Posted by ed_uk on February 4, 2005, at 7:13:33
In reply to Re: UK government warns doctors of risk of Strattera » ed_uk, posted by Phillipa on February 3, 2005, at 16:57:07
Hi,
The UK is different to the US in several ways...
1. UK pdocs almost never prescribe drugs which have a high abuse potential - such as Ritalin.
2. The amount of money which pharmaceutical companies spend on advertising is much less in the UK. It is illegal to advertise prescription drugs to the general public.
3. There is much less emphasis on putting people into diagnostic categories.
4. Very few people go to private psychiatrists, most people just go to NHS doctors. The NHS is paid for via tax. Prescriptions cost £6.40 unless you have an exemption, in which case they are free.
5. Few people take more than one psychotropic drug at once.
6. English psychiatrists generally only prescribe a very limited range of drugs.
7. The % profit that the pharmaceutical companies are alowed to make from NHS drug sales is restricted. If they make too much profit (out of the NHS) they are forced to return some of their profit to the government!!
8. You are right that UK pdocs are generally quite cautious. They are not better informed though!
9. People tend to use different names to describe their conditions eg. bipolar disorder is called manic-depression.
Ed.
poster:ed_uk
thread:452389
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050202/msgs/452999.html