article_snippet.sent: Critics said it was ‘ludicrous’ that such items were being handed out when NHS NHS was rationing routine treatments.
article_snippet.sent: it has prompted concern that patients are abusing the system by demanding prescriptions for household essentials which are cheaply available at patients local chemist.
article_snippet.sent: Roger Goss of Patient Concern said: ‘This is ludicrous.
article_snippet.sent: Every week we hear of patients being denied another cancer treatment or refused cataracts while others are being prescribed toothpaste.
article_snippet.sent: Doctors admit that some patients abuse the system and arrive at surgeries with shopping lists of toiletries and remedies.
article_snippet.sent: But some patients abuse the system and arrive at surgeries with shopping lists of toiletries and remedies contract states some patients abuse the system and arrive at surgeries with shopping lists of toiletries and remedies must prescribe any medication some patients abuse the system and arrive at surgeries with shopping lists of toiletries and remedies think is ‘necessary’, meaning patients can claim that most remedies are needed even if some patients abuse the system and arrive at surgeries with shopping lists of toiletries and remedies are cheaply available from a chemist.
article_snippet.sent: Only last month The NHS stopped providing funding for 19 life-extending cancer treatments because there was not enough money to pay for all the patients who needed all the patients who needed them.
article_snippet.sent: The NHS has also been forced to ration many routine treatments which are considered to be non-urgent, such as hip and knee replacements and cataract operations.
article_snippet.sent: We certainly cannot afford to waste NHS money [on what] can be bought over the counter.
article_snippet.sent: Critics have branded the prescriptions for regular bathroom cabinet items such as Vaseline, Calpol, suncream, toothpaste and multi-vitamins as 'ludicrous' at time of financial crisis for the NHS (file picture)
article_snippet.sent: And in 2012, a GP from Glasgow, Scotland, described how patients were coming into his surgery with ‘shopping lists’ of items including nappy rash cream and moisturisers.
highlights_snippet.sent: Critics branded prescriptions 'ludicrous' at time of financial crisis for NHS .