to expect the pharmacist to have a bit of common sense?

[agedknees]

Have had my medication changed (used to be on 500mg x2 two times a day), but the drug company has now made my meds in 1gm tabs.

So picked up my prescription on Thursday, took it into the pharmacy. Went to pick it up on Friday. They have only got a few tabs as there is a manufacturing problem (could be delivery problem, not sure).

So went in today to pick the rest of my tabs up. Still the pharmacy has not received a new supply. She gave me the rest of the tabs she had (had offered them to me last Friday, but I was reluctant to take all the tabs the pharmacy had as someone else might have needed them.

This still left my prescription short, so I suggested she made the rest up of 500mg tabs.

Pharmacist would not do it because the prescription says 1gm twice a day!! (so 500 + 500 does not equal 1gm)!!!!

She suggested I go back to my gp and get a new prescription (which means wasting gp's time, plus I work so hard to get into the surgery).

AIBU to have expected a bit of commonsense? When I rang the gp's surgery they suggested what I had suggested to the pharmacist and could not believe she wouldn't do that.

That is bonkers. YANBU, she is. And you are to be commended for not taking all the tablets in case someone else was in need.

Perhaps 2 x 500mg work out more expensive than 1 x 1g so they are not supposed to swap, although it might sound straightforward?

Sounds bizarre. Recently I had a prescription for 5mg twice a day and pharmacist said they didn't have that size so said take 2 of these 2.5mg ones instead.

This kind of thing happened with my husbands prescription. I think they can only give you exactly what is on your prescription.

She said they had it in different quantities but couldn't give me that....but I can not remember her explanation.

Some people can't do basic maths and could OD or underdose perhaps is a reason. ?

But pharmacist would put a new label on the tabs, ie for the 1gm she would put a label saying take 1 tab twice a day, and for the 500mg she would put take 2 tabs twice a day.

Surely it would be better than no tablets at all? (Especially with chronic conditions).

They have to do that I think, give you exactly what it says.

they can't dispense something that isn't on your prescription, it has to be followed to the letter, so yes, it will be a pain in the arse getting your script changed, but thats how it is I'm afraid.

It is barmy, but a pharmacist is liable for anything wrong with your presrciption, so has to check it.

Many think if something is wrong, its the GP who gets it in the neck, but actually the pharmacy has to check every one and if anything doesnt look right has to check with GP.

I had not problems at all when mine changed, never do, even when the doctor wrote the script wrong the pharmacist sorted it out easily. But then I'm not in the UK with its endless nonsensical beuracracy, and I pay full price for my medications and my dictor, so I expect and recieve a better service.

*doctor

Will go back to my GP and ask for another prescription (thankfully I don't have to pay for them).

what nonsense, of cousre they can give you the equivalent, they just could not give you the 1gm tablets if it was 2 doses of 500mg you needed

many times the pharmacy have queeried what the Dr has put, and offered liquid instead of tablets, same strength etc, and even changed the dose when the GP put 1x daily - for antibiotice which were 4 x a day in fact

I looked and thought hang on 28 tablets at one a day for tonsilitis cant be right
they agreed
and changed the dose on the label to what it should be

As a pharmacist, it does sound odd that she hasn't done that.

Is there a supply problem on the 500mgs as well? Often when something is in short supply, it is because there is a problem with the raw ingredient, so it affects all strengths. But not always.

The other issue could be a price difference. She could have claimed for the 500mg strength if she had done the whole prescription that way. Doing some of one and some of the other can confuse the NHS payment system (and there's a massive problem at the moment with pharmacists not being paid properly for the drugs they dispense - maybe she has been burnt financially and is wary about it happening again).

You could always phone the GP surgery and ask them to either phone the pharmacy and make her see sense, or fax through another prescription.

I've had this but I've been told that the 10mg tablets (I need 20mg) cost the same as the 20mg so they won't give two packs - they are £52 per pack so I can see his point.

I'm on 75mg of Diclofenac and when that's out of stock I can't have 7 packs of 10mg as the higher dose is slow release.

Don't assume the pharmacist is an idiot!

I agree with chestnut. There is a good chance she could have endorsed it as no cheaper stock available. I also can't see what was stopping her asking the GP for another prescription and doing it that way if she was worried about the pricing bureau.

Sadly some pharmacist give the profession a bad name.

Chestnut - I have phoned the surgery. They suggested that the pharmacist could give me 500mgs, but pharmacist will not do. So I am short of tabs on my prescription.

I phoned the drug company who admit they are short of 1gm tabs (new formula) but not short of the 500mgs. So will just bite the bullet and get a new prescription.

Oh and when she first said she was short of the 1gms I said I would take the whole prescription with 500mgs but she would not do that. (Was trying to be helpful).

atswimtwolengths - at no point did I assume the pharmacist was an idiot, or say it.

I think that is probably crap but very convenient for the pharmacist who will now get paid twice for one prescription..... They are taking the piss and trying to make a quick buck

I've certainly been given substitutions in similar circumstances - the pharmacist isn't just some instruction following robot, they're medical professionals too, who likely know more about the individual drug than the doctor prescribing (since, the pharmacist's speciality is the drugs themselves, rather than the whole of a human body).

I think you were unlucky, and if I could I'd try a different chemist.

Sorry the pharmacist was unhelpful (I agree that the minority give the rest of us a bad reputation), but glad you are on the way to resolving it.

Vote with your feet... go to another pharmacy next time, or if it's part of a chain, you could always lodge a complaint.

They have to give you what it says on the prescription, if you want 2 x 500mg, you have to get a new prescription. Tablets break down in the stomach at different rates, so as the person on 75mg of Diclofenac stated above, they cannot take 7 x 10mg as it would be too much too soon compared to one higher dose slow release tablet. In the same way, it is not advisable to crush tablets before taking them.

It could also work in reverse, the 1gm tablet could be released into your system alot quicker than taking 2x500mg, therefore managing whatever illness you have more effectively. Perhaps you should think around things before making out someone is lacking in common sense. By the way, a GP earns far far more than a pharmacist so I personally wouldn't worry about 'wasting' his/her time.

Thing is rev IMO the pharmacist should have contacted the GP and explained the problem so the OP didn't have to run about to get it sorted,

I'm not sure I'm buying that excuse. I used to take 2 x 20 mg a day of something. Now I'm taking 9x 5mg a day instead. Its not at all uncommon to mess around with tab sizes to get dosages right.

Sometimes winter some strengths are controlled release and others are normal release which can complicate things. Having said that as above I think the pharmacist is in the wrong in this case.