers

derek

[pepe63xnotuse]

Well I and I dare say a few others, had thought that "the point" was that of BG(Paul) wanting/needing a larger supply of meds, than his current (quite restrictive sounding, for some reason?)GP currently issues him with in one hit..?

 

As has been said pages back, this could be partially remedied by *switching to one of the GP practices that he knows gives some leeway(like the one who supplies 4-5 months worth at a time to his local-ish friends).

*BG was unaware that it was even possible to switch to a GP Practice outside of his immediate area , until I highlighted that you could, inc' a supporting link.

 

..so that, when used along with advice from the likes of Epilepsy Action, has got to be a more constructive way finding a solution, than going 'round and around, posting if and buts and copy'n'pasting on here.. :-S

 

Where I may have been mistaken, is in thinking that this has just been about someone seeking to get their long term, possibly life saving epilepsy medication, whilst they are abroad?.....

 

Please tell me that it hasn't just been about avoiding the possibility of having to "...pay for the medication twice: once in UK via taxation, and the second time to get it over the counter".. ? :-S

 

Sorry Derek P, I crossed your post

 

IF we are saying that folk will automatically get struck from the NHS "register" at 3 months, leaving them high and dry?, then although far from ideal but maybe a budget flight back before that deadline(and to collect meds?) would solve it.. ?

[malc d]

pepe63 - 2015-11-06 8:50 AM

 

 

As has been said pages back, this could be partially remedied by *switching to one of the GP practices that he knows gives some leeway(like the one who supplies 4-5 months worth at a time to his local-ish friends).

 

 

 

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned before ( as I haven't followed all the thread ) but I'm told by a friend that used to work in a surgery that if you swap to a doctor who is outside your ' catchment ' area they may not be prepared to visit you at home.

 

Worth checking up on if you do move ?

 

 

;-)

[pepe63xnotuse]

malc d - 2015-11-06 12:41 PM

 

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned before ( as I haven't followed all the thread ) but I'm told by a friend that used to work in a surgery that if you swap to a doctor who is outside your ' catchment ' area they may not be prepared to visit you at home.

 

Worth checking up on if you do move ?

 

 

;-)

 

Hi Malc, yes I did briefly mention it a bit back...and I agree, it's something that would need checking up on.

 

I know in our area (county wide?) "your" GP Practice doesn't cover your out of hours, home-visit type stuff and hasn't done so for quite a few years.

All of that is covered by the GP practices pooling their resources... and on the very few occasions that we have needed to contact or call out a Doc, they've never been from our immediate area...

 

Of cause, that's not to say that's how it functions in BG's case...

 

 

[Bulletguy]

derek pringle - 2015-11-06 8:27 AM

 

What happens if a serious illness occurs requiring very expensive hospitalization and care plus meds. If it came to light the situation that these people are away a lot longer than they should be do they stand the risk of having to fund themselves? As I say ignorance is not normally accepted as an excuse plus if they already took several months supply of meds with them it would be hard to convince anybody they did not KNOW what they were doing.

 

Derek

 

If they don't own a property in UK this is easily circumvented by use of a relatives address. They remain registered with a GP in that area and the relative collects the meds from a pharmacy and posts them on. This is exactly what another couple of friends i know do. They have been in Spain since last month and not returning until March end when they will go to get another 6 months of prescriptions.

 

Yes if either fall seriously ill requiring hospital treatment then they've got to get back to the UK pronto, but as for 'residential address'.....they don't even have a property here, they sold up!

 

 

pepe63 - 2015-11-06 8:50 AM

 

Where I may have been mistaken, is in thinking that this has just been about someone seeking to get their long term, possibly life saving epilepsy medication, whilst they are abroad?....

 

Irrespective of what my own meds are for it has been nothing more sinister than seeking an equality with others issued with 4 or 5 months of meds in order to exit UK for 'a period above 3 months'. DoH state categorically "this would not be permitted under NHS regs 2004.....patient is removed from doctors list and ceases to be eligible for NHS treatment." Without raking over old ground again, we ALL know that is complete b****x as it simply isn't the case at all and posts on here have shown that.

 

If there was some consistency to the use or definition of this regulation then fine, but there isn't.

 

Please tell me that it hasn't just been about avoiding the possibility of having to "...pay for the medication twice: once in UK via taxation, and the second time to get it over the counter".. ? :-S

 

I qualified for an exemption certificate so never had to pay for meds but am over 65 anyway.

