NHS no to dandruff and diarrhoea treatment

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Northerner

Northerner

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NHS England has announced a crackdown on the treatment of "minor" ailments such as dandruff and diarrhoea.

Thirty-five treatments responsible for £570m of spending have been targeted.

All are available over-the-counter in pharmacies. And the restriction will apply only where the ailment is judged to be a minor, short-term problem.

NHS bosses says the move could cut spending by a fifth. But experts warned the poorest risked losing out on treatment.

While the new rules, which apply from April, allow doctors to issue prescriptions where for a long-term ailment or one related to a more serious condition, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said those on low incomes could still end up being denied drugs "because of their inability to pay".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43576044
 
Makes sense. Just get yourself some head and shoulders (or generic equivalent) and some imodium (or generic equivalent). I'm sure even the poorest in society can afford 70p for some diarrhoea tablets. Anything more serious/long term and the docs will deal with it.
 
Matt Cycle said:
Makes sense. Just get yourself some head and shoulders (or generic equivalent) and some imodium (or generic equivalent). I'm sure even the poorest in society can afford 70p for some diarrhoea tablets. Anything more serious/long term and the docs will deal with it.
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Anti-diarrhoea tabs are only 39p in a supermarket beginning with A.
 
Matt Cycle said:
True - Asda or Aldi? Advertising allowed on here. It's not the BBC. :D
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I'm wondering why WL hasn't stated which shop to be honest haha xx
 
Oh I get it ~ its pick on Wirralass day today!:(
 
wirralass said:
Oh I get it ~ its pick on Wirralass day today!:(
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No just wondering why you said starting with A rather than which shop as there is more than 1 beginning with A xx
 
I agree, all these treatments are pretty cheap, and all the conditions are pretty trivial. And who goes to the doctor for nit treatment? That’s what pharmacists are for.

Though I did get things a bit wrong just taking Imodium when I first developed ulcerative colitis.:(
 
I think this is a good idea, so long as they don’t start denying them to people with long term conditions.
I’ve been buying my low dose Aspirin and Paracetamol when I needed it after a hip replacement.
 
Kaylz said:
What do you mean? x
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I think WL meant ‘really’ in terms of surprise in being able to name suppliers. She was obviously only trying to play by what she thought were the rules.

I support this iniative, I’ve never understood why the NHS had to support some of these low cost items that people should expect to buy.
 
Amigo said:
I think WL meant ‘really’ in terms of surprise in being able to name suppliers. She was obviously only trying to play by what she thought were the rules.

I support this iniative, I’ve never understood why the NHS had to support some of these low cost items that people should expect to buy.
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I could never understand it either. My GP wanted to put the 75mg Aspirin I take daily on prescription and i just refused to accept that. I pay between £0.75 and £1.15 for 100 which is 3 months usage. It is actually cheaper for me to buy them than the NHS to fund for them. I just thought it totally an unnecessary waste of NHS money albeit a small amount. Multiply that but a few thousand people and that soon adds up to a considerable figure.
I also fall to understand why when people reach 60 they automatically get free prescriptions even if they are in fulltime well paid employment.
People on low incomes, the disabled, unemployed and the vulnerable yes they should get that benefit but someone on a high income?
I was actually stunned and felt a fraud when I reached 60 and went to Boots to have a prescription filled for my BP and Eyedrop medication took my debit card out of pay only to be told that they were free. I was paying 45% income tax at the time. I think at the time the prescription charge was £7.20 or something for 3 months supply. I fully agree with this proposal to be brutally honest. It all adds up as a considerable drain on NHS resources.
 
When I was on Aspirin (doesn't suit my tum so now I actually need something to thin it all down a bit I get Clopidrogel for that) I also bought and paid for it - what a PITA only getting 28 days worth at a time and ridiculously expensive the NHS having to pay extra for 'bubble packs' and yet another dispensing fee for it, 13 x a year. Utter stupidity!
 
Well, if folk are worried about poor people not being able to pay for medication, stick a selection of treatments in food banks.

Yours ever

Jeremy Hunt
 
Well I know money must have been short in our house when we were little by the 'odd' things my mom did which other people's moms didn't seem to - like mixing marg and butter (cos we all had a cooked lunch then a tea with B&B, jam, eg salmon & shrimp paste, cheese or once a week, cooked meat) and home made cake - plus she mixed two teas - PG Tips and a coarser grained one. She told us and anyone that asked it was because we all preferred it. We got nowhere near the amount or cost of presents at Xmas or birthday that other children got.

Pete can remember when he was very little having some sort of infected wound on his elbow, embedded in gravel from falling off his bike, that mum had to take him to the hospital every day to have cleaned and dressed and an injection - so some morning they'd visit his grandma to borrow the bus fare to get there and back - too far to walk.

Neither family starved and his dad might well have earned more than mine as he worked at Alfred Herbert the machine tool makers (protected occupation during the War during which he was also on fire watching duties at night and had to do his National Service after the War like many others like him I places like Coventry etc!) whilst mine worked in an office and did his Nat Service in the Army Pay Corps in India, safely, in Meirut.

Being skint isn't at all 'new' !

However - I do think that people generally, helped each other a lot more then - but of course everyone expects more, too.
 
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