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Original poster

Urgent help: Can’t get hold of essential medication and it runs out today. What should I do?

36 replies

Nifedipine · 15/02/2021 12:50

Hello!
I would appreciate if someone could help, I am at a total loss and don’t know how to move forward. My wife gave birth recently and due to a post-birth complication had to stay in hospital for 10 days. She is now on medication, she was discharged with 5 days’ worth of tablets and told to ask GP to prescribe more. This was done, but in a series of unfortunate events somehow we still can’t get hold of the medication which runs out today. I don’t know where we have gone wrong in navigating the systems, so I will list below what we have done in the hope someone can tell me where we may have gone wrong and what to do in order to set things right and get to the medication as this is now super urgent:

Day 1: Hospital discharge, midwife said she would send medication list to GP later that day (and she duly did so)
Day 2: We requested the prescription from the GP through their online system.
Day 3: Prescription done by GP and sent to local pharmacy. I phoned the pharmacy and they said to go and collect the next day.
Day 4: Gone to collect medication just to be told that there is a manufacturing issue with the medication (Nifedipine) and that they could not get it for me and I should phone other pharmacies to check. I managed to find one that had it, drove there just to be told that they have the 20mg version while the prescription said 40mg. I showed them the box of the current one, which is also 20mg and my wife is taking 2 tablets at a time but they said they could not dispense a different strength one. They told me to call GP next day (as this was on Sunday) and get a new prescription.
Day 5 (today): Phoned GP surgery in the morning, they have modified the prescription and sent it to the pharmacy that has the stock. I phoned pharmacy to check and they don’t have the prescription. I phoned GP surgery again, they have put me on call back list, that was an hour ago and nothing yet.

I am really worried that we will not get hold of the medication on time as it is now the afternoon and I don’t seem to be able to get through to the GP. I also spoke to the hospital pharmacy as they were the ones dispensing the original pack but they outright refused as they said they don’t deal with GP prescriptions.

Has anyone got an idea of how to move forward with this?
Thank you very much in advance!

OP posts:

Haggisfish · 15/02/2021 12:53

Anyway you can collect the prescription from Gp instead and take it to the pharmacy yourself? There is an emergency pharmacist open 24 hrs somewhere in your county -the Gp will know or a quick google tells you.

Bluemandm · 15/02/2021 12:54

I would call the GP again after lunch and reiterate to the receptionist that you need a prescription sorted this afternoon as you have run out of an essential medication. Could you also call the pharmacy and check that they still have the stock you need and which strength so you can be triple sure the GP prescribes what’s available?

mindutopia · 15/02/2021 12:54

You just need to keep following up with your GP. I would call every hour, until you get a call back. I would also follow up directly with the pharmacy. They can sometimes prescribe a day or two of certain medicines while you are waiting for the prescription to come through. I am assuming she is taking it for high blood pressure? I would think that would warrant urgency on their parts. In the meantime, you just need to be the squeaky wheel. She may also need to call them herself, as they may not be able to follow up with you about her medical records (usually this wouldn't be allowed, unless she has expressly consented).

Interested in this thread?

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Antenatal & postnatal General health

Original poster

Nifedipine · 15/02/2021 12:58

Hello,
Thank you for answering! I didn't know that was an option, I thought it was all electronic at the moment? But as I can't get hold of surgery I can't ask them. Maybe I should just drive over and appear there in person? Can I collect this on my wife's behalf? I know I can collect from the pharmacy.

OP posts:

redcandlelight · 15/02/2021 13:01

first of all congratulations to your baby!

sorry you are in such a situation.

first of all, I think the pharmacy is telling you a story. for a medication for dc we got all sorts of tablet strengths as it was a medicine on the shortage list and we had to take whatever the pharmacy could deliver. speak to them again.

secondly, is the medicine on a shortage list? your pharmacy should be able to order it otherwise. might take a day or two though.

good luck!

NeverWillIEver · 15/02/2021 13:02

The NHS line (is it 111?) and ask them to prescribe. They did some epilepsy meds for me over Christmas.

Original poster

Nifedipine · 15/02/2021 13:03

Thank you everyone. I have been trying to be the squeeky wheel for her since she gave birth, so many things went wrong with her care! Noone would even bother to check her maternity notes to check her medical record and it took days for someone to realise that she had a pre-existing condition that needed to be taken into consideration when medication was given. I don't know how much louder I can shout, will call GP again and keep fighting.

From the answers it looks like it is not us who had done something wrong in navigating the systems, is it? We are wondering what we could have done to avoid this and also what the hell we will do next month if we do manage to get a box of tablets today...

OP posts:

ShopTillYouDropp · 15/02/2021 13:04

I would just turn up at the GP.
Hope you get it sorted

sheslittlebutfierce · 15/02/2021 13:05

Ring the hospital she was in and speak to the ward, maybe the hospital pharmacy can help on the say so of the ward.

