GPs may soon tell patients: Buy your own medicines

Patients could be asked by their GP to buy their own medicines under a radical NHS cost-cutting drive.

Health chiefs in west London, who are under orders to save £135 million this year, have also proposed axing a host of medicines and treatments that doctors routinely prescribe.

They warned that there could be fewer heart and children’s operations and fewer GP appointments and community nurses if the public do not agree to their proposals.

Patients who currently receive free prescriptions — as well as those who pay the £8.60 fee — would be asked to buy medicines themselves at a pharmacy or supermarket. These range from antihistamines for hay fever to ibuprofen painkillers, mouthwash and infant formula milk.

In addition, GPs would no longer routinely prescribe products such as anti-perspirants, cough and cold remedies, baby teething gels and travel sickness tablets.

A consultation has been launched by North West London clinical commissioning groups, which buy health care for about two million people in eight boroughs from Westminster to Hillingdon. They are the first of a series of cutbacks in the area designed to ensure the NHS redirects scarce resources to caring for an older and increasingly sick population.

A final decision is expected next month but sources said the groups expect to go ahead with their plans, which could save up to £15 million. Further cuts will be announced later this year. The move — which had to be watered down after protests from health campaigners — is the latest example of how health chiefs are being forced to ration care.

Axing IVF and restrictions on surgery for smokers and obese people have been proposed in Richmond and Croydon, while doctors in Greenwich are trying to limit repeat prescriptions.

The eight CCGs initially planned to ban GPs outright from prescribing certain items until it was pointed out that this could only by done by changing the law. Graham Hawkes, head of Healthwatch Hillingdon, said: “This approach could still potentially restrict patients from accessing medication they are entitled to and lead to greater inequality through differing prescribing decisions.”

The amount paid by the NHS for medicines obtained under prescription is often far higher than the over-the-counter cost. In addition, the NHS pays at least £1.25 for each item dispensed by a pharmacist.

Another proposal is to end “automatic” re-issuing of repeat prescriptions. This would cut waste and improve safety, and could save a further £9 million a year. Dr Ian Goodman, chairman of the Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group, said it “makes sense to prescribe less of certain medicines you can buy on the high street.”