Discount Offers of the Week

[Ferdinand]

8 hours ago, ProDave said:

Have you seen the price of a prescription in England?

 

Something like 80% of prescriptions are issued free, and a 12 month ‘season ticket’ caps it at about £100 per year for unlimited items. So not at all bad, really.

 

I think the basic principle of maintaining a small charge for things as a way of maintaining a perception of value / slanting the field against abuse is important. Personally I would support a small charge for a consultation, perhaps redeemable from somewhere.

 

But yes, for over 65s they are free.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

4 hours ago, AliG said:

Complan Original is £4.50 in Tesco and on Amazon. That is equivalent to around £0.60 per serving, but it is a tub that you have to measure it out from rather than pre measured portions.

 

You could also ask if there are any alternatives that she can take. Looking on Google, it looks like Horlicks has very similar nutritional value to Complan, except for Vitamin K and Iron, but is way cheaper.

 

True .. also have that to add to eg last night a Chicken Tikka. 

 

The ones I am asking about are the flavoured sachets. They do chocolate, vanilla, banana, strawberry, chicken, and the chocolate is approved with tinned pears. I think I missed one flavour, but the others are disapproved. Can’t blame her on some of them .. we have never had the ‘dinner as powder plus water’ culture in the family. The strawberry one is Germoline mixed with Ribena colour, and the Velvety Vanilla sounds like a sub-brand of Durex.

 

I may get around to looking at alternatives, but for now we just need something reliable as deterioration has been rapid and I need to stabilise then reverse weight loss as a matter of urgency ... which is the difference between all day wheel chair and some ability to walk with a stick or grab rails, transfer to loo by herself etc.

 

Most of the effort is going into reconfiguring the house as a move has been made downstairs, and chucking a lot of stuff out, as we need wheelchair manoeuvring space in most rooms all of a sudden. And there is oodles of kit ... today we had a thing called a Rotunda (helps transfers chair to loo etc), which is a rotatory thing like the platform from Blofeld’s mini-lift, a Perching Stool (slIghtly sloped height adjustable bar stool with arms and back), and a Mobile Commode arrive, and all have to be kept somewhere. All have to be stored somewhere, and until Support systems get set up and refined I am on 24 hour duty.

 

Second bathroom is also being redone in the current fortnight.

 

@newhome You can get similar on prescription on the specific recommendation of a Dietician, I believe. I think it was tightened up after old people’s homes played the system too much. We can self refer to the Dietician, but that will take time.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

[newhome]

2 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

@newhome You can get similar on prescription on the specific recommendation of a Dietician, I believe. I think it was tightened up after old people’s homes played the system too much. We can self refer to the Dietician, but that will take time.

 

Both my hubby and my mother got them from the ordinary GP. Neither went to a dietitian. Hubby had his as he pretty much stopped being able to eat normal food, and my mother was prescribed them when she lost more than a stone after a RA flare up and she can’t afford to lose that amount of weight.  

[Vijay]

11 hours ago, ProDave said:

Have you seen the price of a prescription in England?

 

Very true, which is why you'd get a prescription certificate at £10.40 a month  

[Jeremy Harris]

3 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

Something like 80% of prescriptions are issued free, and a 12 month ‘season ticket’ caps it at about £100 per year for unlimited items. So not at all bad, really.

 

I think the basic principle of maintaining a small charge for things as a way of maintaining a perception of value / slanting the field against abuse is important. Personally I would support a small charge for a consultation, perhaps redeemable from somewhere.

 

But yes, for over 65s they are free.

 

 

 

 

In England and Wales (not sure about Scotland) you get free prescriptions from the age of 60, rather than 65.  You get free eye tests from the age of 60 too, but not free dental check ups.

 

I think that whether or not a GP will prescribe dietary supplements is probably as variable as other prescribing practices.  Certainly our new GP has a markedly more open approach to prescribing than our old one.  Got to be worth seeing if the GP will issue a prescription, though, I'd have thought.

[Ferdinand]

33 minutes ago, newhome said:

 

Both my hubby and my mother got them from the ordinary GP. Neither went to a dietitian. Hubby had his as he pretty much stopped being able to eat normal food, and my mother was prescribed them when she lost more than a stone after a RA flare up and she can’t afford to lose that amount of weight.  

 

Thanks.

