Private prescriptions, issues and the cost of delivery to you
How much is a private prescription?
The price of private prescription medicine varies depending on the type of medicine that you have been privately prescribed. The cost of dispensing each private prescription will be shared with you when you call the pharmacy. You may wish to check the price with us before you have your prescription dispensed. Simply ask our pharmacy team. They’ll be happy to help. You may find that the cost of a private prescription may sometimes be less than NHS prescriptions. However, this may not be so for private prescriptions. Read on to find out more about the costs of your prescription medication.
NHS prescription costs
You should know that in England, all NHS prescription items are priced at £9.35. This means that each item on a prescription – and not the total medication itself – costs £9.35. Let’s suppose you pick up two or more prescription items per month. In that case, save some money on your NHS prescriptions by ordering a prescription prepayment certificate (PPC).
What is a PPC?
A PPC is a prepaid card that lets you collect as many prescription items over a set period of three or 12 months.
NHS prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Choosing to have a private prescription
Everyone in the UK is entitled via the NHS to free healthcare. There are certain circumstances where charges apply to certain NHS medical treatments. Long waiting times and crowded treatment centres are often a dilemma for NHS care. For these reasons, many patients may decide to use private healthcare.
Are you interested in using private healthcare services? Ever wonder about how many private prescriptions cost and how to get a private prescription online? Please continue to read.
Private prescription costs
A private prescription cost is calculated based on the medication and the level of service you receive.
The traditional method of private prescription services works by issuing you with a paper prescription during a face-to-face appointment. Others now offer online consultation with a private doctor, who then send you the prescription in the post. This allows you to take to the paper prescription to the pharmacy to have it dispensed. Since the prescription is private, there is a fee attached, and you will have to pay for your medication. So it will not be charged at the NHS fee of £9.35.
There are other private prescription services that work by issuing prescription medication directly to you online. So instead of going to an appointment or applying for a prescription online, you simply order the medication you need. How do they make sure that you will take your prescription medication safely? Well, you are asked to complete a short online questionnaire (the equivalent of a discussion with your GP) which is then assessed by a genuine doctor.
Generic vs branded medication
When obtaining private prescription medication, one key thing to consider is – the pricing is not a fixed fee. It’s possible to save money by asking for generic versions of your required drug.
Branded medication is most often the original version of a medicine, developed and sold by the founding pharmaceutical company. After a set period, the patent on this branded medicine expires. When that happens, other pharmaceutical companies can begin to manufacture the same active drug under different names. Generic drugs contain the exact same active ingredient as the original branded version. But they usually tend to be cheaper because they did not have to pay for researching, developing and marketing the medication.
One famous example of a branded medicine is Viagra, the first and original drug designed to treat erectile dysfunction. Viagra’s patent ran out, then other companies began developing generic versions. The cheaper generic version of Viagra is called Sildenafil. Sildenafil is the active ingredient in Viagra.
Trouble collecting your prescriptions?
Private prescription purchased online
There are a lot of patients wanting to know how to obtain a private prescription online. Often they are concerned with discretion and convenience. In recent years it has been easy to order private prescription medicines online. There are a bundle of excellent, highly regulated services available to help meet your needs. Your NHS prescriptions can be delivered safely to you for free from the comfort of your home with HotChemist. We offer our free prescription delivery service. Find out more about HotChemist.
If you have considered finding a doctor to see in person to obtain your private prescription, then you should look for services that can connect you with private GP surgeries. If you prefer not to see a doctor in person, you can use an online service to obtain your prescription.
With a service such as Hot Chemist, you can have your medicine posted to an address of your choice. We always ensure our packaging is discreet to consider your privacy.
Some example costs of private prescriptions
The cost of a private prescription largely depends upon the pricing of the medicine and the administrative fee included in the appointment or online service.
Using a service like Bupa for your private GP, the expected cost for both the appointment is normally transparent. The appointment is usually priced at £70. Additional services such as blood tests can cost more. Online consultation services tend to be cheaper in comparison, with administrative fees usually costing around £10.
You can benefit from using an online doctor service, where you can order private prescriptions instantly. The fee and prices will be available for you to browse on the site. Some services will set a minimum price, which incorporates the cost of the online consultation. Others will vary their prices depending upon the type of consultation.
The critical thing to consider is each service will offer various benefits. So spend some time researching your options before committing to a private prescription delivery service because, in the end, it will most definitely be worth your time and money.
How to get your private prescription dispensed at Hot Chemist
At Hot Chemist, we offer a fast turnaround for regular stocked items using our next day delivery service via DPD. The delivery charge is minimum £10.00 per delivery for parcels weighing under 10kg. This service is tracked. Please provide your mobile or email address in order for us to setup tracking and to enable us to send out your invoice for payment via PayPal.
How to get your prescription to us?
Send your private prescription to us in the post:
FREEPOST Hot Chemist
For Private GP clinics:
Please contact us on 01908 803499 and we can provide you with a secure email address for you to send a fax copy or pdf version of the private prescription, so as long as we receive the original within 72 hours of receiving the copy.
