RolloTreadway5d ago

Friends in England, a message for you.

I have periodically posted this before, but it's been a while since I last did, and I was putting my pills into my pill organiser and thought of it.

If you regularly have prescriptions, you do NOT need to pay for them all. This isn't terribly well advertised, and lots of people go through life never needing a repeat prescription then suddenly finding they need lots (me, I did this, up until I was 42 my only regular medicine was an antihistamine, now I have a full pill organiser).

A pre-pay prescription certificate can be purchased for a year and costs a little less than the price of 12 prescriptions (£114.50 compared to £118.80 if you have one prescription a month for a year). You can buy for this in instalments by direct debit, you don't have to stump it up all in one go.

You can also buy a three-month certificate for £32.50 (slightly more than the cost of three prescriptions).

These prices are fixed. It costs the same whether you're getting one prescription a month or ten. If you have at least one a month then the yearly certificate WILL save you money.

Everyone in England who pays for prescriptions is eligible.

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/help-nhs-prescription-costs/nhs-prescription-prepayment-certificate-ppc

NHS Prescription Prepayment Certificate (PPC) | NHSBSA

A PPC could save you money if you pay for your NHS prescriptions. The certificate covers all your NHS prescriptions for a set price. You will save money if you need more than 3 items in 3 months, or 11 items in 12 months.The prescription charge in England is £9.90. A PPC costs:

Show threadBruno Girin5d ago
@RolloTreadway The prepaid certificate is indeed excellent! I can't remember how I learnt about it, it may have been mentioned by the pharmacist or the GP.
Show threadRolloTreadway5d ago
@brunogirin No doctor has ever mentioned it to me, despite prescribing me all these meds. I only know about it because I happened to know someone who used one years ago.
Show threadBruno Girin5d ago

@RolloTreadway The quality of care in the NHS is so dependent on the people you see! Occasionally you will meet someone who will take the extra 5 minutes needed to explain how the process works and give you gold nuggets of information like prepaid certificates.

The first time I got a repeat prescription, the GP didn't tell me how they worked and then told me off for not renewing it properly.

It must have been the pharmacist or the practice nurse who told me about prepaid certificates.

Show threadMike 🇬🇧 🇪🇺
@brunogirin @RolloTreadway
I've certainly heard the staff at our local pharmacy telling people about the prepayment certificates.
Mar 18 at 11:15amWeb
Show threadMJ Ray5d ago

@MikeFromLFE @brunogirin @RolloTreadway also, if your regular meds are now in 4-week packs instead of 30-day (because pharma companies are gougers who want to sell 13 month packs each year), you can get four 4-week repeat cycles on a three-month prepay if you are sharp on dates because the NHS still does the right thing even when pharma doesn't. I've never heard anyone official point that out.

#NHS #prepaid #prescription