“Get to from the pharmacy” message from GP

I’ve had laxatives prescribed alongside opiate based meds as a matter of course (short term following surgery). If there’s a known reason for it I agree it should be prescribed.

@itsgettingweird hugs op it's horrid isn't it. I have chronic migraine and have found it difficult to manage over the years. If you have had to increase your preventative medication it maybe time to try something else. I have found that preventative medication weara off over time and have had to switch meds a number of times.

OP have you tried another way to manage the constipation. I'm on drugs for migraine that cause chronic constipation (known side effect), I could ask the GP for something but decided to try and manage it myself. I take a high dose magnisum supplement over 600mg daily, its recommended for migraine as well so should be helping that to. I don't know if it's proven to help cluster headaches, but it probably would harm to try it I'd it doesn't clash with your meds. It does totally solve my constipation issue and I notice if I don't take it.

Although I agree that ideally you should be able to get your medication on prescription.

Health boards have lists of otc drugs they no longer will issue prescriptions for, it may be on your local list - they have tightened up on this recently so it may have been different in the past. Other drugs are still at doctors discretion

As a GP I would prescribe this and have it on a repeat for when you need it so you can manage your chronic condition. If someone had constipation as a one off I would advise go to the chemist to discuss a treatment.
In my opinion the price of over the counter medication is so high it makes it unaffordable to many - £15 for a thrush treatment £14 for 7 tablets for heartburn and the cost of some of the more popular laxatives - this makes people opt for health centre appointments as the get free prescriptions or prepayments.

As far as I can tell that is one of the pre-set messages that the AI who has replaced our GP comes out with in turn.
It seems to be set so if you mention pharmacy it's more likely to choose that response.
"I've been to all the local pharmacies and none of them have the prescription in stock or can get it to order."
"Try the pharmacy".

Either that or the doctor's exams needs to include a basic comprehension test, because that should be coverable at about age 6 work.

Doctors have a mistake if prescriptions that they are allowed to prescribe by the local NHS trust. Perhaps what you asked for is one they are not allowed to prescribe?

Challenge this. I work in Primary care and if you have a long term condition which causes an issue or if meds you are on is causing an issue then you should get it prescribed

I would imagine this is the most likely reason and it could be solved with a quick call or email

Absolutely challenge i thought the reason gps prescribed certain things that you can buy over the counter for chronic conditions was dur to the quantity you need like i use to get paracetamol prescribed and I would get 200 at a time you can't buy that in shops.

I think morally a prepayment certificate should cover you for all the medication relating to your long term condition, including dealing with side effects.

It would perhaps be questionable if you were often using it for desperate acute issues (e.g. totally unrelated headaches, indigestion etc).

I think morally a prepayment certificate should cover you for all the medication relating to your long term condition, including dealing with side effects.

It would perhaps be questionable if you were often using it for desperate acute issues (e.g. totally unrelated headaches, indigestion etc).

Might be worth looking into applying for PIP as that can help towards the additional costs people have with long term conditions.

Before I retired, I had medications recommended to me by my GP, since OTC was cheaper than the prescription charge, so I can see the logic there, but I notice that is not true for this case.
Do you think that the problem is the e-consultation; the program may not have been set up for subtleties like interacting with other medication, or may simply be offering the standard solution for the average patient suffering from a one-off bout of constipation?
The pharmacist may well have relevant advice to offer, or may recommend that you consult your GP.
Not quite the same, but I found the pharmacist very helpful when I was advised to avoid aspirin because of taking blood-thinners.

Somebody has looked at your message for max 20 seconds, seen the words 'constipation' and directed you to pharmacy without any look in your notes to see that you have a long term condition which requires prescription of laxatives.

I'd go back to the surgery on this, you are not bankrupting the NHS with your perfectly reasonable request for a repeat prescription.

I think the point is that you don't require a prescription as in you don't need a qualified medical doctor to make the decision about you taking them. That time, decision making etc and the associated notes etc also carry a cost to the NHS. Along with the admin involvement.

The econsult system is to ask for a medical opinion (as opposed to requesting a repeat prescription for eg)

You wanting a prescription to alleviate the financial burden of your illnesses is a different situation.

With laxatives as well, don't most shops/pharmacies limit how much you can buy?