Is there a medication dispensing charge?

SlugBreath said:
I will try Pure Pharmacy that is beside Boots when I next have my subscription updated by my doctor.
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I called in to Boots Blackrock today. My prescription for Cholesterol lowering tablets was priced at €11. 85 in Boots. While waiting for my prescription to be filled I strolled to Pure Pharmacy to see how much they would charge. For the same product, amount etc. they were charging €4....a whopping €7 cheaper than Boots.
I went back to Boots and had my prescription emailed to Pure Pharmacy.

I can't believe the difference in price.
 
SlugBreath said:
I can't believe the difference in price.
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That's why I mentioned it here and have also mentioned it many times in the past on AAM.

When I started on cholesterol tablets many years ago I paid €48 per month for Crestor because none of the generics were available at the time. Husband was the same so that means a difference of €88 which is mad :oops:
 
Boots are recently charging me €4.00 monthly for a blister package on top of my €80.00 on my my medication charge. Going to change my chemist who says the will not be charging for the blister pack when I get my new prescription.
 
Does Chemist Warehouse accept online prescriptions? I don't have one in my city.
Or other cheaper alternatives that accept online prescriptions?
Thanks
 
Sue Ellen said:
That's why I mentioned it here and have also mentioned it many times in the past on AAM.

When I started on cholesterol tablets many years ago I paid €48 per month for Crestor because none of the generics were available at the time. Husband was the same so that means a difference of €88 which is mad :oops:
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Many thanks for the tip @Sue Ellen
 
Don't want to go Boots bashing but I recently bought a 24pk Paralief(generic paraceamol) and they charged €4.
Not only is this more expensive than local chemists (charging €2 /€2.5 for it) but more expensive than 2 x 12 pks of branded paracetamol in my local Supervalu).
This is only a low value product but a reminder to shop around a little for value.
 
We use Pure and I find their app for ordering very useful, and a couple of times they have contacted me re prescriptions they think might be incorrect… and they did indeed pick up a mistake a doctor made.mm
 
I’ve been buying my meds at pure pharmacy for a few years now, always 6 months at a time. Just make sure you tell the GP to write “repeat 6x” on the prescription! (Never been charged a “dispensing charge”.)
Forgot my meds recently on a trip to Cork and had to get a month supply in a local pharmacy: it was more than *double* the price (on top of the €25 for my GP to send the prescription). That’ll teach me…
 
Been going to Pure myself since 2020 and can't really fault them at all when it come to service and price
What I really like compared to Boots is not the price but that I generally get to deal with the same Pharmacist/person,
which is something I can't say about Boots and I feel it also helps me a lot when I've questions about my medication that the pharmacist is also familiar with me and my history.

In case you don't know, if your a regular customer of Pure, on all things other than medicine the Pharmacist/Sales Assistance can and generally will give you a discretionary discount of 10% if you ask nicely or at least in my Pure they do :)
 
My elderly Parents have a medical card (mother got it when she was going through cancer treatment); their local pharmacy got taken over by Boots and not only have the lost the local/personal touch what with staff turnover etc. the Pharmacy will only fill an entire prescription. My Dad had a script with a few items on it, one of which was a Ventolin inhaler which the Doctor had left on the script. When he told the pharmacist he didn't need it the pharmacist said they couldn't issue a partial script - annoying and a waste; didn't matter that Dad wasn't paying for it. Folks found a different pharmacy.
 
GAAmam said:
When he told the pharmacist he didn't need it the pharmacist said they couldn't issue a partial script - annoying and a waste; didn't matter that Dad wasn't paying for it. Folks found a different pharmacy.
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Sounds like a money making racket and certainly something that would cost the HSE in the long run. I only get particular items that I have run out of on the script and there is never any problem in doing that with Pure.
 
That sounds like such a waste! I often tell them to omit something I don’t need and it’s never a problem in Pure.
 
Annieindublin said:
That sounds like such a waste! I often tell them to omit something I don’t need and it’s never a problem in Pure.
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I’ve never had a problem ordering some items on a prescription in any pharmacy . Sounds like poor practice from boots .
 
Sue Ellen said:
Are you familiar with the date for the changes in prescriptions to come into force?
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It came in on the 1st March.
Your doctor may now issue a prescription for some medications for up to 12 months.
Your pharmacist may now extend a 6 month prescription that was written after 1st March, for some medications for up to 12 months.

It is explained here with some examples;
https://www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/87eb1-pharmacy-services/
 
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Have the pharmacists 'accepted' this? heard an interview on the radio with a pharmacist about a week ago and she said she and other pharmacists wanted more detail and rules etc. she said its particularly problematic where a patient has been prescribed medication by a specialist or another medical person.
Allowing pharmacists to prescribe some basic medications would be a big step; remember having kids home 'sick' from creche with basic ailments e.g. conjunctivitis and having to pay extra to the out of hours doctor on Saturday just so they could get started on the drops. Must be many other straightforward illnesses that could be addressed by a pharmacist
 
GAAmam said:
Have the pharmacists 'accepted' this? heard an interview on the radio with a pharmacist about a week ago and she said she and other pharmacists wanted more detail and rules etc. she said its particularly problematic where a patient has been prescribed medication by a specialist or another medical person.
Allowing pharmacists to prescribe some basic medications would be a big step; remember having kids home 'sick' from creche with basic ailments e.g. conjunctivitis and having to pay extra to the out of hours doctor on Saturday just so they could get started on the drops. Must be many other straightforward illnesses that could be addressed by a pharmacist
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I am against the idea of pharmacists prescribing antibiotics, hypnotics or any other strong medication
In the example of conjunctivitis, it can easily by misdiagnosed with blepharitis, scleritis, etc. and lead to incorrect treatment by a non-medical professional.
 
My worry is that while individual pharmacists are usually high calibre and do a great job, there are more and more pharmacy chains with managers calling the shots. They push pharmacists to achieve certain commercial targets and there could be pressure to make sales rather than to give the best advice. At the moment antibiotic prescribing is decoupled from the sales but if a pharmacist can do both then you have potential pressure from a patient/customer who is insisting on antibiotics plus a pharmacy manager who wants you to sell more.

This is already evident in a lot of chains where they sell unproven "remedies" and placebos at high prices. I got a course of antibiotics a few years ago and the pharmacist offered me a box of probiotics "for gut health" which were 3x the cost of the antibiotics. I asked what the evidence was and she said she didn't know, she was just supposed to offer it to anyone who got antibiotics.
 
I use Chemist Warehouse in Henry Street, Dublin 1.
I've never had any problem asking them to omit something that I no longer need from a prescription.
I don't know if they price any dispensing charge into prescribed items but there is no dispensing charge listed separately on the receipt.
And if I get, say, three months of my usual meds instead of one then the total price is simply three times the single month's supply - no more and no less.
They are far and away the cheapest for the regular meds that I need.
 
Does anyone know if pure pharmacy charge a script dispensing fee? They were refusing to dispense multiple months together for me and I was wondering fi it was due to this (may not be)
 
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