£1000 for a bottle of mouthwash?

I think that the automatic re-ordering of prescriptions has caused more wastage. My friend discovered that her mother had a pile of unopened pills in a drawer. Apparently the doctor had told her that she didn't need to take them any more, yet the chemist was still claiming repeat prescriptions for them, along with her other medicines, and the surgery continued to fulfill the order.
Mum said that she meant to cancel them, but kept forgetting.

If the doctor told her not to take them any more then he should have removed them from her repeats. Pharmacist had no way of knowing they were no longer required.

sunnydayindorset. I know that the doctor was at fault, but the point that I am making is that when prescriptions are automatically repeated each month by the pharmacist people often end up with a stockpile of medicines they are not taking, for various reasons. if they had to order the prescription themselves there would be a lot less wastage. Many people stop taking their medication, even when the doctor thinks they they still are, if they feel better.

My understanding is that pharmacists are no longer allowed to initiate the orders- although some offer to hold the repeat parts of the prescription after the patient has ticked the items they want.
When I worked in a pharmacy we had an individual who rang in a panic every month, needing his prescrition to be picked up from the doctor urgently and delivered that day. When he died, after several years of urgent deliveries, his family returned SIX large black bin bags full of his medicines. We priced one up at several hundred pounds; many items were out of date - he had hoarded them for so long. Just could not understand it - it was not a case that he was using some and not others. We had to throw it all away- and pay for an extra collection from the disposal contractors.

BUT the issue is - the NHS is being overcharged for supplies. And it is, for the reasons given.

It is also being overcharged for loans. Some NHS trusts are forced to borrow only from the government which charges them 6% interest. (Telegraph 19/03/2017)

It is being mugged, overmanaged, and underfunded, prior to "rescue" through further privatisation.