[Brian Kirby]

pepe63 - 2015-11-06 8:50 AM

 

Well I and I dare say a few others, had thought that "the point" was that of BG(Paul) wanting/needing a larger supply of meds, than his current (quite restrictive sounding, for some reason?)GP currently issues him with in one hit..?

That was the original point raised by Paul. I agree, the work-around for that has been identified, and is what it seems Paul will now adopt. So, I thought we had moved on a bit.

 

..................................so that, when used along with advice from the likes of Epilepsy Action, has got to be a more constructive way finding a solution, than going 'round and around, posting if and buts and copy'n'pasting on here.. :-S

 

Where I may have been mistaken, is in thinking that this has just been about someone seeking to get their long term, possibly life saving epilepsy medication, whilst they are abroad?.....

 

Please tell me that it hasn't just been about avoiding the possibility of having to "...pay for the medication twice: once in UK via taxation, and the second time to get it over the counter".. ? :-S

Sorry if you don't like copy and paste, but I find it the quickest way to quote accurately from source documents.

 

What I have been trying to show is that the DoH has drafted an unreasonable, and largely unworkable, regulation that a) forms part of a GP's contract of employment and b) discriminates unfairly against anyone who is on long term medication, who wishes to travel outside the UK for more than three months, and who, unlike anyone who is not on such medication, finds their travel arrangements depend on their GP's willingness to breach their employment conditions. This is the underlying reason for Paul's problem, and has been widely adopted by the DoH as a kind of residency test, that now governs everyone's access to NHS services if such absences are declared. Of course if they aren't, nothing happens. But that wasn't my point.

 

IF we are saying that folk will automatically get struck from the NHS "register" at 3 months, leaving them high and dry?, then although far from ideal but maybe a budget flight back before that deadline(and to collect meds?) would solve it.. ?

But we are not saying that. What we are (or at least I am) saying is that there is no such automatic strike off, because there is no way for the DoH to know how long anyone intends travelling - until the go to their GP and ask for more than three month's medication. At that point either the GP breaks the regulations and supplies the medication, or doesn't, and then either the trip can't take place, or the medicine must be bought privately while abroad. Some drugs are very expensive, so the point about paying twice seems to me quite valid. It just might hit someone's budget very hard.

 

Your suggestion of a quick return flight is another practical work around. What I've been trying to get at is not the short term solutions, but the sheer random unfairness of the underlying principle.

[Big Momma]

My wife has just registered with a new Doctor. We are just about to leave UK for our Winter trip (4months) and she needed to get a re-stock of medication. Her previous Doctor provided six months supply but although my wife only had a telephone consultation with the new doctor, as no appointments were available before we depart, and she made no mention of our impending trip, the doctor prescribed 12 months supply of medication !! Now, from what I understand, some medical conditions require the patient to have a medical review at certain intervals before a doctor will provide repeat prescriptions, this does make sense. However, other medical conditions may not require such reviews and therefore GP's may have a bit more flexibility. With the queues for appointments these days, perhaps some GP's are more willing to issue medications for longer periods for those patients that do not require periodic reviews. I, like many others, do not know the definitive answer but it would appear, in my opinion, to be solely up to the individual GP.

[Bulletguy]

Big Momma - 2015-11-07 9:08 AM

 

My wife has just registered with a new Doctor. We are just about to leave UK for our Winter trip (4months) and she needed to get a re-stock of medication. Her previous Doctor provided six months supply but although my wife only had a telephone consultation with the new doctor, as no appointments were available before we depart, and she made no mention of our impending trip, the doctor prescribed 12 months supply of medication !!

 

Now, from what I understand, some medical conditions require the patient to have a medical review at certain intervals before a doctor will provide repeat prescriptions, this does make sense. However, other medical conditions may not require such reviews and therefore GP's may have a bit more flexibility. With the queues for appointments these days, perhaps some GP's are more willing to issue medications for longer periods for those patients that do not require periodic reviews. I, like many others, do not know the definitive answer but it would appear, in my opinion, to be solely up to the individual GP.

