Post by Silly Yak on Mar 2, 2011 18:08:27 GMT
THE ONE QUESTION
Posted by MSG on 2/3/2011, 16:56:08
I notice in the reply from Sue Mills (who is 'The head of medicines management and and lead for the whole pharmacy team') she states that...
...the one question we cannot find the answer to is why the NHS is charged so much for gluten free products...
I would like to know this too. Although I don't support gluten-free food on prescription for most people I don't see why the NHS should be paying way over the odds.
Most of the prices she quotes are exactly the same as the prices at the NHS Information Centre for 2009 and the rest are out by a few pence.
The questions then are:
Are these the prices the NHS is actually paying or are these just nominal prices quoted by suppliers to avoid having to reveal their real prices to the competition?
If these are the real prices, then why can't the NHS buy these products in the open market rather than directly from the suppliers?
Juvela (a.k.a. Semper) mix seems to be available in Germany at EUR 2.30 in other words about a third of what the NHS is paying for it.
I think these questions need to be answered.
By the way, if anyone needs assistance understanding the NHS information centre data I can help you.