Medical exemptions for prescriptions

I know at my docs at my annual diabetic review with the DN (she's awesome) she did say she had to offer me statins but assumed I didn't want them, so just put me down as 'declined' for them - there was certainly no 'you must have them' - but as ever it may be very doctor/DN dependent

One thing that concerns me about this “offer” and my declining is that my holiday insurance (via my bank) asks if I have been told to take statins. Now how the dr/nurse records this make s a lot of difference to if I am going against medical advice or not and potentially gives the insurance company a perfect get out clause if I have any sort of cvd issue on holiday.

HSSS said:

One thing that concerns me about this “offer” and my declining is that my holiday insurance (via my bank) asks if I have been told to take statins. Now how the dr/nurse records this make s a lot of difference to if I am going against medical advice or not and potentially gives the insurance company a perfect get out clause if I have any sort of cvd issue on holiday.

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I also have to declare being diabetic even though my last diabetic Hba1c was 9 years ago.

Daphne917 said:

I also have to declare being diabetic even though my last diabetic Hba1c was 9 years ago.

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Oh I declare the type 2. It’s just the statin question is concerning should the worst ever happen and I need to claim. As far as I’m concerned they “offered” not told me I discussed it and and declined. No doubt the insurance would see that as “refused to follow medical advice” if they can. I refused the cholesterol test last time (made them remove it from the form) as they sprung the blood test on me and I wasn’t fasted. At the follow up that was an interesting conversation……..no doubt the insurance won’t like that either. Good job I’m not going anywhere.

I am just about to ring the PBS safety net bell for my medication scripts total of $326.4 ($6.80 per item), then I get them free for the rest of the year.

Regarding statins I was taking Rosuvastin for several years, I stopped taking them a year ago, my cholesterol has been ok. They were originally prescribed by a Cardiologist not my GP.

HSSS said:

One thing that concerns me about this “offer” and my declining is that my holiday insurance (via my bank) asks if I have been told to take statins. Now how the dr/nurse records this make s a lot of difference to if I am going against medical advice or not and potentially gives the insurance company a perfect get out clause if I have any sort of cvd issue on holiday.

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What does your medical record say about statins? That would help you out on your dilemma.

If it says something like "statins discussed, but MrsHHHS preferred not to take them" is very different to "Statins prescribed, but MrsHHHS suggested they go where the sun doesn't shine".

OK, the wordings there are a bit in extremis, but you get the drift.

AndBreathe said:

What does your medical record say about statins? That would help you out on your dilemma.

If it says something like "statins discussed, but MrsHHHS preferred not to take them" is very different to "Statins prescribed, but MrsHHHS suggested they go where the sun doesn't shine".

OK, the wordings there are a bit in extremis, but you get the drift.

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My surgery won’t give me full online access to my records so I don’t know. I’ve asked numerous times. I just get the nhs app highlights. I can do prescriptions get results etc but not see actual notes.

HSSS said:

My surgery won’t give me full online access to my records so I don’t know. I’ve asked numerous times. I just get the nhs app highlights. I can do prescriptions get results etc but not see actual notes.

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I can only do prescriptions as I can’t even see my results and no appointments are available on line. I’ve asked several times but always get told that it depends what the surgery ‘signed up to’ in the first place.

HSSS said:

My surgery won’t give me full online access to my records so I don’t know. I’ve asked numerous times. I just get the nhs app highlights. I can do prescriptions get results etc but not see actual notes.

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In which case, raise a Data Subject Access request. There must be a definite reason for them to decline that, such as psychological frailty. They do have 40 days to provide the information.

I got somewhat miffed when a consultant told me I didn't need to know details of my test results, so I raised a DSA. My records were sent to me on a series of DVDs (there was imaging involved) and CDs.

To be fair to your surgery, you should be specific about what you want, but that could be all elements of your medical records, including test results and clinician notes since x-date. Asking for your life-long records could be deemed unreasonable.

You never know, that might just be the catalyst for granting you online access. If that happens, then please do ensure you ask for whole of life, full record and notes, else they can decide how much they give you - sometimes just the most recent period (in my GP's case that was two years).

Go for it. It is your information.