locum-motion
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Re: Why do medical card patients have to bring their hospital prescription to their G
This and the original question are two examples of lack of "joined-up-thinking" in our Health Services. First off, in Irish law, no prescription is valid longer than 6 months after it was written, even if the Dr writes 'Repeat for one year' or 'Repeat for life' or some such on it. The doctors know (or should know) this. Any of you on regular medication should be familiar with this as the pharmacy should be sending you back to your Dr after each prescription runs out. This is as it should be, as otherwise the pharmacist has no way of knowing if the doctor is keeping an eye on your condition.
However, in Mathepac's case, the consultant obviously feels that a once-yearly check-up is sufficient, since annual appointments are being made.
In that case, why is the consultant issuing 3 month prescriptions? You'd need to ask the consultant that, but it doesn't make sense to me.
2 possible solutions:
1. Always ask for 6 month's worth of repeats, not 3. Then you only have to see the consultant and the GP once each per year.
2. Ask the consultant to write two prescriptions, each for 6 months but with the 2nd one pre-dated for 6 months later. Then you don't need to see GP at all.
As another poster has said, GP should always be informed of decisions/changes made by other Drs. Nevertheless, it isn't the patient's job to do that. The hospital should, but system falls down ocasionally.
Re the original question: yes, it really is a matter of stationery and databases. Hospital Drs do not have access to GMS prescription forms, and even if they did, they would have no access to any way of checking who's entitled to get their meds for free. So they just write private (ie plain paper) prescriptions for everybody. When a GMS patient brings that to the pharmacy, they are supposed to bring their medical card with them to prove their entitlement. In actuality, we pharmacists usually are familiar enough with the patient and have filed away their number in the past, so we know if they're entitled`or not.
2 points to note:
a. The scheme that allows you to get 7 days' supply only applies if you present the prescription in the pharmacy within 24hrs. If you wait 2-3 days, I think the logic is that it's not really urgent and you should have gone to the GP!
b. It does not apply to private hospitals eg Beacon, Blackrock, Galway, Hermitage Clinics. I think the logic there is that if you can afford to go there, you can afford your medicines. There is a flaw in that logic, though: what if the patient has a Medical Card and was sent to a private clinic under the National Treatment Purchase Fund? (I can't answer that one)
This and the original question are two examples of lack of "joined-up-thinking" in our Health Services. First off, in Irish law, no prescription is valid longer than 6 months after it was written, even if the Dr writes 'Repeat for one year' or 'Repeat for life' or some such on it. The doctors know (or should know) this. Any of you on regular medication should be familiar with this as the pharmacy should be sending you back to your Dr after each prescription runs out. This is as it should be, as otherwise the pharmacist has no way of knowing if the doctor is keeping an eye on your condition.
However, in Mathepac's case, the consultant obviously feels that a once-yearly check-up is sufficient, since annual appointments are being made.
In that case, why is the consultant issuing 3 month prescriptions? You'd need to ask the consultant that, but it doesn't make sense to me.
2 possible solutions:
1. Always ask for 6 month's worth of repeats, not 3. Then you only have to see the consultant and the GP once each per year.
2. Ask the consultant to write two prescriptions, each for 6 months but with the 2nd one pre-dated for 6 months later. Then you don't need to see GP at all.
As another poster has said, GP should always be informed of decisions/changes made by other Drs. Nevertheless, it isn't the patient's job to do that. The hospital should, but system falls down ocasionally.
Re the original question: yes, it really is a matter of stationery and databases. Hospital Drs do not have access to GMS prescription forms, and even if they did, they would have no access to any way of checking who's entitled to get their meds for free. So they just write private (ie plain paper) prescriptions for everybody. When a GMS patient brings that to the pharmacy, they are supposed to bring their medical card with them to prove their entitlement. In actuality, we pharmacists usually are familiar enough with the patient and have filed away their number in the past, so we know if they're entitled`or not.
2 points to note:
a. The scheme that allows you to get 7 days' supply only applies if you present the prescription in the pharmacy within 24hrs. If you wait 2-3 days, I think the logic is that it's not really urgent and you should have gone to the GP!
b. It does not apply to private hospitals eg Beacon, Blackrock, Galway, Hermitage Clinics. I think the logic there is that if you can afford to go there, you can afford your medicines. There is a flaw in that logic, though: what if the patient has a Medical Card and was sent to a private clinic under the National Treatment Purchase Fund? (I can't answer that one)