Just paid £2.25 per tab from Travelpharm (plus £10 for prescription for 2 of us)

Have a look online to see if there is a Superdrug travel clinic near you. Only £2.28 a tablet there.

Thanks again

There doesn't appear to be a Superdrug close to us with a pharmacy so I think they will have to be purchased online, have you received yours from Travelpharm OK?

Yup, got our tabs from Travelpharm.com ~ 7 days after ordering - 46 tabs for £113.50 inc the prescribing charge.Our own GP surgery wanted £20 EACH for a private prescription!!

Our own GP surgery wanted £20 EACH for a private prescription!!

Our GP never charged anything.

Not even for Malarone tablets? You must have a very generous GP.!

Hi brewerdave

I am a bit confused, you say the price of the malaria tablets incuding the presciption fee,
did Travelpharm actually provide their own presciption for you?

Cheers
Tush

Hi tush - yes, you fill out a simple health questionnaire on line - it includes your contact phone no. so if there are any queries then the pharmacist will contact you - they charge £10 regardless of how many want tablets. Since our doctor's surgery wanted £20 EACH for a private prescription it was a no brainer - apparently bigger ASDA stores will also do something similar.

It is worth checking with your GP first to see if they will charge you for a prescription for Malarone, as I mentioned our surgery didn't charge us for our prescriptions

Just like Kiltman, my GP has never charged me for a private prescription either and in fact gave me my last lot of anti-Malaria pills on a standard NHS prescription as well on the grounds that it would cost the NHS an awful lot more if I didn't take them and came back with Malaria. So always worth chacking out your GP first.

SM

SMa/Kiltman - can you ask your Drs. to ring my surgery and persuade him of the benefits

Perhaps you should just move to Scotland - looks like canny Scots GPs take the longer view and think that a penny spent now saves a pound later.

SM

The last time I got a private prescription for Malarone, I wasn't charged either. The only thing I was charged for was the yellow fever jab, £35 i think it was and also had 5 boosters for everything else at the same time (over 3 weeks), also without charge.

Darren

Going to Gambia in a few weeks, just got malarone from Asda pharmacy in Edinburgh. 23 tablets cost £57.50 per person. No private prescription needed. I asked pharmacist in Boots how some GP's dont charge for a private prescription and put it on an NHS prescripion - she said all GP's in the UK should do a private prescription for malarone - if they didn't they were defrauding the NHS. Our GP was charging £15.00 for a private prescription - so we saved £15.00 per person going to Asda.

Whether a GP charges for drawing up/issung a private prescrition is up to them - it's private and off the NHS and they keep whatever fee they charge for themselves which is why the rates can vary so much between different practices. Pharmacists will then charge the going rate for the drugs when they fill a private prescription. So a GP can issue a private prescription for free but then you pay the retail price for what has been prescribed.

But while there are restrictions on which drugs a GP can issue an NHS prescription for, they do also have a degree of discretion in some situations too. If they think that there are good reasons why a patient should have one drug over another etc or if they think that there are particular risks for a patient depending on their medical history then they can still prescribe on the NHS something that they think is more suited to them than is recommended by NICE as a general rule. If something can't be prescribed on the NHS ie it's not been approved by NICE then the pharmacist won't fulfill the prescription at all, so GPs can't defraud the NHS by pescribing something that isn't available on the NHS as the Boots pharmacist seemed to be suggesting.

However, I am surprised that any pharmacist would sell a drug such as Malarone over the counter without either a prescription (private or NHS) from a GP who had investigated any contraindications in the light of your medical history, or alternatively taking a medical history as Brewerdave describes, so that they can be sure that it is safe for you to take in the light of any other health conditions you have or medication that you might be on.

SM

Whether a GP charges for drawing up/issung a private prescrition is up to them - it's private and off the NHS and they keep whatever fee they charge for themselves which is why the rates can vary so much between different practices

Just noticed a brand new Jaguar parked outside my local surgery

hi going to gambia in a couple of weeks. i have heard that people dont bother taking mararia tablets. is this true ???

hi Veade.you would be very foolish if you ignored the Health Warnings.You also need to take from your Doctor some injections one I remember is for Yellow Fever.Having visited Gambia twice ( ten years ) now I always remember two women who died on there return to the Uk from Mosquito btes.Is it worth it ? I do not think so.Enjoy your holiday but in the safe knowledge that you have taken the precautions.

Ian

We have done Kenya so no need for injections it just seems a lot of money £57 a week each i no its not a lot to save your life