Help me get back perspective on my disability

[Changinglegs]

I had a rubbish week due to stress of the job.
A comment by the pharmacist has got me down. Told me I should never get a taxi if collecting a prescriptions and be prepared to wait - it just reminded me and depressed me me of the disabilities that mean I can’t drive and others that tire me so I can’t walk but have also left me finding it hard/impossible to make friends to get lifts.

I normally walk down there but tired currently. No bus so had to be taxi. Went at a quiet time and no queue. I was just collecting an already made up prescription. I knew I’d wait as it’s chaotic shelves and shelves of boxes which seem randon. After 10 minutes of them searching I had to say if it wa longer I had to leave due to taxi. Then the comment (luckily they found the prescription so I don’t have to walk down there.

Unfortunately I’m not home enough to get online delivery for prescriptions and it’s now the only one in the area.

Can you help me get perspective of this very first world problem

Maybe next time call ahead so it’s ready for you.

im sorry it had made you feel rubbish. I hope you are ok now

Can't you get pharmacy 2u deliveries?

They just post it through the letter box, you dont have to sign for it or anything.

I think they’re like this when they’ve fucked up. I had to wait 40 minutes in an empty pharmacy for them to put together a prescription which had been sent over 5 days previously. They got very huffy when I said I’d wait!

I'm sorry OP, some people just don't think before they speak. I do get mine delivered but if it won't arrive on time then I get a bridging prescription sent to my local and call first to make sure they have it ready.

Recently I called my GP to rearrange an appointment as they'd booked two of them on the same day, but over an hour and half apart. The receptionist was quite snappy and asked why on earth I couldn't walk home and come back an hour later for the second appointment when she could see that I just live down the road. Had to explain that the first journey would be too much for me to take and she just sighed. Like I'm sorry my disability makes your job harder.

See if the pharmacy has a delivery service, which should be posted through your door. Do you mean that you are unable to use the bus, or is one not available?

People are rude. Seriously they are just rude. I would look into having it delivered as others have said. But I’m sorry u were spoken to like that.

How very bloody rude of them!

Phone ahead - that's what I do. Also my pharmacy does automatic batch prescriptions - I put in a request to my GP every three months for all my drugs (except insulin which is subjective) and they deliver the prescriptions straight to the pharmacy which is next door. On a set day of each month I go to the pharmacy and that month's drugs should be packed and ready for me. I phone ahead just to be on the safe side.

My pharmacy say it's their response to the firms that offer direct to door deliveries. I like using the pharmacy because it's a very useful service and they actually asked us to keep using them as if too many people go to the direct services, the local pharmacies will find it hard to keep open.

What I forgot to say was, does your pharmacy offer a service like that?

This! Yes of course there could always be delays outside of their control but there really was no need to be such a rude twat to you!!

They were rude, there are many other options.
Different pharmacy?
Calling ahead?
There's a text service so you get a text when your prescription is ready
Prescription delivered to home
The pharmacist should have no opinion on how you get there or leave ( I would have said that to them at the time !)

Could you order another taxi from the pharmacy (if Uber or similar) or is that more expensive/impossible/difficult?

Phone ahead, or change pharmacy if you possibly can.

In our area boots take absolutely forever, but the smaller retailers and independents (not many left)are much better and more agile.

Honestly, they're a business, vote with your feet.

I always phone ahead. My mum gets hers delivered and they post through the letter box, look into it as it would be so much easier for you.

I’m often out so reluctant to get the delivery. Also always check on getting the prescription as have had wrong medication and dosages. (Over a range of pharmacies.)

I can tell the pharmacy is very stretched - not enough staff (I know it’s another part of healthcare where professionals can’t make enough to me running). I think they may be too stressed to be able to put a system in place - they seem to need to search many boxes it is stressful just watching them.

But none of that is your problem, you are a customer x

Most pharmacies are like that, they know what they're doing, let them deliver, if there's an issue you ring up and talk to them.

Pharmacist is a discriminatory arse! Make a formal complaint and get that fucker sent on some awareness training. Things like taxis are precisely the kind of additional
expense the mobility portion of PIP is supposed to cover!

Disagree with posters saying you should get a delivery. This is a recognised issue in disability politics at the moment - everything can be done online/ by delivery, so therefore that's what disabled people should do. It's increasingly an excuse shops and services use to not make provisions accessible - "oh well you can just get it delivered". This is a pharmacy - they of all places should be prepared to accommodate disabilities, OP is hardly asking for anything unreasonable.

I agree!! It's very out of order of them to speak to you like that, you are accessing health care and a customer!! I would be shocked if a pharmacist or even a Pharmacy Technician was you behave that way! They should all have training on communication and disability discrimination and it's just basic decency!! I also agree with other posters that it might be easier to get your prescriptions delivered but you shouldn't have to because the pharmacy is so unhelpful!

Is there another one you can go to? In my area there are a few... the big name ones are notoriously unhelpful and hectic but the one in my village is amazing - it's an independent one and all the staff couldn't be more helpful. People I know travel further to go to this one.

So I guess what I'm saying is see if you can find another pharmacy who understands your needs and discuss with them.

I will also add, (as a healthcare professional myself) that their behaviour says more about them and they should be ashamed!! Don't let it upset you any further and take action 💪🏼 , ask around and see whether others go... maybe you can leave a review online as many places do this now or if you feel able, complaints are vital for improving service and identifying training needs of staff! Good luck!!

Our local Lloyds pharmacy was recently taken over by Houlihan.

I was parked outside it the other day and noticed they have installed a prescription ATM where you can pick up prescriptions out of hours. Brilliant idea, hopefully it will come to other pharmacies soon and could help those who struggle getting to the pharmacy for any reason.

Ach sometimes pharmacists are grumpy.

How on earth do meds get posted through doors? I have never seen a letter box large enough to take any of my boxes of pills, and I use eight boxes a month

You must have told them you got a taxi, otherwise, even if you got out of it right outside the shop then I doubt they'd have noticed.

So I suspect the conversation probably consisted of you asking them to hurry up as you had a taxi waiting, and them saying they they can't guarantee to be quick so a taxi isn't the best idea.
That's not quite the same as them just saying not to get a taxi.

Our pharmacy is excellent, but there have always been times I've gone in to find there's an issue, or something I expected to be there hasn't arrived due to order problems or something needing to be confirmed. Often it isn't the pharmacist's fault. Isn't there someone who can pick up for you or get it delivered. I've used Pharmacytoyou I think it is, and they're quite reasonable although they do get quite persistent if their algorithm thinks you need to order more and you don't!

If the pharmacist is preparing her medication they have some insight the average person on the street may not into her disability.

As a health care professional they should have some understanding of the barriers people face in accessing health care and accept a degree of responsibility for removing them. This includes mobility issues and needing a taxi for a journey able-bodied people would think nothing of walking/driving.

A pharmacy isn’t a run of the mill shop. Prioritising the medication of the person with a cab waiting/in danger of soiling themselves if they have to wait/in chronic pain is no different to a triage nurse deciding to see the person with chest pain before the suspected broken arm. Especially when they are made aware of the situation.

Yes maybe this.