On Thu, 16 Jul 1998 23:40:30 +0100, Jeff Green wrote:
Is it legal to walk and chew at the same time? ;-)
> Given that some GP's do write private scripts for their NHS patients if the
>cost to the patient would be less than the NHS prescription tax.
- I am not aware that this is legal
- It deprives the Treasury of tax revenue vital to the materilaisation
of the 21bn vapourmoney ;-)
>Given that most pharmacies sell rather than dispense those products which
>can be sold when a payable NHS prescription is presented.
Is this legal?
I usually say to the patient to ask the chemist if the drug on the NHS
script is cheaper OTC and to tear up the FP10 if so.
>Is it then possible to go a stage further (with the agreement of both the
>GP's and pharmacists) if on the presentation by the patient of a payable NHS
>script which would be cheaper to the patient as a private Rx) for the
>pharmacist to copy the NHS script as a private script for the GP to sign
>later(with the NHS script returned to the GP as proof of supply).
- A lot of chemists in my area operate a system of 'floor' price for
private scripts which is not far off the NHS script tax
- This is not dissimilar to the book price fixing agreement that was
bust open by the supermarkets and others
- Wether this is a cartel I do not know. Perhaps you might shed some
light on it
The hypothesis you present above would work when most GPs and Chemists
are either private concerns or 'managed' by the Health Maintenance
Firms.
Give it 5-10 years ;-)
Ahmad
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Dr Ahmad Risk
http://mednetics.org
home: +44 1273 748198
work: +44 1737 240022
fax: +44 1737 244660
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