 

Taking your last paragraph first i can only answer for my own GP's practice which is everyone who opted to go on to 6 x 1 monthly prescriptions, which i suspect includes most of their patients on regular meds, is subject for a medical review every six months....so twice a year. Ironically before the 6 x 1 monthlies when i'd pick up a prescription each month, my medical review was once a year! But since the 6x1 mths came in it's now twice a year. I can safely say this is irrespective of medical condition as three of my direct neighbours all attend the same surgery, all on regular meds and all have a biannual reviews.

 

Your first paragraph further reinforces the widely known fact of general flexibility among what must be the vast majority of GP's and makes the DoH Regulation 2004 look rather silly, not to mention the crazy letter i received from them and my own NHS trust in respect of this matter.

[Brian Kirby]

Then it is probably a good thing that your proposed four months trip was not mentioned. This well illustrates both the unworkability of the regulation, and the unfairness inherent in that unworkability. The doctor made (we have to assume) a sound clinical judgement that a 12 months supply was "safe" to prescribe, both in the light of your wife's condition, and with regard to the shelf-life of the medication. Providing and no-one mentions four month trips, she should continue to get the medication, and you can continue to go!

 

However, had she mentioned that four month's trip (as Paul did), he should, under his terms of employment with the NHS (as Paul's GP did), have advised her that she will be removed from his patient list from the date of her departure, would have to re-apply to join again on return, and that she could therefore have no medication to use during her trip. Two radically different outcomes for the same person, over the same period of time, from the same doctor, with the same medication.

 

The only difference being that one outcome is what actually happened, and the other is what should, according to the regulations, have happened. Draw your own conclusions! :-)

 

Have a great trip, Eric.

[Bulletguy]

Brian Kirby - 2015-11-07 2:49 PM

 

Then it is probably a good thing that your proposed four months trip was not mentioned. This well illustrates both the unworkability of the regulation, and the unfairness inherent in that unworkability.

 

Possibly wouldn't have made any difference in that posters case as i'm not sure if you noticed he said, "her previous Doctor provided six months."

 

That's six months in one lot. So they'd still have got 6 months worth but as it is with their new GP they've been given an entire years supply.

 

The DoH Regulations 2004 are just a complete load of tosh and being ignored by all but a few.

 

However, had she mentioned that four month's trip (as Paul did), he should, under his terms of employment with the NHS (as Paul's GP did), have advised her that she will be removed from his patient list from the date of her departure.

 

Minor point but an important one. My GP himself hasn't told me i'd be removed from his list if away longer than 3 months. That came from the letter which the DoH sent to my MP who in turn sent it on to me. I also received a letter from my local NHS Commissioning Group who came up with the crackpot suggestion that i should register with a doctor in the country of my destination. I tour.....so i don't have a 'destination' country.

 

Both letters are fairly lengthy so i quoted what i felt was the important parts to save posting the entire lot up. One point the NHS CCG letter clearly states is;

"The NHS is a residency based healthcare system and patients travelling abroad for longer than 3 months of the year are not entitled to care under the NHS."

[Brian Kirby]

Bulletguy - 2015-11-07 6:42 PM............................."The NHS is a residency based healthcare system and patients travelling abroad for longer than 3 months of the year are not entitled to care under the NHS."

I know, and yet the DoH themselves, on their website, say this about the basis for determining residency:

 

"Anyone who is deemed to be ordinarily resident in the UK is entitled to free NHS hospital treatment in England. “Ordinarily resident” is a common law concept interpreted by the House of Lords in 1982 as someone who is living lawfully in the United Kingdom voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of their life for the time being, with an identifiable purpose for their residence here which has a sufficient degree of continuity to be properly described as settled. It is unlikely that anyone coming to live in the UK, intending to stay for less than 6 months, will fulfil these criteria."

 

Wonder what your CCG would say if you played that back to them? :-D

[Bulletguy]

Brian Kirby - 2015-11-08 12:54 PM

 

Bulletguy - 2015-11-07 6:42 PM............................."The NHS is a residency based healthcare system and patients travelling abroad for longer than 3 months of the year are not entitled to care under the NHS."

I know, and yet the DoH themselves, on their website, say this about the basis for determining residency:

 

"Anyone who is deemed to be ordinarily resident in the UK is entitled to free NHS hospital treatment in England. “Ordinarily resident” is a common law concept interpreted by the House of Lords in 1982 as someone who is living lawfully in the United Kingdom voluntarily and for settled purposes as part of the regular order of their life for the time being, with an identifiable purpose for their residence here which has a sufficient degree of continuity to be properly described as settled. It is unlikely that anyone coming to live in the UK, intending to stay for less than 6 months, will fulfil these criteria."

