Christopher Robin
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (9th Apr 12 at 11:55am UTC) | | They still tried to deliver yet again, had to say no  | |
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Melle
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (9th Apr 12 at 9:28pm UTC) | | They still tried to deliver yet again, had to say no
When I was working in London the chemist next door to the sugery used to email me when my meds were ready to pick up and because my gp was very cost conscious, refused to sign anything off until he had signed the form himself. It worked well for both of us as I was always able to get my scripts when I wanted them and not have to stumble around London to find who had the strengths and meds that I needed on time and chemist actually had the right stuff in when I needed it.
Just a thought............ I do get them from time to time...............amazing isn't it? 
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margaret1
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (9th Apr 12 at 10:31pm UTC) | | Chris.....good to see that you are on the fortisip....i liked the strawberry.....i told Sunderland Boots only to send that.....did they listen... .....i ended up with some disgusting flavours and they wouldn't take them back....but i froze some....they are better as ice lollies....well the kids liked them....
i bet you are now thinking of going into the ice cream business......get a chime on your wheelchair.....you might make a fortune.....  | |
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Ian
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (18th Apr 12 at 4:09pm UTC) | | NHS England drugs bill falls as patents expire - Pharma Times
http://www.pharmatimes.com/mobile/12-04-17/NHS_England_drugs_bill_falls_as_patents_expire.aspx
The NHS in England spent £8.81 billion on prescription drugs supplied through primary care last year, down 0.1% from £8.83 billion in 2010, official figures show.
Last year, 961.5 million prescription items were supplied to NHS primary care patients in England, at a net ingredient cost per item of £9.16 compared to £9.52 in 2010, according to the latest annual Prescription Cost Analysis published by the NHS Information Centre.
Item growth for the year was 3.8%, down from 4.5% in 2010, 5.2% in 2009 and 5.8% in 2008.
A major reason for these lower figures is patent expiries, and this is due to continue into the current year, particularly among central nervous system (CNS) treatments, which is the top-spending therapy area for the NHS, costing £1.95 billion last year, a rise of 4% over 2010's £1.87 billion. Eli Lilly's antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine), on which NHS England spent £120.7 million last year, lost its patent protection in 2011, and the patents on two more high-priced drugs in this class - AstraZeneca's Seroquel (quetiapine) and Pfizer/Eisai's Aricept (donepezil), which together cost the Service £170 million in 2011 - expired in early 2012.
Particularly big savings are expected when Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin) - on which the NHS in England spent £310.8 million in 2011, up £5 million on 2010's total - loses its patent protection in May.
The biggest fall in costs last year (by British National Formulary [BNF] chapter) were: - 11% in costs for cardiovascular system treatments, from £1.52 billion to £1.35 billion; and - gastrointestinal system drugs, which dropped 7% from £463.1 million to £428.7 million.
- Meantime, the Department Health has reported that hospital referrals by GPs fell 1% during the year to February 2012 compared with the year before. In February 2011, such referrals had shown an annual rise of 2.5%.
The volume of first outpatient attendances, on a year-to-date (YTD) basis, is up 0.9% for the period, while elective growth YTD is is currently 3.8% compared with 3.4% last year, and non-elective admissions have decreased by 1.2% compared to the same period last year. | |
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Dave
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (18th Apr 12 at 4:17pm UTC) | | | I first read that as 'patients expire', and thought if more go they'd save more | |
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Ian
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (18th Apr 12 at 4:23pm UTC) | | Would not advise giving them ideas like that or it could become your moral duty to save money by expiring  | |
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Melle
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (18th Apr 12 at 9:13pm UTC) | | Could be they are using more generic stuff and not named. First time in four years I was given an almost blank cardboard box with my carbocistene in it instead of Mucodyne. Wot looks to be cheap - although may not be - yellow and dark green capsules and no information included with it as is usual with any meds.
Very strange................... | |
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Ian
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Garfield
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (24th Apr 12 at 9:34am UTC) | | Oh dear, I knew I should have kept my big mouth shut!
Garfield | |
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Ian
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (24th Apr 12 at 5:13pm UTC) | | | Don't worry the Garfield is innocent T shirts are still selling | |
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Ian
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (29th Apr 12 at 1:05pm UTC) | | Pharma Times -TaxPayers Alliance hits out at £67 million MUR bill
http://www.pharmatimes.com/mobile/12-04-24/TaxPayers_Alliance_hits_out_at_%C2%A367_million_MUR_bill.aspx
Medicines Use Reviews (MURs) are a "wasteful subsidy to pharmacists" that cost the National Health Service £67 million in 2011 alone, a report by the TaxPayers' Alliance has concluded.
Pharmacist-conducted MURs came into being in 2005 under a drive to address medicines wastage and treatment adherence and thus secure better value for the National Health Service.
But the TaxPayers' Alliance has questioned both the cost and the effectiveness of the scheme.
In the first instance, it argues that MURs are actually very expensive, costing £28 for a five to 15 minute session. This, it says, equates to payment of between £112 and £336 an hour.
To put this in context, family doctors get paid an average £64.59 a year for a patient on their books, but pharmacists get paid almost half of this for carrying out just one MUR.
This represents a large chunk of cash for pharmacists, especially for national chains, the Alliance notes. Boots carried out nearly £21 million worth of MURs last year and Lloyds £9.1 million, while the national total for the service accounted for £67.3 million of NHS money over the 12-month period.
The group also points to recent evidence from the University of Nottingham, carried out for the National Institute for Health Research, suggesting that MURs are failing in terms of efficacy.
