The specialist I'm seeing in Bumrungrad has put me on a new and very expensive medicine, over 21,000 Baht for a 30-day supply. I can get it for around 60% of that price in Bangkok Hospital in Pattaya, and slightly cheaper again in the Fascino pharmacies, so it's expensive but it's not going to break the bank. I noticed that, according to Google's AI, it should only cost between £80 and £100 with a private prescription in the UK, and I'm going back for 5 weeks later this month. Even with a consultation fee and a dispensing fee, it should still be much cheaper than buying it in Thailand.

I asked Google about getting the prescription in the UK and this is where it got confusing. I'm still registered with the NHS but a GP can only write a prescription for a limited number of months ahead. I've been told that 3 months is the maximum in the practice in my home town, and even that is rare. Google also told me that a GP seeing you via an NHS appointment cannot write you a private prescription, which goes against my own experience many years ago seeing a GP about getting anti-malarials for a visit to Cambodia; the NHS regards it as a lifestyle choice so will not give you free drugs, but the GP was very happy to give me a private prescription for Lariam, which was the state of the art at the time. Has that changed now?

I guess the obvious thing to do is to find a private GP service and pay through the nose (£150-200) for a consultation, and hope that they will accept my Thai medical certificate and the fact that I'm actually in possession of the medicine as sufficient evidence to write the prescription for this rather unusual drug. The GP, OTOH, knows my medical history well and is far less likely to be reluctant about writing a prescription.

Also, ideally I'd like to bring back a year's supply, or at least 10 months' worth. Google's AI says no problem, but it's been wrong before. Does anyone know if there's a maximum number of months they can give you on a private prescription?

Basically, I'm asking if anyone has personal experience of getting a private prescription in the UK to bring a decent supply of medicine back to Thailand as it's a lot cheaper in the UK, and could you share your experience and what you learned and any advice you may have? I'm not worried about bringing back a year's supply as I've been doing that every year since 2004.

Thanks.

It may be worth trying some of the UK online pharmacies. Chemist 4U, Pharmacy 4U etc. They ask the relevant questions and depending on which medication is required, refer it to one of their 'GP'. I have sourced medication via this route with no restriction on the amount I was purchasing.

I don't know whether this will ve a viable route for yourself as I don't know just how specialist your medication is.

Hope you get the matter sorted.