 

Wonder what your CCG would say if you played that back to them? :-D

 

They will come up with some more mumbo jumbo contradictory nonsense.

 

It's inconsistencies and contradictions like that which have formed the basis of a reply back to my MP. Oh i'm well aware that i'm p*ssing in the wind and people like me are a nuisance which authority wish would go away, shut up and do as i'm told.

 

If either the DoH or CCG are to be believed then there must be countless thousands of British citizens falling down dead on foreign beaches every year through lack of medication, GP's lists with just a handful of patients, and empty Hospital wards.

 

 

[Bulletguy]

Update on this palaver for those interested or wondering;

 

Decided against ruffling any more feathers, lay low, let the dust settle, fly in 'under the radar' and resort to devious methods in an attempt to stockpile (i'd only need one month extra supply in addition to 3 months). The Pharmacist told me last week i'd just one more month left so i phoned my GP practice to order another 6 x 1 monthly prescriptions. Amazingly it went unchallenged and was told they'd be ready for me to collect in a couple of days time but left it a few days longer.

 

Just been down to collect, only to be greeted by a Receptionist who told me, "you've still got another months supply left so the doctor won't issue". Worse still she then went into their database log on the computer and it showed i'm not due any prescriptions until February.

[Brian Kirby]

I hope you pointed out that the database record is clearly wrong relative to their record of your present prescription? A month's supply would take you to the beginning of January, not February.

 

Personally, I think you'll have to take this further up. No-one else on here, and neither of us, is treated in the way in which you are being treated, by being fed prescriptions one month at a time, and being refused repeats unless with one month of expiry of the present issue.

 

I think you need to talk to your local Clinical Commissioning Group, and ask them if this highly restrictive practise is coming from them, and if so on what authority. If it is not coming from them, I'd ask what they can do to secure a relaxation of the manacles. You're being treated like a naughty six year old, for no apparent reason, and with no obvious authority on the part of your GP to do so. What you are reporting is, IMO, wholly unreasonable.

[Bulletguy]

Brian Kirby - 2015-12-02 4:48 PM

 

I hope you pointed out that the database record is clearly wrong relative to their record of your present prescription? A month's supply would take you to the beginning of January, not February.

 

What i meant was when at the Pharmacy last week to pick up a fresh months supply, the Pharmacist told me i'd got one more prescription left after that. So what i now have will take me through to Dec end so the next prescription would be February.

 

What i'd been attempting today was to get another 6 x 1 mthly batch of prescriptions today, then call at a couple of Pharmacies with just one prescription to stockpile those in the hope (naive as it turned out) the dust would have settled by the time i want to go away next year.

 

Personally, I think you'll have to take this further up. No-one else on here, and neither of us, is treated in the way in which you are being treated, by being fed prescriptions one month at a time, and being refused repeats unless with one month of expiry of the present issue.

 

I think you need to talk to your local Clinical Commissioning Group, and ask them if this highly restrictive practise is coming from them, and if so on what authority. If it is not coming from them, I'd ask what they can do to secure a relaxation of the manacles. You're being treated like a naughty six year old, for no apparent reason, and with no obvious authority on the part of your GP to do so. What you are reporting is, IMO, wholly unreasonable.

 

I was. I even had the reply ready to post back to my MP but hesitated after talking with my friends wife and at her suggestion to "lay low, then go under the radar" and stockpile....which is what i had been attempting to do today. It's not just my GP creating problems, i'm also 'tied' to the Pharmacist which i didn't know about until i spoke to him this afternoon. I asked him for the remaining prescription (leaflet....not the medication). When he asked why i wanted it i told him i was "spending New Year in London at my sons in London" (a white lie) and would need the prescription to take with me so i could collect meds from a Pharmacy there. He then told me that wouldn't be possible as he retains a master copy so no other Pharmacist would dispense.

 

Between the Pharmacist and my GP practice it feels like i'm dealing with GCHQ as though they know my every move......or at least what i'm attempting to do.

 

I think the CCG would simply quote the NHS Regulations 2004 at me.