A review of the service by researchers concluded that "MURs did little to increase patients’ knowledge and rarely affected medicine use", and that "pragmatic constraints of workload and pharmacy organisation undermined pharmacists’ capacity to implement the MUR service effectively".
Mixed feedback
Feedback from the frontline gathered for the study was also mixed. While many believed MURs to be a valuable service, others took a more negative outlook, with one pharmacist questioning the use of incentives: "However many MURs you do should be however many patients need them. Not 'you've got to do 400 because that's the target and we want the maximum money out of the government'.”
Citing the research, the Alliance notes that one GP even suggested that "a lot of the advice that pharmacists give is not good. They don't know the patients and they haven't got access to the records", while another said the scheme is "a complete waste of money" with pharmacists just picking off the easy cases.
Speaking to PharmaTimes UK News, Emma Boon, Campaign Director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said a cheaper option would be for GPs to carry out MURs as part of their consultations, which many already do. Alternatively, the government could cut the money being offered to pharmacists for the service, she suggests.
"Pharmacists are taking millions of pounds of taxpayers' money for a service that many doctors just believe isn't effective," she said.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, however, disagrees. "Frankly this report does not warrant discussion, the anecdotes quoted are not reflective of the wider findings of the study referenced," said its spokesperson Neal Patel.
“The results of the study showed that most pharmacists perceive that MURs were an opportunity for them to use their professional skills and were of benefit to patients," he added, and called on "pharmacists, the public and policy makers to ignore this report and focus on the benefits the profession has for patients and their health". | |
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Ian
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Ian
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Ian
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Melle
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (6th Jul 12 at 9:55pm UTC) | | | This lass seems to have a good idea tho it might be difficult to pass the unwanted stuff over if there is not way of doing it - that is supposing other docs and pharmacists are of the same recalcitrent type? | |
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howie
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (6th Jul 12 at 11:57pm UTC) | | A few years ago i stopped using some tablets as i was swapped to a stronger version.
When i went to collect my next months supply from the pharmacy, i was signing the prescriptions when i noticed the old tablets had still been prescribed, even though i had the new ones as well.
I said to the pharmacist
I dont use these any more, so you can have them back, i expected him to say ok and put them back
Instead he said
Ok, thankyou i will dispose of them for you
I hadnt even left the counter, the tablets were sealed, the box they were in was sealed
I asked why did he need to dispose of them, considering i hadnt even removed them from the bag and they were fully sealed etc
He said it was policy to dispose of any drugs which are handed back to the pharmacy. That also includes sealed packs of tablets which havent been opened.
Is it just me, or does that seem a waste of drugs and money  | |
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Dave
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (7th Jul 12 at 5:30am UTC) | | Is it just me, or does that seem a waste of drugs and money
A criminal waste in my view. Surely someone who can't afford the prescription fee could be "given" them instead of incinerating them. | |
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Ian
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (7th Jul 12 at 8:59am UTC) | | | Not a scam where they could get paid twice for the same stuff then | |
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Dave
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (7th Jul 12 at 1:17pm UTC) | | | Some Chemists would probably do just that. | |
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Ian
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pm | | Re: Shortages of Medicine Supply (18th Jul 12 at 11:58am UTC) | | MPs planning investigation into pharmacy barriers
http://www.pharmatimes.com/mobile/12-07-17/MPs_planning_investigation_into_pharmacy_barriers.aspx
Selina McKee PharmaTimes
Ministers are planning an investigation into factors that are in danger of holding back pharmacy and its intention to develop clinical and public health services in the new-look National Health Service.
Addressing the All-Party Pharmacy Group's (APPG) summer reception and AGM yesterday (Monday) afternoon, Chair Kevin Barron MP announced a new workstream, to kick off after parliament's summer recess, that is heavily focused on identifying and overcoming the barriers to progress in the field.
The group, he said, will be looking into the potential barriers created by the new commissioning system, funding and contractual arrangements, inter-professional tension, regulation or lack of it, public perception and within the profession itself.
A number of evidence sessions are planned to help investigate each of these areas, as well as identify others that need to be addressed to help pharmacy overcome its challenges.
In addition, the APPG will look "urgently" at decriminalising dispensing errors. This issue has been unresolved for years, Barron said, noting that pharmacy is "the only profession that can run the risk of imprisonment for one wrong prescription".
Barron also revealed that the Group will be undertaking an "audit on the new NHS landscape and how it interacts with pharmacy".
With regard to current hot potato of medicines shortages, he noted that ministers will maintain pressure on the government "to take effective action on the issue," which he stressed is "very distressing for patients".
Also speaking at the reception, health minster Earl Howe welcomed the APPG's report on the medicines shortages (published earlier this year), which included proposals on how to help rectify the situation, but would only say that the government is currently "carefully considering" its recommendations.
Challenges and opportunities
In general, Lord Howe said there were indeed challenges for pharmacy in the year ahead, given all the changes in the National Health Service, but stressed that there will also be "a whole heap of opportunities" for the profession.
One area he did place great emphasis on is that medicines optimisation. Until now, medicines management has focused cost. "But this is no longer enough, there must now be a focus on value," he said.
The National Health Service Commissioning Board will ultimately be responsible for medicines optimisation, but the area will play an increasing role in the future and pharmacy will play a leading role in this, through initiatives like the New Medicines Service (NMS), he said.
With the NMS pharmacists are striving to improve treatment outcomes for patients with long-term conditions through improving medicines adherence, as well as reduce medicines waste and cut down hospital admissions due to adverse events. | |
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