parallel pens

You would like to vote leave so that your chemists can't have access to cheaper insulin? Not sure I follow the logic of that as a position.

I'm also not sure that being in the EU has much to do with the distribution issues you are finding distasteful. If the wholesaler had sourced cheaper insulin in Columbia and imported that in boxes with Colombian labels, would that be acceptable?

I don't think the chemists are being forced to sell polish insulin by the EU, they are simply finding the cheapest stock available and distributing that. Recently, it happened to be polish imported insulin, which will be to exactly the same standard as non-polish imported insulin (if a little grubby & with polish writing, which I understand must be a little disconcerting).

jinatki said:

I stopped using Lloyds Pharmacy prescription delivery service because i was always getting opened, tatty old boxes of dirty looking Polish insulin pens, (NovoRapid flex), I complained & my pharmacist told me, that all of 4 Lloyds chemists in Barry had a stockpile of the Polish pens to clear & that I should complain instead to the wholesaler! (the parallel importer/distributer)..cheek! 3 months on & now I cant find a single chemist, in Barry, that has not been forced to use these cheap foreign importers, themselves, in order to stay afloat. I know how I am going to vote in the E.U. Referendum. ..... "VOTE LEAVE!"

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Hi, sorry to hear of your inadequate medical items. I would go back and complain of the problems you are having with your GP and take photo's of the all the faulty items as proof. Also If you can't find a chemist in Barry, you could voice your concerns with your MP and also the local paper, Barry and District News.
Good luck.

jinatki said:

I stopped using Lloyds Pharmacy prescription delivery service because i was always getting opened, tatty old boxes of dirty looking Polish insulin pens,

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You can report defective medicines (even those issued in a poor quality) by using the Yellow Card Scheme:

https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/the-yellow-card-scheme/

Personally, I wouldn't give a hoot if my insulin came from Timbucktoo or Bagdad as long as it works, depending on the place of manufacture and availability sometimes mine is a foreign import, do I care no........

I often have foreign insulin and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Polish, Spanish, Danish - all fine.

If your meds are in poor condition that's another matter, but that would be the same if they were British.

The boxes of foreign meds and pens are opened to check the contents are ok and correct, and often to add English labels.

Hi. One option is to change your pen(s) over to Novo Penfill Echo 4 or 5 which use replaceable cartridges. The 300ml cartridges come in a 5-pack and are less likely to have been 'knocked-about'

The thing is with pre-filled pens is they need to be stored in a fridge due to the insulin content. So the cardboard that houses them will invariably get damp stored in that condition..
I've never used em myself.. I always have the Novopen fill jobbies as Diabell has highlighted above.
I got no idea (nor care) about the country of origin regarding my pens they're just a good quality bit of kit!

It's not just pre-filled pens. I have ?Danish?, Spanish, Polish and Greek 3 mL Novorapid cartridges in my fridge.

I don't mind really but I sometimes worry about handling and temperature because often they've been removed from their foil-backed packaging and put into different packaging with a strange plasticky back. I really hope that it was done according to GLP and keep appropriately cool.

I had a box of Spanish ones a few months ago where all the glass was cracked at the end by the rubber stopper. I didn't notice until I used one of the cartridges and it made my pen hand wet and I could smell insulin. When I went to inspect the other four cartridges in the pack they were all like this and I had to take them back to the chemist.

I now just inspect the ones with international writing more closely as I know they've possibly been re-packaged.

1abRat said:

I had a box of Spanish ones a few months ago where all the glass was cracked at the end by the rubber stopper. I didn't notice until I used one of the cartridges and it made my pen hand wet and I could smell insulin. When I went to inspect the other four cartridges in the pack they were all like this and I had to take them back to the chemist.

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That is bad, the issue isn't with the country where the insulin is sourced from it's the condition that we receive the goods in.