Too many prescriptions?

Obviously, not everyone will be able to do that (people suffering diseases of senility for instance), but most people could.

My surgery sends a letter and it makes it quite clear that you won't get another repeat until you've seen a doctor.

I had a review the other day and as part of the review the doctor did a quick health check. It's a chance to mention any niggles or worries that you might have.

My meds have a tendency to make me tired but it's not a good idea to ignore being tired all the time just because I know it's a side effect. I wouldn't have 'wasted' a doctors time by taking up an appointment over tiredness but this gave me the opportunity to talk about how it seemed even worse than usual. She took some bloods and it turned out I was deficient in folic acid and needed a few months of supplements.

Agreed about GP responsibilities but they live in a Real Life world too and have a very stressful job. Patients' responsibility for their own health in ways they can is not much to ask. If one needs a medication review once a year what's difficult about making a note in one's diary about that?

I agree about taking responsibility as a patient but in RL it doesn't always work like that for many reasons and the GP also has a professional responsibility to review and test patients as required by protocols. Not doing so is very serious snd contrary to a Good Medical Practice

I agree that if you've been told (or have found out) that you should have a review every so often, you should make an appointment with your GP yourself and not wait to be recalled. It's just taking responsibility.

I'm wondering if those people who stockpile prescription meds they don't need actually go and collect them from the pharmacy or if the meds are delivered to them. Then, if the GP never recalls the patient and the patient doesn't bother to inform the GP they're not taking the meds they obviously pile up.

Seems to me the GPs should be a bit more proactive to prevent such things happening. Mine is. Last winter I didn't need to take one of my prescribed meds and when I did need it again I had some left so used those before ordering a repeat prescription. My GP noticed that I hadn't re-ordered for a while (a few months) and asked me, during a consultation about something else, whether I still needed the meds. I explained and said yes I did once I'd used up what I had.

Rose - what would you suggest? That the millions of us on free prescriptions to keep us alive/ functioning and who take our meds should have to pay? I think it's dreadful that some people are behaving like this, but it's not confined to those on free prescriptions and has its roots in poor patient education to some extent. The answer is most certainly NOT to charge for prescriptions

Crun you must also take some responsibility for your own health - if you know that you should be reviewed but have somehow slipped through the net why not demand a review?

Crun - you really must complain about not being reviewed and being tested or even better, could you change practices? This really is absolutely dreadful and a sign of a very dysfunctional practice as, in general, a medicines review is generated automatically. It really is very serious - I don't want to frighten you but you must do something. If you find complaining difficult, have you got someone who coukd do it for you?

Up until April last year I'd never been on prescription meds for more than just one prescription, now I'm on meds probably for life, and certainly until my heart operation. They print review dates on the prescription, but they just come and go with nothing said and a new date to replace the old. The meds I'm on now are toxic, so I'm supposed to be tested at regular intervals, but nobody has said anything about it.

Had my thyroid gland removed,janea, over 35 years ago, so it will not recover.
I was put on statins and ended up not being able to walk without pain, so I was taken off them. They keep suggesting I try another, but the side effects are the same, so I just say no thanks. My GP said I didn't need to take anything if I didn't want to. Not a good thing to say to someone who does not have a thyroid gland. I do not go to see him any more.

Cannot fathom, for the life of me, why patients woulc collect drugs just to stick them in the wardrobe or cupboard??? WHY?
Because they are free for many people. If they had to pay for them they wouldn't waste them and keep collecting a repeat prescription of something they don't use.

I must say I was prescribed an increased dose of the drug that I take (which is the recommended dose) but it was too strong for me; I took the unopened packet back to the chemist but they said that they would have to be destroyed, they could not re-use them.

The drug companies have been pushing statins worldwide according to a consultant I know.

I don't like the way this has been reported either.
It seems like another bash at 'older people living longer' and exhorting people to 'make lifestyle changes' rather than take drugs.

Well I'm really sorry that my thyroid gland packed up a few years ago and I now cost the NHS probably £250 a year for my thyroxine, annual blood test and annual consultation with my GP.

If anyone can tell me of any lifestyle changes that can galvanise a clapped-out old thyroid gland into action, I'd be fascinated to hear about it.

Still at least I'll know what to say if my GP suggests I start taking statins

I heard this too and thought it was a non story, a story for an otherwise 'empty' day of news. There was no point to it at all.

Vampire - cross purposes I think-sorry. I was trying to make the point that everyone is a tax payer and no one should feel that you are only contributing if you pay income tax or feel guilty at not so doing

I so agree with the OP. The powers that be have been going all out to get, seemingly, as many people as possible onto statins, and now they come out with this!

In any case, isn't it just the results of progress in medical science? Are we supposed to ignore the benefits of modern scientific remedies and live in the dark ages, healthwise?

Complete non-story.

Indeed Annsixty.

Aggie- out of interest, if you don't mind- what were they and what was/were the reason/s???

If only all GPs followed the guidelines to see patients on a regular basis especially the over 75s,as I think they are supposed to I would feel much happier.

Granny Twice....I didn't mean it to sound negative about people who don't pay tax. Sorry. I should have been clearer.

I totally rely on my HC2 to pay for my meds and I'd not be alive without them.

just after I collected my tablets the Doctor rang and told me to stop , can't give them back to be reused , they have to be "disposed of !"

I heard the somewhat sensationalist news today about the increase in national drug prescriptions and couldn't work out what was the point of it all. Was it intended to make us feel guilty, criticise us for unhealthy habits, moan about increaing costs again, I really don't know. Only the other day the praises of statins and aspirin were being trumpeted. Is this early warning of the impostion of pay-for-your-own medicine, I wonder? I note that most of the pumped-up media presenters and so-called experts were young, thin and no-doubt very well-paid. Still, something else will have been drummed up tomorrow to fill up the news slots, so not to worry too much. In the meantime just pass me the financial pages, please, I want to check on how well my shares in the drug companies are doing.

Exactly- because so many NEED for drugs (including myself recently,, and OH since he was in his 20s)- the very reason why waste should be carefully looked at and eradicated to a very large extent. Waste of very expensive drugs in non-sensical, and in no-one's interest.

My DH is on tablets for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and now he has hormone treatment for prostate cancer. He needs all of these obviously. He actually looks a picture of health, slim and fit looking.

I have been on prescription drugs since my late teens and would be dead if I did not take them. I am seen by my GP 6 monthly re the drugs that I am on. I have never paid for drugs but that may change soon if the Government can see a way of extracting money out of us.

And vampire - even if you don't pay income tax, everyone pays VAT and a whole range of other taxes/ duties etc so we all contribute to the Exchequer.