Paracetamol on prescription

DH is on daily multiple dose of paracetamol for pain and I think it quite reasonable to pay for it. Despite the limit on buying only 32 at a time I have no problem keeping him stocked out.

I deliberately shop in Waitrose because it has town centre stores. It means I can do all my shopping/banking/ hair appointments etc etc in one trip, so once I have bought paracetamol at Waitrose with the groceries I nip into Superdrug, Boots and an independent chemist all within a couple of a hundred yards of each other and come home with 128 paracetamo lwith no problems.

Paracetamol is on my repeat prescription list. I have never given it a thought. There are lots of prescribed medicines that are also available OTC.

Is it the case that if a patient presents a prescription for an item that could be bought for, say, £1.20 over the counter, the chemist is still paid £8.20? That's as I understand it but I may be wrong.

As I am 65, I am exempt from prescription charges. However, I would not accept a prescription to get things like pain killers, throat tablets, creams, etc. I would buy them myself. If I needed these things on a regular basis and in substantial quantities, I think it would be reasonable, and probably sensible, to get them on prescription.

A friend of mine, a retired pharmacist, was very saddened by the excessive number of prescription items that were brought back to the chemist, unused. They have to be destroyed. And no doubt most unused items don't get returned to the chemist. Perhaps people should be made more aware of the huge cost to the NHS and the need to behave responsibly.

I think there are far more important reasons why the NHS is seriously struggling, but if someone can afford and is willing to buy some one-off over-the-counter items it is a way of reducing costs.

There are limits on the numbers of painkillers that can be bought in one go, but that is easily circumvented by going to several chemists - more difficult, I know, if a person is living in a rural area.

There ought to be a system whereby you could buy them in larger quantities, with a doctor's note.

I am prescribed Paracetamol , I was buying them but when I was only allowed one packet at a time and it was too painful to meander to the shop for the next packet I did without and suffered . My DD was getting them for me with the shopping for a while , but in the end I gave in and used the Prescription , at least I don't run out now

The cheapest paracetamol I can find at the moment - 19p for 16 at the so-called 'discount supermarkets'. I stock up when I can, though my polymyalgia seems to be on the wane and I rarely need pain relief, unless I overdo something. I wouldn't mind betting that, if I had it on prescription, the NHS would be charged more than 19p for 16 tablets.

When DH sliced his thumb to the bone recently he was told to by the triage nurse "to go and buy some paracetamol" He gets free scripts due to age and T2 diabetes.
Yes they are only pence but as some have said if you are told to take them regularly then it's much more convenient to have a large supply.

My GP prescribed them as a supplement to my daily Arthritis meds I only take them during a flare up, they are on my repeat prescription but I do choose to buy them if and when I need more. They are so cheap and every little helps .

Yes they do prescribe Paracetamol, I came home from hospital with a box of them, being the only pain relief I had after major surgery.

I buy my own paracetamol I don't see why I should charge the NHS. I do stock up though. It is easy to find you have run out when your aching back is keeping you awake at 4am.

Yes, they do prescribe it jings

Would a doctor prescribe paracetamol? They can and do.
Last year, due to a cock up mix up at Boots, along with DH's assorted other meds I found 8 I think X 32 packs of paracetamol in the bag. I was assured by the pharmacist when I rang that these were on DH's repeat prescriptions (and they were, from 5 years previously) and that had somehow been triggered. Health Centre cancelled the item for future reference but when I tried to take the packets back to Boots I was told they would be destroyed as they had "left the dispensary", i.e.for safety reasons.
Lasted us a good while.
I just buy 2 packs now with every shop and/or visit to Boots. I can't imagine the cost of processing a prescription for something which I can buy for pence.

I doubt if it would need to be on a patient's list of meds on admission to hospital.

Would a doctor actually prescribe paracetamol? I'm pretty sure mine would say "take paracetamol" and leave it at that.

I think it possible that some people go to the doctor and A & E when they could go to the pharmacist simply because they don't want to pay for over the counter meds.

IMO it is the responsibility of the doctors to tell people to go out and get OTC meds but use their discretion if they really feel the patient cannot afford it. I also feel that if A &E were to triage the patients who don't need to be there and send them away people would learn not to waste their time too. There was a time when we accepted that a little pain was normal and that we just had to deal with it without expecting someone else to sort us out. Our GP is frustrated by patients such as the one who went to him with diarrhoea and, when asked how long he had had it, replied 2 hours! I rest my case.

If the GP has prescribed it and the person is eligible for free prescriptions then that is fine. Where would you stop otherwise? - should no OTC meds be prescribable to those eligible for no charge?

It also means that paracetamol is on the list of a patient's meds if hospital admission is required, as midgey has said above.

I agree with Maggiejane.

In the period running up to my knee arthroscopy a few years ago I was prescribed paracetemol to deal with the constant pain. I was told very clearly by my GP and the pharmacist that I must take it regularly, i.e. 2 tablets 4 times a day, because it has a cumulative effect in controlling pain, so is not effective if you stop taking it when the pain is under control.
So that was 56 tablets a week - and I would only be allowed by law to buy 32 at a time, so it would be repeated trips to the supermarket to get the cheap ones. It's not about the cost (at 19p a pack that would only cost me 66.5p), but it's about not having to remember constantly to keep buying them and running the risk of being without them. I was given a pack of 200 at a time on prescription, which was dispensed by the pharmacy at the surgery, just 350 yards away!

Should have said alternating with Ibuprofen (cos we are old and a bit creaky!)

Now that I'm over 60 I don't have to pay for my prescriptions which makes me feel very guilty so to compensate I tend to buy all my painkillers (ibuprofen tablets and gel for arthritis). I also buy medication for simple illnesses such as colds, sore throats etc. I think we are in great danger of losing our National Health Service as it can no longer afford the huge expectations we have of it. Those who are lucky enough to be able to pay towards it should help out as much as they can. And yes I know we have all paid our NI but if you work out the cost of hospital care (even if you've only used hopitals to give birth in) and the cost of visits to the doctor and medication most of us eventually take out more than we put in.

Does she also know that it would be quite difficult to acquire sufficient paracetamol for chronic pain with the amount one is allowed to purchase in one go is limited to 32.

I make a point of buying 32 paracetamol each week from Sainsbury's because if we both have colds we get through them faster than we could buy them. So, sometimes I have quite a large stock pile

No. I think paracetamol should be paid for Otc. It is very cheap, and the tablets you buy are exactly the same as prescription ones would be. Nreasonable to expect them on the NHS. It's not as though it can cure anything, or have preventative effects.

It's paracetamol she goes on about. Without ever meeting her bags I think you've got her to a tee! She's not the most understanding or compassionate of women.

The hospitals always ask for a repeat prescription so they know exactly what has been prescribed, the paracetamol needs to be on that list. You don't have to have everything on the list dispensed if unless you want. I have made the same mistake as your sil and have been proved very wrong.

Is she sure it is only paracetamol that is being prescribed?

That aside, she is aware, I presume, of chronic conditions that need medication daily?

Perhaps she's one of those people who lack imagination and would benefit from having to deal with a chronic condition herself.