A third of patients fail to get prescriptions filled, Pharmacy2U finds

It would be really good to get this information on the radar of prescribers as in my experience they (in general) hold the belief that patients take the medication they prescribe and are astounded at the figures from the NMS research.
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Although I agree that there is a problem with prescribed medicines not being collected I would have to dispute the way these figures are being interpreted. 22% failed to collect their prescription because of the cost yet in fact only 12% on average pay for their prescriptions. This suggests that the sample is unrepresentative. How did Pharmacy2U identify their 2000 patient sample?

This doesn't make sense? If 60% of 2000 people ie 1200 people had seen their prescription medication being sold over the counter cheaper then what on earth is being written on these prescriptions?
OTC medications do not appear on anywhere near 60% of the prescriptions we dispense!

I have just received a response from Pharmacy2U on these figures, posted below. Hope these helps answer some of your queries:

Pharmacy2U commissioned a survey of 2,000 UK adults (in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). The research was carried out by OnePoll (a member of ESOMAR) in December 2011. The online survey was conducted on a nationally representative sample based on age, gender and region.

The survey did not ask whether the participants paid for prescriptions. However, 22 per cent of respondents who said they’d failed to pick up medication their GP prescribed for them from the chemist, claimed that cost (‘I didn't want to pay for it’) was a reason.

The survey did not ask whether participants were prescribed medicines that could be sold over the counter. However, 59 per cent of the sample responded 'yes' to the question ‘Have you ever found that the treatment is cheaper off the shelf rather than by prescription?’

Do Pharmacy2u not know that prescription charges have been abolished in Scotland. So how many of the 2000 surveyed were from Scotland. Was it a 4 way split meaning 500 surveyed in Scotland meaning that the 60% who said their prescribed medicine was cheaper over the counter should be diluted to 45%!
God knows, but what gets me is why are P2U doing the survey- there must be a business reason to this, are they selling the data on to PCT's, are they helping the manufactureres fulfil their life long dream of direct to patient supply cutting out the suply function of pharmacies altogether, are they proving to the GPs in which they have their software installed ( via EMIS RX Systems ) that all presriptions if electronically sent to their prescription factory will be delivered and hence no patient will miss out on their medication- WHAT IS THE ULTERIOR MOTIVE.....