GP won't prescribe me pregabalin.

[Sober2000june]

Good luck heather, i was in Glasgow now in East ren. I know how you feel, your experience of the nhs just comes down to which doctor you access it with.

Take care,
Paul

[SmilingAlbert]

Great news!

As per earlier thread, NHS Scotland is a different org from NHS England and it appears has different rules, including over Preg, plus they seem more fearful of abuse potential, it would appear.

We'd all be pleased to hear how you get on with it I'm sure

So fingers crossed!

Albert

[hanshan]

Hello Heather,

I was forgetting that the NHS is broken up according to region with different rules. Australia is similar in some ways with each of the states making its own laws relating to different aspects of medical practice. However, rules for medications and prescribing are uniform nationally, which I think overall is a good thing. (It's also a principle of medical practice that doctors seem to have hung on to everywhere, that they are free to prescribe any medication apart from heavily controlled drugs - but they assume much greater responsibility if they go outside set guidelines.)

Anyway, best of luck with the prescription.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Its all very confusing because we have NHS England, NHS Scotland and we also have the MHRA who are responsible for licencing on behalf of the Department of Health. Its like MHRA can licence something (their remit is the UK) but then it comes down to the NHS bodies from there. Then we have local trusts and now we even have Care Quality Commissioners (CGC) so even if NHS England licence it, the trust can still choose not to use it as can the CQC and we end up with issues where just over the border you have patients accessing treatment that we can't.

Its a mad system really! I think they need to wake up to the fact that "National" hasn't been valid for a very long time in the UK.

[hanshan]

Hello Terry,

On the basis of what you say, I have to agree. It reminds me of feudal fiefdoms. Geographically, the whole of Europe fits inside Australia (just under half the area). Britain is a smallish bit of that, and yet is divided into different laws and rules down to your local health authority? For me, it's hard to understand. Also, it encourages people to switch doctors to a different locality where a medication is licensed - is that possible?

[heather89]

Thanks for all your replies guys. It makes me feel less like I was going insane wondering why I couldn't get pregabalin! I'm just back from the doctors. She explained that pregabalin is not licenced for anxiety in Scotland AT ALL. And the reason for this is because NHS Scotland has not asked for the go ahead by the manufacturer to use it for anxiety. The doctor agreed this was strange and confusing. I mentioned the price and she doesn't know why it costs so much but confirmed it is another reason why the NHS are reluctant to prescribe it. She did not seem phased by this though. She told me the starting dose is 150mg per day. She was going to give me 75mg x2 per day for the first week but then decided to do it 50mg 3x per day. She told me the price of each option, the 75mg x2 for one week was over £20. Then when she changed it to 50mg x3 per day it went up by a further £15 for the week. Crazy. But she said she would rather do it slower with me because I have had such strange side effects from drugs in the past. Which is understandable. She mentioned to me again about the abuse potential and also had to explain to me how, due to the fact it is not licenced for anxiety here, I need to be aware that I cannot shed any blame on the practice for prescribing me it. Which, again, is understandable and I completely accept this.

It is mental how the UK is such a small country yet this "national" health service is divided up. Beggars belief.

[Logan_Five]

NHS under the Tories. :( :( :(

God help us if they get in again.

[Sober2000june]

Good to hear you're getting the pregabalin heather.
I'm not brave as you, I started two weeks ago on 2x 25mg. Beginning to wonder if I'm just prolonging it. im on 100 per day at moment. 50morning , 25 aft and 25 eve.
I wish you well
Paul

[SmilingAlbert]

>>NHS under the Tories. :( :( :(
>>God help us if they get in again.

NHS in Scotland run by the SNP. On this matter, English get the drugs that can help them, Scots do not. Pregabalin has been helping anxiety sufferers for many years in England.

[MyNameIsTerry]

It was like that under Labour too. CQC's are the new bodies but the local trusts have been around a long time causing issues.

Hi Hanshan,

That's a good comparison to the old fiefdoms. I think I've heard of people changing to surgeries that fall under another Trust. We occasionally see news stories about how one Trust doesn't provide the same medications as another. I saw a report about a poor guy who sadly took his life due to waiting times and lived a matter of a few miles from me and came under a different Trust. If he was within my trusts area be would have been seen much sooner.

---------- Post added at 22:28 ---------- Previous post was at 22:21 ----------

Thanks for all your replies guys. It makes me feel less like I was going insane wondering why I couldn't get pregabalin! I'm just back from the doctors. She explained that pregabalin is not licenced for anxiety in Scotland AT ALL. And the reason for this is because NHS Scotland has not asked for the go ahead by the manufacturer to use it for anxiety. The doctor agreed this was strange and confusing. I mentioned the price and she doesn't know why it costs so much but confirmed it is another reason why the NHS are reluctant to prescribe it. She did not seem phased by this though. She told me the starting dose is 150mg per day. She was going to give me 75mg x2 per day for the first week but then decided to do it 50mg 3x per day. She told me the price of each option, the 75mg x2 for one week was over £20. Then when she changed it to 50mg x3 per day it went up by a further £15 for the week. Crazy. But she said she would rather do it slower with me because I have had such strange side effects from drugs in the past. Which is understandable. She mentioned to me again about the abuse potential and also had to explain to me how, due to the fact it is not licenced for anxiety here, I need to be aware that I cannot shed any blame on the practice for prescribing me it. Which, again, is understandable and I completely accept this.

It is mental how the UK is such a small country yet this "national" health service is divided up. Beggars belief.

Hi Heather,

I'm glad you are getting somewhere and its great to see your GP put your needs before their costs.

Something I want to pick up on though is your GP stating that off label prescription means they waive responsibility. This is completely untrue, they have chosen to take this course of action so are responsible for their decisions. They can't pass blame to the patient.

Licensing is sought by the manufacturer to the licensing body, not from the health service unless they wish to prescribe it when it is not available. Its strange that NHS England have it but Scotland do not but there are some online documents explaining that last time I looked but I can't remember the decision.