E Doctor.

I don’t know if any of you saw the short documentary on e doctors and online prescriptions etc the other day. It was one of those Tonight with Trevor McDonald programmes.

It threw up a lot of quite startling information on such things as how easy it is to get more or less any “Prescription Only” and even drugs that have been banned from use in the UK and all without the need for a Prescription, not even a consultation from any sort of Medical Professional. All that’s needed is a Credit Card and a Mouse and a wait of maybe around 10-15 days for the actual drugs to arrive from their foreign destination, quite often Canada or India and of course the good old USA, who have to have their share. One of the most frightening facts that came out, and I really cant believe this is right but it is, and that’s , it is NOT ILLEAGAL to buy or be in possession of these only its Illegal to sell them. Think of this example, you are only allowed to purchase 2 boxes of Paracetamol (around 24 Tablets ish) from Tesco’s but you can go Online and buy 1000s of say Prescription Drugs used to treat Heart Disease which if not controlled will actually KILL YOU!! Is This Right???

In this day and age where almost everyone has access to the Internet and it is pretty quickly becoming the favoured place for people to purchase whatever they want, this is obviously where people will come to get their drugs especially when the Prescription Charges keep going up and up, although I count myself lucky in that respect as living in Wales, I have the benefit of currently only having to pay £3 per item and from April this year the Charges are being scrapped all together so it wouldn’t be any cheaper for me.

I know that since the onset of widespread Internet availability the huge resources available for searching out information on such things as Illnesses etc has been a god send and even I have often used it to try and find out a little more about my condition etc and yes, it has helped a lot, well at least once you’ve trawled through the first 50 or so entries on Goggle which all seem to be American Based Web Sites and all tell you that you are going to die within a few months. Where it is helpful I guess is where you may have a rare condition as I would think that information if there is any available would be out their somewhere I suppose if you know where to look.

There were a number of cases featured on the documentary of people with I guess what you would call common illnesses/diseases, such as Lung Cancer and Breast Cancer as well as a few more rarer things too. Some of these people have seen remarkable results after using treatments bought for often £1000s and not available on the NHS, there is obviously a down side to all this in that sadly a lot of people will die experimenting with these as well.

I know I have mentioned the lovely people of NICE on here occasionally and fellow Blogger Peter has written a few interesting articles on them now and then and I cant help but feel that they are somewhat responsible for a lot of people having to resort to the Internet and the drugs available there. I do understand and also agree to a certain level that there needs to be some control when introducing new drugs to the public etc but cant quite understand why they insist on taking so long over doing it, sometimes years and years. There is the obvious pressure from the Treasury to control spending, unofficially of course which tends to rule out a lot of newly available, take for example the recent Tamoxifen cases for Breast Cancer. Tamoxifen is just one of the millions of drugs Freely Available Online with Prescription. On the other hand there is obviously the recent case where there were some pretty fatal complications whilst trialling a new drug, so yes there is a very good reason for the cautious approach but I cant help but feel that we are too cautious in this country after all even to be able to sell in the countries that are selling them they have to meet certain standards before they are allowed to sell them don’t they?

In some ways I don’t want to make such a big thing out of the fact that it is Illegal to buy this stuff as I understand how desperate people can become to get treatment for there conditions when the NHS turns their back on them etc and would not think twice of doing exactly the same thing myself if needed, however I think it is worth trying to shout loudly at NICE and possibly the NHS in general to pull their finger out and come up with a better approach to this than is currently used so that maybe more lives will not only be saved by the positive interactions from these drugs but also from being monitored whilst taking them and obviously prescribing them properly.

Ah Well, that’s the rant over for today. Pretty serious for me I know!! It does take a lot at times to rattle my cage so to speak but this has been on the back burner for a while now so has had time to mature/fester etc.

See Ya!!

p.s I do like the Bacon Sarnies on prescription idea from Peter, I will have to start a campaign for that one. Any Takers??