Healthcare costs - not insurance How much is paracetamol in your chemist ?

D

Des Pondent

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I have 2 local chemists near to where I live in suburban Dublin, one charges €3.80 for a 24 pack of ParalieF, a generic paracetamol. My other local chemist only charges €3.10 for the exact same pack.

Today I was in a Wicklow chemist and the identical pack was only €1.80.

How much is paracetamol in your chemist ? Just curious, seems like a wild difference.
 
For me, a quick Google (Paralief 24 pack Dublin) throws up prices from €1.90 to €4.95.
 
You can buy 2 packs in NI supermarkets.

If you go to Poundland, you can buy 3 packs of 16 paracetamol or ibuprofen for £1. The shelves in the Newry branch are often depleted after a weekend.
 
We were stocking up on paracetemol in the Asda in Pembroke Dock some years back and the checkout lady told us that they sell huge amounts of it to Irish people heading for the Rosslare ferry.
 
In the Quays Newry there's a Sainsburys, Boots, and a chemist.

And as I've noted on other threads, I order occasionally from Inish Pharmacy, an online Irish pharmacy for toiletries, vitamins, OTC medicines etc and usually pickup a Perrigo Paracetamol 24 pack for €1.99. Only one per order.
 
arbitron said:
Tangential to the topic but how much paracetamol are people using per week and what for?
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We just need to be careful here not to go against Posting Guideline 21 as there have been problems in the past with medical issues/advice being discussed.

21 Please don't discuss medical issues or weight loss
We do not discuss medical issues other than to provide links to support groups and medical forums. We do not allow recommendations for doctors, dentists or medical practitioners generally. We do not allow discussion of weight loss issues either, as they always develop into either advertising or medical topics such as anorexia.

There is a list of websites on medical issues here:

Key Post - List of useful health websites​


You may discuss tax relief on medical expenses and pricing of medical services or health insurance. It is OK to provide information on the availability of emergency doctors or 24-hour pharmacies. But you should not discuss effectiveness of treatment or quality of care.
 
Definitely don't want to stray into that area.

The reason I asked is that sometimes the price of product A or service B can be given undue focus. For example, if the price of a red beret increased to €10,000 it would be a shock to the fashionistas and Francophiles of Ireland but it would not have a meaningful impact on most people's lives or on inflation.

When we are talking about the price of paracetamol, even if it is X% higher than in the UK, that does not mean much if people are buying a couple of packets now and again just to have in case of emergency. I would say I have bought 1 packet per year in my adult life, despite having shoulder dislocations, broken bones, various surgeries, etc. My family and friends don't buy many either. The ones with arthritis have medical cards so they get them from the GP.

I wonder if there are many people here who are actually affected by these prices beyond a couple of euro a year. Period pain relief comes to mind, but would that be more than a packet a month?
 
arbitron said:
Period pain relief comes to mind, but would that be more than a packet a month?
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Never suffered with that problem but from speaking to friends can't imagine that they would ever use a packet a month. Definitely seems excessive.
 
It is not just paracetamol though. It is the price of almost all OTC medicines, including things like allergy tablets, indigestion remedies, cold sore creams.

Think of paracetamol as the equivalent of the Big Mac index.
 
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