Prescription charge

[O'Reilly]

last year I needed hospital treatment and was bandaged up and sent home with a weeks tablets. Today I have just received a bill for the tablets - is this right? I thought it was all part and parcel of emergency treatment.

[aka pixi]

yeah thats about right O'Reilly, the same thing happened to me a couple of years ago, I had forgotten all about the tablets I was prescribed until I got the bill.

[river]

Send a letter back saying...adressee unknown and deny all knowledge of it. NHS = Non Helpful Service! you pau enough for it already.

[river]

Or even "you pay enough already" :o )

[4getmenot]

Its when you get a bill for ambulance when you've been in a car crash that gets me

[jno]

when I get pills I have to pay for them - GP or hospital, emergency or chronic. I'm not sure why I should have to pay for O'Reilly's as well.

[Pippa68]

I agree with jno.

As prescriptions are not free (unless you have a medical exemption card) it seems perfectly reasonable to receive a bill.

[river]

I have to pay for prescriptions but when I ended up in A and E at the start of the year I didn't have top pay for tha pills and didn't receive a bill...does that make a difference?

[river]

I didn't think you had to pay if you were in hosp, what does the NI we pay cover?

[bednobs]

send the bills for ambulances onto the insurance company - that's why they send them.
Prescription charges very rarely represent the cost of the actual drugs you get (unless it was paracetamol which can be bought for 19p in sainsburys) with many medications costing tens of pounds or some even hundreds, so in fact you are getting a very good deal in my opinion by just getting away with a prescription charge. Again in my opinion we want a comprehensive health service but are unwilling to pay for it! The cost of emergency treatment and or ambulance in real terms is actually huge, but no-one ever really thinks about it. yes we pay taxes and national insurance, but think of all the other things that come out of that money. I will admit over 9 months to send you the bill seems lengthy though! Incidentally, what are the tablets? I could tell you how much they cost the nhs and then you would be able to judge if you thought you were getting a good deal

[cruella]

A couple of years ago, I suffered from whiplash in a slight car accident.
I was billed for the neck collar they gave me at A&E.
Think it all depends on the reason you are treated.Car accidents etc. I am really not too sure

[aka pixi]

river were you not charged because the tablets were actually taken at the hospital? The tablets i was charged for were ones I brought home ..just a weeks supply of strong painkillers.

[rom]

i have been admitted into hospital after going to casualty on 2 occassions and i have never had to pay for pills i got on either of these ocassions?

sorry, i cant seem to spell "occassions" today

[rom]

i took the pills away aswell. both times, 2 weeks supply (sorry forgot to say that! having a bad day!)

[bednobs]

you dont have to pay for pills you recieve as an inpatient (in england)

[bednobs]

or pills that they give you as tto's (to take away after your hospital stay)

[eyeshade]

Bedknobs is right - f you go to most countries in Europe, you will have to pay for your medical costs. France you pay heavy taxes towards it but it is a second to none health system. Greece you look after yourself, there is no nursing whatsoever. I think it is right that you should pay but it is an unfair system, everybody should have to pay for it in some way.

[gina32]

my daughter was in a car rthat crashed, she was in the back seat and the only one to have to go to hospital, we had a bill a few weeks later for the ambulance but i gave it to the driver to sort out with her insurance company

[O'Reilly]

Oh my! Not just me then who has a bit of a jaundiced view. I think it does depend on the hospital as I was at another local hospital in July and had lots of tablets and have not had a bill (yet???) of course I don't mind paying for antibiotics but it was such a surprise seeing a bill this morning with a sort of "pay immediately" on it. Nice of the local cottage hospital to not charge me for a month of almost daily bandaging and 28 tablets and very nice of the district hospital to charge me �6.85 for 5 tablets that were issued "in case I needed them".

I do appreciate that a doctors prescription costs (unless exempt) but I would have thought emergency treatment was FOC - I live and learn.

[daffy654]

I use an inhaler that costs my GP's surgery �70.00 a time(Seretide in case anyone is interested) I think I would rather pay the prescription charge than pay that every month. I had no idea what these things cost until I was told by the respiratory nurse during an inpatient stay,I also didn't know that the difference between the actual cost and my prescription cost came out of my GP's budget for the year until then.

[bednobs]

HAVING ANTIBIOTICS "just in case" is not emergency treatment though. Emergency treatment is free at the point of delivery