We have had to do this in the past and they have been very helpful

Original poster

Nifedipine · 15/02/2021 13:06

I have no idea what the shortage list is, but apparently not possible to order at the moment. Hospital clearly has a stock, but they don't allow her access to that anymore.

What pharmacy said was that the reason they couldn't dispense the different strength was because it was an electronic prescription and as such it gets linked to the exact medication on their systems. They said that they would be allowed to substitute if it was a handwritten one prescription but I don't think that is something we can get right now.

Calling 111: I will try this too, thank you!

OP posts:

1990shopefulftm · 15/02/2021 13:08

Try a different pharmacy I was on nifedipine postpartum and it's definitely possible to get it in 5mg,10mg and the 20mg Mr ones, you ve got a good few hours after a missed dose before it would be out of her system. Worst case scenario ring the maternity unit as it's ridiculous they didn't give her a month worth really as they should know it takes time and then you can try 111 and they can sometimes help with finding a pharmacy with stock.
A bunch of things went wrong with my care too and it sounds like you re doing the best you can for your wife and this really isn't your fault.

vampirethriller · 15/02/2021 13:11

Call 111, I got an emergency supply of my medications over the weekend when my doctor hadn't sent my prescription through to my chemist in time. It was done the same day

TheSparkling · 15/02/2021 13:12

OK, you need to keep in contact with t your go surgery. This kind of thing is quite common and drugs go in and out of stock a lot. The surgery will be use to this and the doctor will be able to issue the prescription today for your wife.
The surgery where I work, requests like this are always dealt with by 5pm. I can understand why you're panicking a little but the on call GP who should deal with this will have a lost if things to do today.

The pharmacy is correct, it cannot give you anything other than what is exactly on the prescription which is why the GP will need to issue a replacement script.

When you speak to the surgery ask for the EPS code and note this down as it will help the pharmacy locate the script on the spine.

Original poster

Nifedipine · 15/02/2021 13:13

Thank you so much everyone, I will try every single thing suggested here and report back, hopefully with a success story!

OP posts:

LynnThese4reSEXPEOPLE · 15/02/2021 13:13

Call the post-natal unit/your midwife. They should be able to help.

blackteaplease · 15/02/2021 13:13

Either call 111 for an emergency prescription or if its within 6 weeks of giving birth call the labour ward for a prescription from the hospital.

TheOrigRights · 15/02/2021 13:14

111 will definitely help you.
I had a similar issue on New Years Eve, and they were able to locate a pharmacy that had what I needed, send the prescription through and I could collect a couple of hours later.
They gave me just a few days worth to tide me over until I could sort things out properly.

TheSparkling · 15/02/2021 13:14

Calling 111 won't help during surgery opening hours. They will issue script overnight or at weekend when the normal surgery is closed.

Sloth169 · 15/02/2021 13:16

As someone already has mentioned above, contact the ward & one of the drs should do you a prescription to collect from hospital pharmacy.

Exact same thing happened to me with exactly the same medication!

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 15/02/2021 13:20

Make sure you speak to the actual pharmacist not an assistant. Try other pharmacies, including the hospital pharmacy. Pharmacists are your best bet to unblock this I think.

britnay · 15/02/2021 14:10

Er, you don't need to speak to the pharmacist to get this sorted, a dispensing assistant is quite used to dealing with this sort of issue.
You need to find out what the equivalent drug strength/type is available from the pharmacy and then ask the GP to send a prescription for that to the pharmacy. If they've got it in stock then it can be done within minutes of receiving the electronic prescription.
Unfortunately, with electronic prescriptions it is no longer possible for pharmacies to fiddle with it and make sure you get the right thing even if its not exactly how it was prescribed.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 15/02/2021 14:20

Can you get an alternate medication from the GP? This one is an anti-hypertensive one, but there are a fair few that do the same or similar.

Labobo · 15/02/2021 14:21

In the past I have run out of essential medication and the pharmacy has issued enough tablets for 48 hours to ensure continuity while the prescription is being sorted out. Might be at the chemists' discretion but you could go and ask.

CavernousScream · 15/02/2021 14:37

Can you call either the ward or the midwives?

Original poster

Nifedipine · 15/02/2021 16:05

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions. This has now been sorted and we are happy owner's of one month worth of tablets! :)
What seems to have happened this morning is that the modified prescription was sent to the wrong pharmacy by mistake, which needed to be tracked down, then it took a while for them to actually pick the phone up and release the prescription. I am absolutely shocked how inefficient this system is, obviously should count ourselves lucky not to have had to use such prescriptions before.

Just for the record, things that didn't work: midwife was not willing to help and neither was the hospital pharmacy.

All this is to be repeated in a month' time, so if anyone has any suggestions on how to make this more smooth next time I would be grateful. E.g. is there a way to know which pharmacy has the medication in stock instead of me googling all pharmacies in town and phoning them one by one? Also, is there a way for an electronic prescription not to be sent to any particular pharmacy but to just be in the central system ('Spine'?) and then drawn down by the pharmacy thatactually has the stock?

OP posts:

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