Pharmacy teams, it's that time of the year again..

[BastardRanitidine]

Christmas is around the corner, the phones won't stop ringing, our patients are filled with Christmas joy no they are not , stress levels are on a new high and let's not forget the bastard mcs drugs keeping us on our toes!

Let's all gather around on this difficult month and vent.

Have your dispensary chocolates at hand and the wine on standby at home. If we only swear 5 times in a day it's an achievement and if the phone accidentally lands on the floor and you happen to be stomping your foot at that very spot it landed..oh well..oops!

AND REMEMBER!

It comes automatically

Will ranitidine never return then? I vaguely thought it was contamination of summat? I miss an occasional Zantac

I have a question for pharmacists. I used to be given a 3 or 6 months supply of levothyroxine by my doctor. However, in March he prescribed a years supply but I now have to go and collect it each month from the pharmacy. Why will they only give me 1 month at a time?

I have seen a few posters naming and thanking pharmacists but not a single mention of poor dispensers!
We contribute too you know!

A few years ago I sorted a patient's prescription. Her original drug was mcs. I let her know and she was a step away from kicking off. I spent ages on hold on the phone contacting every supplier we had a contract with, eventually found same drug different strength from one of the suppliers. I had it ordered, then on phone to the surgery asking for a new script from the GP. More chasing up because doctors hadn't sent it. Patient was kept informed by me of what was going on. Eventually, all got done and patient was notified. In she comes, I proudly presented her with the bag, she took it, barely giving me a glance,then turns towards the pharmacist and goes 'Thank you so much for sorting this out for me, Abc, you are always so helpful '.
A slap in the face that was. Not the first time that has happened and not the last.

I love this thread. We’re regulars at our local pharmacy and the main pharmacist is amazing. I buy them chocolates every year and last year the pharmacist gave us a card!

It’s really hard juggling normal life with a long term illness and our pharmacist is really good at helping us out with repeats and queries. Also there has been lots of oddities along the way - changing of meds/unusual meds and expensive meds! Also sharps bins. Some pharmacies can be understandingly quite wary of them but they always take ours and always ring me to check we’ve booked in the flu jab with the GP. We had difficulty getting it one year (not so great GP) and the pharmacist sorted out vaccines for us all.

A good pharmacist is worth their weight in gold 🏅

@DiscontentedWoman

Will ranitidine never return then? I vaguely thought it was contamination of summat? I miss an occasional Zantac

From the NHS website about ranitidine There is an ongoing investigation into whether some ingredients can increase the risk of cancer.

I expect it might be a while before we see it again.

Just seen your last comment - I get in really well with the dispensers too. They are always so on the ball and really help make my life easier

I work for 111 and we have many people wanting their repeat prescriptions. All we do is write the name and dosage of the medication and an email referral gets sent to the pharmacy. But why are they calling us, we are just going by what they are telling us?! Why can’t the pharmacy access their records showing them they have the medication on repeat? I know some are able to but the majority of the time not.

It must be difficult working in a pharmacy. People always demanding their medication now, or they’re going on holiday tomoro and haven’t put in a repeat etc

So grateful for our local pharmacy this year They've kindly delivered to us since March as I've been shielding. Even when they struggle to get all my meds due to supply issues they still keep me updated.

@Turnedouttoes

I have a question for pharmacists. I used to be given a 3 or 6 months supply of levothyroxine by my doctor. However, in March he prescribed a years supply but I now have to go and collect it each month from the pharmacy. Why will they only give me 1 month at a time?

It sounds like your doctor put your prescription on repeat dispensing? (You mentioned he prescribed a years worth and sent it to the pharmacy). If that's the case then the pharmacy is dispensing the quantity that the doctor prescribed to be given at each time. If he did it electronically it means he set it up so each month the system is triggered and a new script comes through to the pharmacy for one month supply. Many GPs have started using this method because it saves them time with processing repeat requests from patients. That way the patient doesn't need to re-order until the 'pre-approved' prescriptions have ran out. In your case you wouldn't have to re order for a whole year!

It's a bit difficult to explain it sometimes to patients and it can get confusing.

The quantity that you are given it's up to the doctor, but nowdays i haven't seen many people having more than 2 months supply of anything. I wouldn't be surprised if guidelines have become stricter with how much GPs can prescribe.

We are regulars at our local pharmacy and all the staff are fantastic so helpful

Great idea for a thread - can I ask maybe though as a patient if the following would be ok for me to do? Don't want to cause anyone any bother:

I am housebound and my prescriptions are delivered and re-ordered by my pharmacy. Now I know this is their job but there's been several occasions this year where they've been really helpful and put up with me calling with daft queries and I'd like to thank them in some way. One of the assistants who I've never even met but we've spoken on several occasions even asks after dd.

Difficulty is I can't get out to take a card/gift to them so am I ok to order online and have delivered to the store address? Would that be appreciated/allowed and what kind of thing is most appreciated?

I also have concerns like @MarieVanGoethem that I don't want to CREATE more work for them by doing this

My 28 day prescription I check on halfway through because it takes 3 working days (and we seem to have a LOT of public holidays where I am) for the gp to issue the prescription, another day to allow for it to get to the phrarnacy admin stage and then 3 working days by pharmacy to prep so that's 7 working days which in reality is more like 10-12 days, plus if there's any issues with supply/manufacture. They never mind me doing this and it has led to issues being discovered earlier rather than later.

I think when posters say "pharmacists" they mean all dispensary staff - I certainly do when thanking! I mean the pharmacist, the dispensers, the people taking my calls and answering queries, the delivery driver... all of you!

That patient was plain rude! No call for that ever!

