Tidylife

Interior & Lifestyle

  • Home
  • Shopping
    • My Directory
  • About
    • Work With Me
  • Home Inspiration
    • Kitchens
    • Bathrooms
    • Bedroom
    • Flooring
    • Furniture
    • Home Office
    • Lighting
  • Home Improvements
    • Furniture Makeovers
    • DIY
  • Lifestyle
    • Beauty
    • Cars & Motoring
    • Eco
    • Family
    • Fashion
    • Finance
    • Fitness/Running
    • House Plants
    • Kids stuff
    • Money Saving
  • Home Maintenance
  • Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Health · March 20, 2020

Saving Money on Your Medication

One of the best aspects of UK life has to be the National Health Service (NHS). Through the NHS, most medical care for UK residents is free, but for those living in England or receiving private healthcare, prescription medication has some cost. Here are five tips you can use to reduce your medication costs.

cheaper prescriptions

Check to see if you are eligible for free prescriptions

While NHS medication is free in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales, every prescribed item by the NHS attracts a flat fee of £9 within England. This is to ensure that medication can be available to all who need it. However, under some special circumstances, you might qualify for free medication from NHS pharmacies. You are eligible for free prescriptions when:

  • You are a child (16 years old or younger) or if you are elderly (60 years old and above).
  • You are aged between 16 and 18 and are enrolled in school on a full-time basis.
  • If you have an unexpired medical exemption certificate usually given to people suffering from chronic illnesses and some forms of disability
  • If you have a maternity exemption certificate and are still pregnant or it is 12 months since your due date
  • If you, or your partner, receive certain forms of social assistance such as income support and pension credit guarantee credit
  • If you are receiving NHS in-patient care

Check the NHS website for a more comprehensive list of qualification criteria for free medication.

Get a prepayment certificate

A prepayment certificate allows you to get medication without any additional payment as long as it is valid. It is an ideal tool to have if you require prescription medication on a long-term basis. A three-month prepayment certificate costs £29.10, while a one-year prepayment certificate costs £104. If you do the math (with each individual prescription costing £9) and find that you can save your medication expenditure by having a prepayment certificate, then you can apply for one on the NHS prescriptions website.

Buy from an online pharmacy

If you are receiving private healthcare, or have a prescription for medication not covered by the NHS, then consider buying from online pharmacies. Online pharmacies are generally more affordable due to their reduced operating costs. You also get to compare prices more effectively to find the cheapest options. Apart from reduced prices, you save a lot in terms of transport costs, and the convenience offered by online shopping is unmatched. Check with the Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’s online registry to confirm that the online pharmacy you are buying from is registered.

Find alternative medication

In some special cases, you might find alternative over the counter medication that is cheaper than the £9 NHS flat rate. Shop around to see if this is the case when you are prescribed medication. When using private (non-NHS) healthcare, note that some medication is expensive simply due to having a recognized brand name. You can find identical medication that is much cheaper, usually from pharmacy brands. Check to see if there are cheaper alternatives sharing the same PL number, which indicates identical medication. If working with a tighter budget, you can also opt for generic versions of the prescribed medication which share the same active ingredient (as confirmed by the European Medicines Agency) while being much more affordable.

Cast a wider net when searching for medication

For most UK residents, the only source of medication is high-street pharmacies. You can save significantly on your medication cost by checking out discount stores and supermarkets, which are increasingly stocking most popular medicines. In many cases, you will find the same products at much lower prices.

The takeaway

Despite the UK’s healthcare system being very structured, there are still numerous ways to go about reducing your medication costs. This is especially important when using private healthcare or purchasing medication not covered by the NHS. With the tips mentioned above, you can make serious savings when buying medication.

Featured post

© Copyright 2020 Antonia, All rights Reserved. Written For: Tidylife

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Posted By: Antonia · In: Health

Put Health First With This Easy To Use Free Pill Reminder App
8 ways to create a holiday vibe in your garden

You’ll Also Love

Positive menopause tipsEmbracing Menopause Positively: A Guide to Navigating Change with Health and Wellness
10 Ways to Give Your Appearance a Boost
hand sanitiserHand Sanitiser Or Soap – Which One Is Best?

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Primary Sidebar

Hello! I'M ANTONIA I launched Tidylife to provide interior, garden & lifestyle inspiration. Love home decor and budget friendly improvements? Me too! You'll find them all here. Plus decorating, styling & upcycling ideas. I also love to share fitness, fashion & beauty features, so I hope you enjoy visiting Tidylife.

Subscribe to my newsletter

Name

Email


Copyright © 2025 Tidylife · Theme by 17th Avenue

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept All Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT