...And Pharmacists Switching FP10s

Meantime, UK pharmacists (and a notable reported case in Prestatyn, North Wales has received particular attention), are coming in for criticism or praise, depending on the viewpoint, for dispensing prescriptions issued on National Health Service FFP10s to private prescriptions in order, it is claimed, to save money for patients and fund-holding doctors.

In the UK, many pharmaceutical products can be bought at less than the prescription charge of L5.25 ($8.38). What Mike Tucker, the Welsh pharmacist is doing, reports the journal General Practitioner, is checking on his computer program whether the general practitioner's prescription can be dispensed cheaper privately. If the product costs less than L2, he offers patients a private script, adding a L2 private dispensing fee. The average script cost is therefore said to come out at about L3.60. Mr Tucker told GP that what he was doing meant savings for both the fund-holding GP and the patient.

Mr Tucker reportedly revealed details of his system in support of another pharmacist who faces Family Health Services Authority disciplinary action over a similar scheme. This pharmacist apparently dispensed private scripts by writing "private" across the FP10. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has confirmed that Mr Tucker's system is legal, and the Department of Health has also said that pharmacists may offer private scripts.