Ps

I should probably apologise though as I'm rather fond of saying on here and in real life that pharmacists are extremely knowledgable and well trained and a good primary care resource that people rarely think to access. Certainly in my experience often far more knowledgeable than even gps on the actual meds and side effects etc. I've had major issues in recent years with side effects and they've been incredibly helpful. But sorry for the additional workload

My pharmacist literally saved my life a few (it may have been more than a few) years back. An antibiotic I was prescribed was one I was allergic to but the name had been changed and dr hadn't realised (not my regular gp) pharmacist noticed and contacted gp to alert them and I was then prescribed an alternative. If I'd simply been handed it I wouldn't have known and the results don't bear thinking about!

@Trailing1

Perhaps we should rename Gaviscon as Gav-is-gone....

nah you'll get people's hopes up!

For some nice traditional agreeing: absolutely hurrah for pharmacies & their role in primary care provision; definitely think lots of people (in world at large, not even just on this thread) say pharmacist when referring to any/all pharmacy staff*; patient described above really did plumb “dragged up backwards through the gutter by their hair” depths: ugh; I’ve been very lucky with people checking drugs (bar the time a burn was dressed with jelonet immediately following a conversation about my chlorhexidine allergy & my saying it was suddenly very itchy was dismissed... my GP was very VERY cross about the resultant mess) BUT the time my local hospital decided to discharge me after an admission for anaphylaxis without prescribing a new EpiPen? I had to go & collect my regular prescription & explained what had happened & on hearing I’d not been given a new EpiPen nor even extra antihistamines the pharmacist rang my GP & got them to prescribe immediately & dispensed at once. (Pre EpiPen-shortage, yes!) He also made a complaint to the hospital...

• Somehow (well, it involved enthusiastic feline headbutting) I deleted the part of my post that mentioned dispensers, I was v confused until I reread it...

Every time I go to my Pharmacy, there's someone kicking off about something. It really does irritate me.

I love mine. It's a large City centre one, and one of the staff there helped me get my ADHD meds on the NHS rather than paying privately. We had a nice chat in the private room, she asked if I was currently under an NHS Psych given my other medication (I am) and told me to forward my diagnosis papers to him, and ask if he could take over. He did and its saved me over £100 a month. I thought I had to wait until the private team had finished titration, had figured out which medication was best for me, but nope. Turned out he was more than happy to do all that for me.

I'm back in there next week to collect my meds and I will be taking a gift of some form for her.

Good luck to you all over Christmas and NY. I suppose I'm lucky that my GP and Psych have ensured I have enough to last and don't have to go back till the second week of Jan and so can avoid the chaos and weird no mans land time between Christmas and NY.

Yay a pharmacy thread!! I recently changed sector from community to hospital so I have no idea what awaits me this year!

Christmas is hard going and after everything else this year you all deserve a break so badly.

Forgot to say how nice it is to have a positive pharmacy thread too, usually it's just someone moaning that they can't buy 27 boxes of co-codamol 😂

Hope its ok to ask, would my local pharmacy give advice on drug interactions if the drug was prescribed / dispensed elsewhere? I get Sirolimus from a specialist centre 200 miles away.

Why can’t the pharmacy access their records showing them they have the medication on repeat?
@Spaghettibetty345

I think it heavily depends on pharmacist's discretion and the nature of the drugs. Control drugs emergency supply it's a big no no. If patient had an item added to the repeat recently and the pharmacy had never dispensed that item before again some pharmacists might refuse to take responsibility just in case the info we get given is wrong , or if patient hadn't had said item for a long time again pharmacist could refuse to give emergency supply because of fear that said item might not be suitable any more.
Although, when pharmacists refer to 111 i think what they really hope is the patient getting through eventually to a GP and the GP prescribes a proper prescription!

Hope its ok to ask, would my local pharmacy give advice on drug interactions if the drug was prescribed / dispensed elsewhere? I get Sirolimus from a specialist centre 200 miles away

Absolutely, you don't have to use that particular pharmacy to seek advice.

Ah @Graphista I always absorb your posts like a sponge whenever I see them in the relationship boards. It's so nice to see you

That one is a tough one to answer as we never had anything posted to us by patients apart from cards. Although, we had an online order arrive to us once for a parient by accident because of paypal mix up!

Oh wow! Thank you op how sweet of you to pay me such a compliment.

I will definitely send a card at least, perhaps another pharmacy person can advise re sending of a gift? I would like to do this if I can especially after this year!

My local pharmacy is very helpful, an independent one.

Thanks!

@BastardRanitidine

I have seen a few posters naming and thanking pharmacists but not a single mention of poor dispensers! We contribute too you know!

A few years ago I sorted a patient's prescription. Her original drug was mcs. I let her know and she was a step away from kicking off. I spent ages on hold on the phone contacting every supplier we had a contract with, eventually found same drug different strength from one of the suppliers. I had it ordered, then on phone to the surgery asking for a new script from the GP. More chasing up because doctors hadn't sent it. Patient was kept informed by me of what was going on. Eventually, all got done and patient was notified. In she comes, I proudly presented her with the bag, she took it, barely giving me a glance,then turns towards the pharmacist and goes 'Thank you so much for sorting this out for me, Abc, you are always so helpful '.
A slap in the face that was. Not the first time that has happened and not the last.

I haven’t worked in pharmacies for a while but I was a dispenser on and off for around 10 years. I started young, so looked young and anytime I sorted anything out/helped anyone/dealt with problems they wouldn’t thank me. Also, I would get the ‘I don’t want advice from you, are you even qualified?’ The pharmacist comes out and gives the exact same speech I did.

Aaah good times. Would you believe I miss it?