No medication again

[elliejjtiny]

We've got so many problems in our town with new houses being built and the local schools, dr surgeries etc not expanding. Now we are losing a dr surgery and pharmacy it's going to get worse. Dh has been missing his vital medication for 2 days now. It's not life threatening but he is feeling really ill without them and can't function. He is carer to one of our disabled dc so i am now trying to do his caring as well as mine which means i can't take them out on my own and they will struggle to sleep tonight. This keeps happening and I'm getting so frustrated by it. I can't imagine how dh is feeling about it, feeling so ill every 3 months or so with something that is totally preventable.

Why doesn't he have it, is it because he needs an appointment? I order my long term meds via the NHS app and the dr approves and sends the prescription to my allocated pharmacy, so I don't need to see them apart from yearly blood tests.

No, he doesn't need an appointment. He orders it at the earliest time he can (if he orders it any sooner it gets rejected) at the gp and then it goes to the pharmacy. But the pharmacy sometimes have it in stock and sometimes they don't, even though he's been on these meds for nearly 20 years. I don't know why there is a delay so often but it's always really busy in there with a queue all round the shop and the staff run off their feet.

Sounds like a shortage of the medication, he needs to speak to agP to see if there is anything similar that is readily available.

Can he change pharmacy? It might be worth a try. Not good though.

It's a good idea to ask if there's something similar though but I get if you're used to one med then changing it isn't ideal.

I hand one time where they only had a bit in stock, so I paid, took that, and went back for the rest the next week. But if they don't have any that's a problem.

Medication shortages are well documented, and aren't a consequence of individual pharmacies - they are caused by global economic pressures, Brexit, tariffs, etc. He needs to discuss with his GP whether there is a generic that would be more readily available and suitable for him.

Similar problems here. I went to five different pharmacies and had to wait two hours to get antibiotics for my grandson. They are building on every square inch of land around here, but still only one small hospital and no more gp practices.

I don’t understand this thread. The reason there are no pharmacies is because people can’t afford to run them anymore. It’s not due to ‘building’

Also, l order my meds 3 weeks in advance to allow for shortages.

If he needs the medication he can ring 111 and they will issue an emergency prescription.

If this is a regular occurrence I would change pharmacies. I can order prescriptions on line on the NHS app which saves a trip to GP surgery every month to request a repeat prescription.

Online pharmacy. It made such a difference for me. I order them on an app. My GP approves them in less than 24 hours (much faster than their own pharmacy) and they are off in the post to me at no charge. Usually received within 3 days of ordering. I use Pharmacy2U which is formerly Lloyd’s Pharmacy, but re-branded.

If there is a stock out, then he needs to figure out a way to get them (call around to other pharmacies, request alternative from the GP). One of the meds I take was completely unavailable globally for about a year. I asked in online groups for what alternatives people were using, found a similar med, put through an eConsult asking the GP to prescribe, they did and online pharmacy sent it out within a few days. You do have to advocate for yourself a bit and shop around.

It's nothing at all to do with building houses etc. It's to do with shortages and supply chain issues, due to global demand and yes, Brexit

You can get your meds through online pharmacies which have the infrastructure and economies of scale to make them less vulnerable to these issues. It's not difficult.

Have it sent to another pharmacy? Or call around different pharmacies, check if they have supply problems and if not, send there?

The first step would be to ask why there is a delay. While a busy pharmacy might delay the time it takes for a prescription to be filled or the time you have to queue to collect the meds, I would expect this to be in the minutes not days! I would imagine this is a supply problem with the drug further up the chain and nothing to do with the closing of local pharmacies!