Prescription error question

[Helpyou]

I ordered a prescription from my doctor surgery receptionist (first time ordering a prescription with this surgery since I moved last year)

I went to collect today from pharmacy and paid for said prescription. Got home to realise they've put the wrong product inside. It's kind of the same but slightly different (ointment instead of cream) the ointment made me flare up in an allergic reaction last time I used it so obviously not going to.
Does anyone know whether I'll have to pay for another prescription again? I can't really afford it and it isn't my error. I'm not yet sure whether the error lies with the pharmacy or the doctors because I don't know whether receptionist put ointment down or cream. Either way, nothing can be sorted now due to weekend and bank holiday.but just wondered if anyone might know.

It's a bit frustrating as I really needed the cream ASAP but due to work and pharmacy opening hours, I may not get there til Friday now which isn't ideal.

Don’t open the pack. If the pharmacy is open, call them and point out it’s not a product you can use.
I think ( might be wrong) for NHS prescriptions they have to use the lowest cost item so if the dr put a generic name you’d either get the lowest cost product or the one they had in stock.

Ask the pharmacy first, and they can show you the prescription. If it’s wrong against the prescription, then it’s the pharmacy’s error and they will correct it free of charge.

If it’s correct against the prescription, it’s the surgery’s error. You would have to pay the pharmacy again for another prescription if it was the surgery’s mistake, and you could try to reclaim the money from the surgery, although I’m not sure how willing they would be to do that.

As a rule, always check what you’re collecting at the point of collection.

Also, obviously, if it was the surgery’s mistake then you need to take it up with them regarding a new prescription for the item you want, rather than expecting the pharmacy to sort it out.

I'm not sure ointment v cream is an actual prescription error. Unless the surgery were aware of your allergy and specified cream was necessary?
Otherwise it's just a vehicle for the medication and considered interchangeable.

The prescription slip should be inside the bag so you can check it.

Unless it’s an item the surgery have put on as a repeat (which they may not have if this is the first time the OP has ordered it from this surgery) then the slip will be blank

Thanks for all of your really quick replies! I appreciate it.

Annoyingly pharmacy now closed. It closes 1pm on a Sat and won't reopen now til Tuesday.

This has happened once before years ago and I tried using it, which is when I realised it caused more of a reaction. But back then I was having free prescriptions so it didn't matter so much (to me) although not great to have a waste of a product.

I definitely won't open it, I know I can't use it so I keep it sealed in the box.

There's no info on the slip given and I guess lesson learnt that I should open whilst there. But what if I was collecting on behalf of someone? I wouldn't be opening their prescription!

@Johnnysgirl it is different unfortunately otherwise I would use it.

@Johnnysgirl It would most definitely be an error.

Can you log on via nhs app or GPs online system to see your prescriptions history. Then you’ll know whose the error is.

There are a lot of supply issues at the moment and a number of creams are totally out of stock... long term.

The pharmacy may have asked for a prescription change to ointment in order to get you something that will do the job. They probably thought that they were being helpful.

So would not go in telling them they got it wrong. Just that the ointment is not suitable for you. You need to be aware that you probably won't get the cream anywhere (lots of stock issues on a particular 3 or 4 creams, ointment available)... but you should be refunded.

Thanks! Of course I wouldn't go in all guns blazing lol! I'm pretty chill about it all. But just can't use the ointment and can't really afford to be paying twice.
I didn't think to check as I assumed my records would show the ointment isn't okay for my skin but of course I now know to check in future.

Good idea, I'll see if I can access this info.

There are an awful lot of creams etc unavailable as others have said so likely to be due to this.
As an aside would you consider getting a prepayment certificate Op?
Its £10 ish per month if you have regular prescriptions its usually cheaper.

As someone who spent Friday speaking to pharmacies & patients who were all requesting replacements for items with supply issues, I'm going to agree that it was a deliberate change to give you an available item.

Pharmacies can't issue ointment if cream is specified on the prescription.

I had the same issue this week. Doctor's error, GP practice refunded me the prescription charge and reissued the correct prescription.

I'm confused by this as you're saying it was deliberate but also saying they can't change cream to ointment?! So was it deliberate or not? Make it make sense in my brain please 🙏

Thanks for the suggestion. This tends to be the only thing I have on prescription unless a rare random prescription so it wouldn't be worth me paying monthly.
I should say, I can afford to pay again if I have to but rather I have better things to spend that money on, like energy bills. It's a scary time and I'd rather not waste £10 on an item I can't use.

Deliberate at the point of issue - the GP surgery.

When we know that a certain item is out of stock it's common for an alternative to be issued.

It saves the trouble of issuing you a prescription you cannot get anywhere, then you having to come back to us to ask for an alternative prescription. If we did that we would basically be saying "oh yeah, we knew that was unavailable but just decided to give you the run around anyway" 😁.