Practical answer on irish differences, since the theoretical one is upthread: do the simplest check first, write down the result, and only then decide whether the complicated explanation is needed. It usually is not.
Posting this under the heading it deserves: Irish differences from the UK position Everything below is what sits behind that.
Trying to establish the boundary conditions on irish differences. The general claim is fine; I want to know where it stops holding, because that is where I am operating.
Three edge cases below, in increasing order of how far outside the usual range they sit.
Practical answer on irish differences, since the theoretical one is upthread: do the simplest check first, write down the result, and only then decide whether the complicated explanation is needed. It usually is not.
Post #2 and I disagree about the size of the effect, not about the direction.
Private prescribing arrangements differ in what they include, and the differences are more consequential than the headline price.
I have left out the parts I could not verify.
The arithmetic in post #4 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
The failure mode on irish differences is boring rather than dramatic. It is almost always the step everyone assumes was done correctly because it is too simple to get wrong.
Importing for personal use: importing a prescription-only medicine without a prescription is not lawful. Material sold as research-use-only is not a licensed medicine regardless of content.
Posting it because the silence on this was starting to look like agreement.
Adding a reference point for irish differences. Mine is a single case, collected without controls, and I am posting the method alongside it so it can be discounted appropriately.
Post #8 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.
The most useful contribution is a link to the current official page with the date you accessed it. That survives; a paraphrase does not.
Not the answer, but possibly the question that gets there.
Cross-border movement between the two jurisdictions is not the same as domestic movement within either, and the rules are published rather than inferred.
I would want a second opinion before relying on that.
This is the answer, and the reason it is the answer is the more useful part.
Adding the measurement that post #12 says would settle it.
What I want from this irish differences thread is the list of things that would need to be true for the claim to hold. If we can write that list, we can check it.
I had written a reply contradicting post #14 and deleted it. Here is what survived.
Irish differences: I have looked for the primary source twice and failed twice. Either it does not exist or it is somewhere I do not know to look, and I would like to know which.
Two questions I would want answered before drawing anything from the irish differences data above: how were the cases selected, and what happened to the ones that dropped out.
Where guidance distinguishes between indications, quoting the indication is essential. The same compound has different positions under different indications.
I have seen it go both ways, which is why I hedge.
Members outside these two jurisdictions reading this thread should note that none of it transfers, including the parts that sound general.
This follows post #18 rather than contradicting it.
A request rather than an answer: could whoever has the primary source for irish differences post it? I have seen the claim three times this month and each version had lost a qualifier.
Nothing in this subcategory is medical or legal advice, and prescribers reading here consistently say so themselves.
I disagree with the framing of irish differences above, and I think it is a substantive disagreement rather than a terminological one. Setting out why, so it can be checked.
The reasoning depends on an assumption that is doing a lot of work and is never stated. If the assumption holds, the conclusion follows. I do not think it holds generally.
Taking post #22 at face value and following it one step further.
Date the claim and say whether it is the United Kingdom or Ireland. They are different regulatory jurisdictions and the answer is frequently different.
I am aware this is the third time this month I have made this point.
Post #24 and I disagree about the size of the effect, not about the direction.
Pharmacy practice varies between pharmacies and is not deducible from the regulatory position. Two people can honestly report opposite experiences.
I keep a log for irish differences specifically because my memory of it turned out to be systematically wrong in one direction. Six weeks of notes cost nothing and settled it.
Anyone quoting an eligibility threshold should say which document it comes from. The thresholds have changed and the old ones are still circulating.
Reporting the observation and leaving the explanation open deliberately.
Adding the boring version of irish differences, because the interesting version keeps getting posted and the boring one is usually right.
Check the ordinary explanations, in order, and stop when one of them accounts for what you are seeing. Most of the time the second one does.