 

I’ll whack in an order to cover about a month, then take a breather and see what the Doc can do.

 

Hmm. Complan is in the BNF

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/borderline-substance/complan-shake.html

and NHS indicative price is 2.80 per 4 sachets, which suggests that my 2.70 is doing OK for a start.

 

There also seems to be a distinction between things like Complan and Buildup, which seem to be called ‘borderlien’, and other ones which are for further-gone cases. Will talk to the advice pharmacist at the GP.

 

 But eg this guidance in Kirklees says it is not prescribable.

https://www.northkirkleesccg.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Final_Guidance_for_the_use_of_Oral_Nutritional_Supplements.pdf

 

F

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

5 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

In England and Wales (not sure about Scotland) you get free prescriptions from the age of 60, rather than 65.  You get free eye tests from the age of 60 too, but not free dental check ups

 

Being a whippersnapper nowhere near 60, I would not know that in detail ?.

[Ralph]

19 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

In England and Wales (not sure about Scotland) you get free prescriptions from the age of 60, rather than 65.  You get free eye tests from the age of 60 too, but not free dental check ups.

Free prescriptions and and eye tests for everyone up here. Had one GP who tried to give me olive oil for earache on prescription.

[AliG]

There is a general feeling that the SNP just introduced free prescriptions to wind up the English. 90% of prescriptions are free in England and the maximum you pay with a prepayment certificate if you have lots of prescriptions is £104 a year. Yet people bring this up every time prescriptions are mentioned.

 

Similarly people in England now seem to think that social care is free in Scotland. It is not, what the government will cover is the personal and nursing part of care. This is apparently up to £174 per week for personal care and £78 for nursing care. This is better than England but still would probably only cover around 20% of nursing home costs. Most of the cost of nursing homes is accommodation costs. So you might end up paying around £30,000 a year instead of £40,000 a year.

[newhome]

36 minutes ago, AliG said:

There is a general feeling that the SNP just introduced free prescriptions to wind up the English. 90% of prescriptions are free in England and the maximum you pay with a prepayment certificate if you have lots of prescriptions is £104 a year. Yet people bring this up every time prescriptions are mentioned.

 

+1. We always get ‘free prescriptions’ called out as a massive benefit when as you say 90% of prescriptions are free in England and I pay a well into 4 figure sum of additional tax to live here with ‘free prescriptions’!!  

[newhome]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

But eg this guidance in Kirklees says it is not prescribable.

 

Says prescribable in certain circumstances. 

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, newhome said:

 

Says prescribable in certain circumstances. 

 

True. Prescribable after a process. My too short summary.

 

Speaking to the pharmacist adviser employed by our surgery, the policy is similar ... requires a consultation with a dietician.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

 

[daiking]

So it would seem the prescription charge doesn’t actually deter timewasters if 80-90% are free. It just pisses off people who actually work.

[Ferdinand]

23 hours ago, daiking said:

So it would seem the prescription charge doesn’t actually deter timewasters if 80-90% are free. It just pisses off people who actually work.

 

(late reply)

 

Don’t have the data to answer that I am afraid. Crudely it would require a long term comparison of growth rates, ideally taking into account eg the higher diabetic rate (free prescriptions completely) in Scotland vs England and similar factors.

 

F

Edited October 2, 2019 by Ferdinand

[AliG]

In Scotland the 4th most prescribed drug is Paracetamol and the 8th is Aspirin. I know that some people need to get Paracetamol prescribed because of the limit on buying them over the counter. On our last holiday in the USA we bought a tub of 500 for $5.59.

 

This is the growth in prescriptions in Scotland, it has been rising at around 2% per person per year.

 

 

According to this

 

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/prescriptions-dispensed-in-the-community/prescriptions-dispensed-in-the-community-england---2007---2017

 

Prescriptions per head of population has grown at 2.9% CAGR over the same period in England. The total number of prescriptions grew 39% compared to around 28% in Scotland.

 

So doing away with charges has not affected growth in Scotland apparently.

 

However, cost per patient in Scotland is around £250 compared to £166 in England so much higher. The prescription bill in England is 7x higher for 10x the population. The number of prescriptions per head is actually slightly lower in Scotland.

 

 

[AliG]

Getting back on topic, Kwik-Fit have 10% off two or more Michelin tyres plus a free Amazon Echo Show 5(Which I was going to buy anyway) valued at £79.99 today plus 2.6% back on Quidco.