 

It seems i'm only left with the option of moving entirely to my friends practice where they've just left today with a supply of meds for 19 weeks to cover their stay in Spain. I cannot see any other way. If i try reasoning with my GP and begging for a little latitude, i can't really see it ending in anything other than an extremely furious row.

[StuartO]

Bulletguy - 2015-12-02 6:15 PM

 

......It seems i'm only left with the option of moving entirely to my friends practice where they've just left today with a supply of meds for 19 weeks to cover their stay in Spain. I cannot see any other way. If i try reasoning with my GP and begging for a little latitude, i can't really see it ending in anything other than an extremely furious row.

 

I suspect you would encounter quiet determination not to do you any favours rather than a furious row, but your previously challenging behaviour will, one way or another, have cooked your goose. I think you are correct in anticipating that the CCG will support the GP practice in a case like this because you are, in effect, merely unhappy that they wouldn't break the rules for you.

 

Most medications are not expensive and many are cheaper to buy on a private prescription than paying the NHS prescripion charge, so you're not talking big money. And an apology can go a long way towards healing ruffled feathers. So instead of changing practices, which will presumably involve some inconvenience, why not go and see your GP and apologise for your aggressiveness and acknowledge that you were wrong to try to bully them into doing as you wanted, because you now understand the rules are the rules. If that works, you can then perhaps ask for a private prescription to cover your holiday period (but ideally not in the same breath as you deliver your apology!) to save you having to see a foreign doctor while abroad and therefore risk getting the wrong stuff.

 

Your GP could in theory then grab the opportunity to de-register you because you have told him that you are going abroad for a prolonged period, but if he refuses a private prescription he would be inviting a valid complaint about refusing a reasonable request for proper care. You shoudn't threaten to compalint, or certainly not overtly, but you could express concern that your care is being put at risk.

 

There is an ancient wisdom that you should never make an enemy of either your doctor or your accountant and it's probably very good advice. The best way to get decent care from the NHS (including favours in relation to travel medication) is to behave nicely to the people delivering the service, including medical receptionists.

 

[Pampam]

Bulletguy i wonder if you could change your pharmacy ? Perhaps to a bigger one in a different town i had to swap chemists for my mums script to be nearer my place of work (different circumstances i know) but you might be able to build a better relationship with a different pharmacist , or ask your friends wife to start picking up your prescription ready to send over to you (very cloak and dagger) or could you possibly get a cheap ryan air flight home to pick up a prescription :/ very annoying its being penalised for having an illness curtailing a freedom that the healthy take for granted :£ i hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction pp:)

[witzend]

A few years ago we moved to a new area and needed to change to a new practice we had a choice of 3 from our address the first question was how long a prescription we could get and how many times a year we could get it . Knowing of the 3 mth ruling when told 3 mths we signed with them it was our first choice. I'd never compromise my doctor by asking for more as he has to abide by the rules as we do. It's all computerised at this surgery so they know how much we've had since joining them so no chance to built any surplus. But we've had no trouble in Greece, Spain, and Portugal buying what we need over the counter and with a easily obtained prescription in France from a doctor for 12 euro. So I'd suggest if you can't get what you want from your surgery move to one where you can

[Bulletguy]

StuartO - 2015-12-02 7:09 PM

 

Bulletguy - 2015-12-02 6:15 PM

 

......It seems i'm only left with the option of moving entirely to my friends practice where they've just left today with a supply of meds for 19 weeks to cover their stay in Spain. I cannot see any other way. If i try reasoning with my GP and begging for a little latitude, i can't really see it ending in anything other than an extremely furious row.

 

I suspect you would encounter quiet determination not to do you any favours rather than a furious row, but your previously challenging behaviour will, one way or another, have cooked your goose. I think you are correct in anticipating that the CCG will support the GP practice in a case like this because you are, in effect, merely unhappy that they wouldn't break the rules for you.

 

*Most medications are not expensive and many are cheaper to buy on a private prescription than paying the NHS prescripion charge, so you're not talking big money. And an apology can go a long way towards healing ruffled feathers. So instead of changing practices, which will presumably involve some inconvenience, why not go and see your GP and apologise for your aggressiveness and acknowledge that you were wrong to try to bully them into doing as you wanted, because you now understand the rules are the rules. If that works, you can then perhaps ask for a private prescription to cover your holiday period (but ideally not in the same breath as you deliver your apology!) to save you having to see a foreign doctor while abroad and therefore risk getting the wrong stuff.

