Dispensing charge for OTC medication but on prescription

masterboy123

Registered User
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Hi All,

Could I ask if a medication (Fluticasone nasal spray 50mcg) which is available over the counter but prescribed by a doctor on a prescription, incurs dispensing charge from the pharmacy?

I am not sure if I need to show the prescription or can simply pick it up myself for the cheapest purchase.

Thanks
 
Why wouldn't you just buy it over the counter?
Why would you present the prescription for an OTC medicine?
Unless it was in order to avail of the Drugs Payment Scheme?
Are you sure that the OTC product is the same dosage etc. as what's been prescribed?
Sometimes there are lower dosage versions that are not controlled and are available over the counter but higher dosage ones require a prescription.
 
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Holders of medical cards and members of other schemes are perfectly entitled to avail of OTC medications under one of the schemes if their GP & pharmacist agree, i.e. GP issues the prescription, pharmacist fills it. There is usually a dispensing fee of €1 / €2 per item.
 
On the specific topic of dispensing charges, this thread may be of interest.
As I mentioned here, I've never faced any dispensing charges with Chemist Warehouse.
 
Is the dispensing fee per item what applies to medical card holders, and introduced during more austere times, 2010 I think? There was Dail questions to the minister as to plans to remove it.
 
Why wouldn't you just buy it over the counter?
I didn't know it's available over the counter. I saw this later in month.
Why would you present the prescription for an OTC medicine?
When the specialist gave me the prescription I didn't know its OTC medication. I just saw it on the shelf of the pharmacy later.
Unless it was in order to avail of the Drugs Payment Scheme?
no.
Are you sure that the OTC product is the same dosage etc. as what's been prescribed?
Sometimes there are lower dosage versions that are not controlled and are available over the counter but higher dosage ones require a prescription.
Yes, i confirmed the dosage. It's exactly the same bottle with same dosage in mcg.

I suppose when it was prescribed, I was able to upload the receipt on the online Revenue account to avail of some tax back (20%). But does the dispensing charges make this more expensive?
 
This is interesting. I have been prescribed an item which is available OTC. Pharmacist told we it's cheaper to buy it OTC, but I hadn't thought about the tax back on prescribed items. I'll check the dispensing fee next time I'm in a pharmacy.
But the hassle of organising a new prescription every 6 months would probably not justify saving a euro or 2.
 
OTC packs are usually different to prescription only packs in a couple of ways.
Firstly, the labelling, information leaflet and licenced indications will differ. The OTC product will usually be licenced for a more restricted list of indications and for shorter term use. Secondly, the pack size will often be smaller. A prescription pack of nasal spray might have 100 doses and the OTC pack might only have 60.
 
Could I ask if a medication (Fluticasone nasal spray 50mcg) which is available over the counter but prescribed by a doctor on a prescription, incurs dispensing charge from the pharmacy?
I think the only way to get a definitive answer to your question is to take your prescription to a few local pharmacies and ask them how much is this item on prescription and how much is it over the counter.

My experience with chemists is they differ in pricing structures, some charge a prescription fee, others don’t but have a higher base price, discount chemists like Pure etc are way cheaper on common repeat meds like statins, blood pressure etc but might not be much cheaper on less common or non repeat drugs.

All chemists though can charge whatever they want to paying customers whether on prescription or not. All chemists appear to have a very high margin on many items if you don’t have a medical card or you have not hit the €80 threshold on the drug payment scheme.

An example I came across is Nizoral shampoo, it can be prescribed or bought over the counter, Google says standard chemists charge €18, discount chemists €13 but if either chemist dispenses Nizoral (Drug code 76333) to a medical card holder or someone who has hit their €80 threshold on the DPS scheme they are only paid €4.28 for that same shampoo.
Atorvastatin 20 mg (Drug code 24707) a common statin is around €8 in the standard chemist, less than €5 in the discount chemist, but if dispensed to a medical card holder or on the DPS scheme the chemist gets paid €3.

You can put your drug name or code in here to see what the HSE pays chemists for drugs dispensed to medical card holders or under the DPS scheme. It is interesting to compare what yo pay the chemist compared to what the HSE pays the chemist for the exact same drug;
https://www.sspcrs.ie/druglist/pub
 
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Luckily, I don't have a chronic illness, and my annual expenditure on medicines is under €100 annually. That said, I saw two different pharmacies in my area telling my spouse (who is on long-term prescription drug) that they have only a 3- or 4-month supply instead of the prescribed 6 months, and asked us to pay for 3 months now and return after 3 months.

When I challenged whether I could pay for the full 6 months now, they acknowledged that it would save me their dispensing fee. So I felt they purposely hid not having enough supply in order to charge dispensing fees more often. I may be wrong, but that's what I feel.
 
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