6 replies to this topic

[TimRS]

We are hoping to move out to Australia and trying to assess how all my needs will be met there. I use the LoFric Primo and Hydro kit (by Astratech) Intermittent catheters here in the UK and want to know if I will be able to get them in Aus and if so how much they are. Expensive I'm guessing!! They are great catheters and I've never had a UTI since using them so fingers crossed they are available.

cheers in advance.

Edited by TimRS, 20 February 2008 - 10:36 PM.

[ems]

hiya, my friend moved out there 18 months ago. She was given a *single* catheter made out of silicone to use .. its called "clini cath", and she's supposed to wash and sterilise it. She would get a new one every three months out there. She took out 6 months supply with her as luggage, that was all her GP would give her I think it was prob about 30 boxes of 30 so that would give her 5 a day. I have sent her out catheters for a year now as she would have to pay privately for every single catheter she used. I asked my doc to double up my prescription for her since we use the same stuff, and our district nurse also gives me spare boxes to send out to her! Bear in mind a pack of hydro kits are £36 for 20 and Primo are £43 for 30 and thats UK prices. I would start saving them up
By the way if you do have a friend who can ship them to you it costs me 26 quid for 2Kg of caths to Aus

Yours,

Emma.


We have now changed her catheters to EasiCath by Coloplast as they are only 4 grams a catheter!! I usually put in a few Hydro Kits, when I sent her letters and other stuff the added water sachet certainly puts the postage up!!!!

[TimRS]

ems, on Feb 20 2008, 11:41 PM, said:

hiya, my friend moved out there 18 months ago. She was given a *single* catheter made out of silicone to use .. its called "clini cath", and she's supposed to wash and sterilise it. She would get a new one every three months out there. She took out 6 months supply with her as luggage, that was all her GP would give her I think it was prob about 30 boxes of 30 so that would give her 5 a day. I have sent her out catheters for a year now as she would have to pay privately for every single catheter she used. I asked my doc to double up my prescription for her since we use the same stuff, and our district nurse also gives me spare boxes to send out to her! Bear in mind a pack of hydro kits are £36 for 20 and Primo are £43 for 30 and thats UK prices. I would start saving them up
By the way if you do have a friend who can ship them to you it costs me 26 quid for 2Kg of caths to Aus

Yours,

Emma.


We have now changed her catheters to EasiCath by Coloplast as they are only 4 grams a catheter!! I usually put in a few Hydro Kits, when I sent her letters and other stuff the added water sachet certainly puts the postage up!!!!

Emma

You are a great friend! Your friend is so fortunate to have you looking out for her.

I'm depressed now!! I know the personal allowance is $470 a year and this is really not going to go far. Obviously male catheters are so much longer and heavier in boxes than female ones so I can't see having them shipped from here being an option. We went for a holiday in 06 and Astratech were so brilliant they shipped 5 weeks supply out for me and didn't charge anything. But living out there is another thing.

My meds are the other worry as I'm on a heap of pain meds which are extremely expensive. A good incentive to try and get off half of them I'd say.

Can any Aussies enlighten me about whether you have private health insurance that helps cover any of this? Are there any companies who will cover me with this 'pre existing condition?' And then there is the car on Motability, DLA, Incap Benefit, the NHS in general (despite it's detractors it's a great system compared to other countries!), wheelchair service and so on. A lot to give up for some sunshine hey!

[hondat]

Hey, I guess you will be on the pension here? If so you can apply for CAAS which ~$400 for supply's More info here

Also you get cheaper meds by being a pensioner (eg. Baclofen retail price is $50 but i get it for $5)

You can download a catalogue from here to see whats avaliable
Cataloge

[TimRS]

hondat, on Mar 10 2008, 05:01 AM, said:

Hey, I guess you will be on the pension here? If so you can apply for CAAS which ~$400 for supply's More info here

Also you get cheaper meds by being a pensioner (eg. Baclofen retail price is $50 but i get it for $5)

You can download a catalogue from here to see whats avaliable
Cataloge

Thanks for that. Not sure if I 'll get a pension or what as a new arrival with a pre-existing condition. Really depressing thing is that I've worked out that the intermittent catheters I use will cost me 6387 Aus Dollars a year!

[werniFoe]

TimRS, on Feb 21 2008, 12:30 AM, said:

We are hoping to move out to Australia and trying to assess how all my needs will be met there. I use the LoFric Primo and Hydro kit (by Astratech) Intermittent catheters here in the UK and want to know if I will be able to get them in Aus and if so how much they are. Expensive I'm guessing!! They are great catheters and I've never had a UTI since using them so fingers crossed they are available.

cheers in advance.

Hi TimRS

I am a bit late with my answer, but I hope I can help you a bit forward going to live in Australia.
I am in a similar position like you. My son lives in Perth where I visit him twice a year and since January I use the LoFric catheters. So I tried to find out if it would be possible to buy the catheters in Autralia. Via Google I found an Adress to which I sent an email and got a real good answer. I post this correspondence here.

[-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Betreff: RE: Availability of LoFric catheters
Datum: Tue, 8 Apr 2008 01:56:14 -0400
Von: Info, AUSY-Astra Tech <Info.AU@astratech.com>
An: <wfoe@bluewin.ch>
CC: Info, AUSY-Astra Tech <Info.AU@astratech.com>


Dear Werner

Thank you for your email regarding our product Lofric Nelaton Primo CH12. The cost of this product is $105.00 for a pack of 30. There is no GST costs on Lofric.

Freight charges would be $8.80 and would generally take 5 days for delivery from Sydney to Perth.

If you would like to order this product from us, the best thing to do would be to get your son to give us a call on 02 9488 3500 and we can organise to the products shipped to his home address.

Thank you for your email and I hope we can be of assistance to you in the future.

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Tuesday, 8 April 2008 5:54 AM
To: Info, AUSY-Astra Tech
Subject: Availability of LoFric catheters

Hello

I live in Switzerland and use the LoFric cath system.
I am often traveling to my son who lives in Baldivis, 45 km south of Perth WA. It is not so practical to bring all the caths with me.
Can you therefore tell me how I can get the caths from a nearby ph-cy (or other premises).
Or could you even send them to my son's address?
I use mainly Lofric Nelaton Primo CH12, about 3 to 4 a day.
I thank you in advance for your information.

Kind regards

Werner]

I just asked my supplier in Switzerland about the price, it is just double the one in Australia approx. £ 95.-.

Regards

Werner

[edmond]

CHECK www.independencesolutions.com.au