 

Your GP could in theory then grab the opportunity to de-register you because you have told him that you are going abroad for a prolonged period, but if he refuses a private prescription he would be inviting a valid complaint about refusing a reasonable request for proper care. You shoudn't threaten to compalint, or certainly not overtly, but you could express concern that your care is being put at risk.

 

There is an ancient wisdom that you should never make an enemy of either your doctor or your accountant and it's probably very good advice. The best way to get decent care from the NHS (including favours in relation to travel medication) is to behave nicely to the people delivering the service, including medical receptionists.

 

I think you've misunderstood what i meant by "if i try reasoning with my GP and begging for a little latitude, i can't really see it ending in anything other than an extremely furious row".

 

So far i've not had a fall out, disagreement or been aggressive with either my GP or for that matter the Pharmacist i use. If anything i've been the absolute opposite but am now at the end of my tether so am loathy to go back to my GP begging for a little latitude would drive me over the edge to the point i would say something which ultimately would end in a furious row.

 

So i won't be apologising to anyone for something i've never done or said. The only 'feathers ruffled' have been that of the DoH and NHS CCG who were compelled to write letters to some pain in the backside who won't do what he's told.

 

The NHS has always had my life long respect. I worked in the NHS at one point. So doing what i planned on doing, re 'slipping under the radar,' is not something which sits that easy with me. It goes against everything i believed in.

 

*I've edited to add; i've already found an online supplier in the US via the internet where i could buy extra meds from but am cautious about this as i don't have any guarantee as to exactly what's in them and if they are indeed the correct medication.

 

 

Pampam - 2015-12-02 8:45 PM

 

Bulletguy i wonder if you could change your pharmacy? Perhaps to a bigger one in a different town i had to swap chemists for my mums script to be nearer my place of work (different circumstances i know) but you might be able to build a better relationship with a different pharmacist , or ask your friends wife to start picking up your prescription ready to send over to you (very cloak and dagger) or could you possibly get a cheap ryan air flight home to pick up a prescription :/ very annoying its being penalised for having an illness curtailing a freedom that the healthy take for granted :£ i hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction pp:)

 

This was part of my plan today until it all went belly up. Now i find out only today (didn't know before) the Pharmacist keeps a master copy making it impossible for me to split the prescriptions (eg, use three at his and the other three elsewhere). So by what he told me, i wouldn't even be able to travel freely within the UK let alone outside of it. I'm not just shackled to the UK......i'm shackled to where i live!! Quite frankly i was completely gobsmacked when he told me that and simply exited the premises with an air of utter disbelief.

 

I mentioned it before but you may have missed it Pam, but where it began to go 'wrong' was the Pharmacist who used to work there dispensed whatever i needed for however long. She'd just say, "let me know in advance and i will have enough put up for you". But now she's left and gone elsewhere (tried to find out discreetly but can't locate her). Meantime the current Pharmacist guy moved in and he's the same as my GP......a 'rule book' type.

 

If it seems like i'm clutching at straws it's because i am. I've even given thought to contacting my old GP who i had a very good patient relationship with and asking his advice......but i've lived here 20 years now so he may well have retired. And yes the cynical side of me says he's no doubt basking through the winter months at his Spanish villa!

[Bulletguy]

witzend - 2015-12-02 9:31 PM

 

A few years ago we moved to a new area and needed to change to a new practice we had a choice of 3 from our address the first question was how long a prescription we could get and how many times a year we could get it . Knowing of the 3 mth ruling when told 3 mths we signed with them it was our first choice. I'd never compromise my doctor by asking for more as he has to abide by the rules as we do. It's all computerised at this surgery so they know how much we've had since joining them so no chance to built any surplus. But we've had no trouble in Greece, Spain, and Portugal buying what we need over the counter and with a easily obtained prescription in France from a doctor for 12 euro. So I'd suggest if you can't get what you want from your surgery move to one where you can

 

Have a read back through this thread. You will find apart from myself, you are the only other poster to be limited to the 3 month 'rule' by their GP. The vast majority of GP's operate in a more lenient manner. Bend the rules if you want to call it that instead.

 

One poster is going to Australia......with nine months supply, whilst another was given an entire 12 months in one go.....even though they only needed four months!!