 

So I finally ordered my Crossclimates.

 

TBH the guys at the local Kwik-Fit have been very good at fixing punctures recently, I would rather deal with them than Costco who are very unhelpful tyre wise.

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, AliG said:

In Scotland the 4th most prescribed drug is Paracetamol and the 8th is Aspirin. I know that some people need to get Paracetamol prescribed because of the limit on buying them over the counter. On our last holiday in the USA we bought a tub of 500 for $5.59.

 

This is the growth in prescriptions in Scotland, it has been rising at around 2% per person per year.

 

 

According to this

 

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/prescriptions-dispensed-in-the-community/prescriptions-dispensed-in-the-community-england---2007---2017

 

Prescriptions per head of population has grown at 2.9% CAGR over the same period in England. The total number of prescriptions grew 39% compared to around 28% in Scotland.

 

So doing away with charges has not affected growth in Scotland apparently.

 

However, cost per patient in Scotland is around £250 compared to £166 in England so much higher. The prescription bill in England is 7x higher for 10x the population. The number of prescriptions per head is actually slightly lower in Scotland.

 

 

 

There's also things such as approximately double the population growth rate in England vs Scotland, different age structure, and different illness / disease levels by ethnic community.

 

F

[Jeremy Harris]

23 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

There's also things such as approximately double the population growth rate in England vs Scotland, different age structure, and different illness / disease levels by ethnic community.

 

F

 

I've not forgotten registering with a GP shortly after we moved to SW Scotland, and immediately being booked in for a series of health checks and tests, as I was (just) over 40 at the time.  When I asked why all these tests were needed, I was told that Stranraer (which is where the surgery was) had the highest incidence of heart disease and strokes in the UK.  When I looked into the data for the area it made for grim reading.  At that time, male life expectancy in the area around Stranraer was around 5 years lower than for most of the UK.  Alcohol-related illness was a major cause of mortality.  One advantage of living there was that the amount of effort put in to primary health care was markedly greater than the area we'd just moved from, Cornwall.  The disadvantage was that Stranraer was like a war zone at night, with lots of alcohol-fuelled violence.

[SteamyTea]

On 01/10/2019 at 09:48, JSHarris said:

In England and Wales (not sure about Scotland) you get free prescriptions from the age of 60, rather than 65

Not long to go for me then.  Last time I saw a doctor, she put a huge camera up my arse.

Not sure I want to go back for that 'special personal service'.

 

[Onoff]

35 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Not long to go for me then.  Last time I saw a doctor, she put a huge camera up my arse.

Not sure I want to go back for that 'special personal service'.

 

 

Got her number?

[SteamyTea]

1 minute ago, Onoff said:

37 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Not long to go for me then.  Last time I saw a doctor, she put a huge camera up my arse.

Not sure I want to go back for that 'special personal service'.

 

 

Got her number

999

Everytime I look at a bicycle pump my cheeks clench, tightly.

[Triassic]

On 30/09/2019 at 21:52, newhome said:

 

Won't the GP give something similar on prescription? 

A friend gets hers from the GP,  she has a prescription season ticket. Might be worth considering.

[newhome]

5 minutes ago, Triassic said:

A friend gets hers from the GP,  she has a prescription season ticket. Might be worth considering.

 

I doubt @Ferdinand‘s mother will need a season ticket as that’s only if you pay for prescriptions and need multiple. It may be the difference between postcodes, ie some will prescribe the build up drinks and some won’t. My mother is down to 7.5 stone so she is getting them now. 

[Triassic]

PLASTER BOARD

 

Im about to start first fix, then plaster boarding. 
 

I need around 940m2 of plaster board, has anyone spotted any bulk deals?

[Ferdinand]

On 19/10/2019 at 11:08, Triassic said:

PLASTER BOARD

 

Im about to start first fix, then plaster boarding. 
 

I need around 940m2 of plaster board, has anyone spotted any bulk deals?

 

Not sure how useful it is, and I have no idea where prices are at present, but as a sighting shot Wickes 12.5mm 8x4 sheets are quoted at £2.60 per sqm, which means that  by nurdling the normal discounts (Trade plus a Reloadable Cashcard) you should be at about £2.10 per sqm.

 

That would give free delivery for £250 chunks of order.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Ferdinand