Scotland’s GPs are complaining that the free prescription policy in Scotland puts on them extra pressure with patients wanting their free prescription for this, that and the other.

There are many issues. Someone must pick up the bill for all of those extra prescriptions, for the GP’s time and for the pharmacist etc. But there will be costs also if the GP acts responsibly to reject requests for unnecessary prescriptions and explain to patients why this drug is unnecessary^¶. Costs will arise in disposal, not only of unused and unwanted medicines, but for the management of those ‘disposed’ to sewer in urine. And if requests are rejected, for drugs that are available over the counter – paracetamol is the example given – then the implications of disposal still apply.

The most successful approach is to educate society that drugs are generally overused and often misused, to curb prescribing and steer people away from unnecessary OTC products. It’s an enormous task.

¶ – Sadly, many GPs cave in and take the line of least resistance, giving out scripts when these are not really necessary. It’s lazy and unprofessional. The consequences are far reaching, for which whinging about an extra workload is not the answer.

see Scotland GPs face extra work following scrapping of prescription charges