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Wasting Millions?


Grecian
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As some of you will be aware I am currently working my way through a 28 treatment course of radiotherapy, alongside the radiotherapy I must take six Capecitabine chemotherapy tablets a day. So six tablets a day multiplied by 28 days equals 168 tablets in total, I have been dispensed two boxes of 120 tablets so 240 in total, this will leave 72 tablets over. My wife today viewed our online CPAM account and  saw that the 2 boxes of tablets cost €645. This makes each table €2.68, multiply this by the 72 tablets that will be unused and it comes to a total of €192.96, money just thrown down the drain. If this is happening all over France then goodness knows how many millions of euros are being wasted each year.

I can only assume that there is no smaller sized boxes to dispense, or maybe our local pharmacy just calculated the total amount of tablets that I needed incorrectly, I must say two of the dispensers were pondering a long time over a calculator trying to work out how many tablets I needed, so maybe it was down to human error on their part. If this is not the case then surely the government should insist that the drug companies should supply such expensive drugs in different sized boxes, enabling the waste to be kept to a minimum. I will take back the 72 tablets to the pharmacy, although I doubt they will be able to reissue them, in case they have been tampered with, something I have not done.

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As an aside I reckon it is that that is responsible for the other side effects you have, and the risk of a low blood cell count rather than the radiotherapy iyself..

I agree about the packaging issue.

If you also calculate how much the transport costs for the series of treatments you will see that a lot of the money spent goes to things which are aside from your needs (profits for the drug companies, and taxi firms)

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I'm sure I read somewhere within the last, say, 6 months that they were proposing to change things so that pharmacies could only issue the number of tablets required, even if this meant opening boxes and cutting up the foil strips (something I remember happening regularly when we were in the UK about 15 years ago).  This would save a fortune.  It would also provide employment for all the staff they have in pharmacies (that last slightly tongue in cheek, but our pharmacie has always three staff on the two desks at any point of any day, charming people who always have loads of time to stand and talk to you.....)[:D]

Best of luck with the treatment, Grecian.  We have several friends who have undergone what seems like heavy regimes of chemo, with excellent, if slow, results.

Chrissie (81)

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  • 3 weeks later...
Sorry this reply is a bit late Grecian and I do hope your treatment is progressing more smoothly now. It is a difficult time I know.

On the subject of wasting millions, I wrote to the French Health Minister on 2 occasions during my cancer treatment, firstly like you complaining about the waste of over issuing drugs on prescription, 1 injection I had cost 1136 euros and was a "just in Case" treatment that wasn't used. When I took it back it went straight into the bin.

The 2nd time after travelling 150kms each way every day for 6 weeks for my radiotherapy and the taxi/ambulance earning a substantial sum of money I asked if they would pay 60euros a night for me to stay in an aparthotel for 1 week, to relieve some of the fatigue and to save money for the state - reply - "there is no mechanism for this in the state system"..... I believe no progress has been made on either of these issues 3 years later!
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It wouldnt be worth it if it was, it shouldn't too difficult or slow, in some cases a change of packaging would make it easier. Of course as others have said issuing tablets in lower numbers should be the first point. I certainly wouldn't ever had needed the number I was issued. They were dangerous drugs although probably a good earner if I went clubbing

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On the relatively rare occasions I've needed prescription drugs, I've only ever been prescribed, and received, the number of pills necessary to complete a course of treatment. This may possibly vary between GP's in the UK, but I always thought that a prescription specified the dose and duration of the prescribed medication. I certainly know that I have often received drugs where the pharmacist has cut a blister pack down in order to supply only the number of tablets prescribed. Perhaps some GP's are more cavalier, or perhaps some patients don't complete a course of pills once they feel they are cured?

As I've said before on here, Mr Betty had an accident and hospital visit in France and was prescribed enough Betadeine and Doliprane to keep him going for life, and I had a similar experience where a temporary filling fell out and the dentist prescribed a whole carrier bag full of stuff including mouthwash and painkillers alongside the antibiotics for infection. I'm sure the latter on their own were more than adequate.
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When I fell a few years ago and had a nasty cut on the bridge of my nose from my sunglasses I was given an A4 printer paper size box of packs of dressings for the nurses to use when they came every other day. I couldn't believe what I was given! They called every other day, and after my wound had healed, I was left with several packs; each was very comprehensive, with scissors and tweezers as well as dressings, and each of our cars and bathrooms now have one of those kits in them What a waste! I did enjoy having a nurse call every other day, but how much cheaper it would have been if there had been a health centre or a nurse at the GP's.

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Blimey Bertiebe 150 kms each way, I thought I was being hard done by with a mere 90kms each way, 150 kms that really is a hard slog. What a sensible idea you proposed with the hotel stay, each party would be a winner, except for the taxi firm of course, but there you go a far too sensible suggestion I guess.

Not really related to the title of the thread, and I certainly do not consider it a waste, but my wife looked at our CPAM account today and the cost of each radiotherpy treatment I received cost 913 euros, so my 28 treatments have cost the state 25,564 euros, a scary amount of money just on one person, on this occasion I am not complaining.

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  • 1 month later...
Sorry for the delayed reply but I am in hospital at MO and couldn't log in.

I know the French system spend an enormous amount of money on health care but I do so hate the waste.

I find some things in France exceptional and almost all my treatment has been top notch with caring professional staff. Same cannot be said for the staff at my Caisse who are unhelpful and difficult to deal with when you live 150kms away. Now you cannot speak to them on the phone but the call is one of those chargeable numbers. As a self employed person I pay into the caisse monthly and seriously object to the way they work.

They forget who is the customer in this situation.

Good luck to everyone going through treatment at the moment at least we know we are in good hands.
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