Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed at pharmacist?

87 replies

PavlovtheCat · 20/12/2011 16:36

DS is poorly. Has high fever, limp and really needs some medicine. Saw GP yeterday who gave me a prescription for paracetamol as I am almost out of calpol. Very nice of her, thank you.

I asked her if I could have whatever one it was that was not green/yellow as this makes the children gag and they refuse it, DS in particular being only 2. She said it was whatever the pharmacy have.

So, go to pharmacy today as out of calpol. They have on the shelf Calpol, and some generic stuff. I tell them that he won't take the green stuff, but will take the strawberry one fine (I know they do both of these in generic form, as we have had it before).

She telle me they get it from supplier in whatever form it comes in and I have to have whatever they have available - the other pharmacist assures me it is not the green one, but a pleasant tasting banana flavour one. So she reaches up next to the calpol bottle and decants this generic one.

And it is the bloody green one. I get home, don't need to give kids medicine right away as still covered from last dose. DH goes to work where is now until midnight or so.

I have stinking cold and have put my back out, pushchair is in the back of the car, and I have a poorly child in desperate need of medicine who has just spat the entire syringe of medicine all over me and himself.

Why could she not just give me the bloody calpol in the absence of the generic strawberry flavour! FFS.

I am being unreasonable aren't i? I should not accept a fussy child should I? i should not complain about getting free medicine should i? well i normally buy it, and if I had known it was the green stuff i would have just bought the calpol

OP posts:
mumatron · 21/12/2011 07:58

Ffs, pavlov did not ask for Calpol specifically. She asked for any paracetamol that was not green.

It's not even my thread and I feel like banging my head off a brick wall.

Yanbu unreasonable. The pharmacist should have told you what she was giving you. Simple

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 08:10

But she did say that they had calpol on the shelf and they didn't give it. As I said before becuase of the colour I think the GP had prescribed and the pharmacist had given an elixir or liquid - if this is the case then the fault lies with the doctor and not the pharmacist. If the parent had asked I would probably have supplied suspension - but then there would have been an -AIBU to the think the pharmacist gave me the wrong medicine? We can only supply what the doctor prescribes! If the op isn't bothered about calpol then own brand suspension is £1.99 for 200mls.

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 08:10

Oh and I agree the elixir is foul!

mousysantamouse · 21/12/2011 08:23

yab (a bit) u
buy calpol or nurofen or such like in any supermarket aswe all do...

BartletForAmerica · 21/12/2011 08:41

The GP is NOT at fault here.

If the GP prescribed paracetamol liquid, the pharmacist CAN give generic paracetamol OR Calpol. They just get paid for the cheaper one.

If the GP had prescribed Calpol, the pharmacist can ONLY give Calpol.

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 08:57

BartletForAmerica

No the GP cannot prescribe Calpol - It has not been allowed for some time in England (I am unsure about the rest of the UK).

I will say it one last time - It sounds as if the GP has prescribed elixir or liquid - not suspension. This is a different formulation and Pharmacists are not allowed in the community to give alternatives to what has been prescribed. I did say i would have probably have given suspension, but if the child had some sort of bizarre idiosyncratic reaction to the suspension then I would be in trouble (it happened a few years ago when a Pharmacist gave a different brand of an anti-biotic with the same active ingredients and the patient died - It makes me much more wary see news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7914649.stm)

Out of interest Bartlet are you a pharmacist?

BartletForAmerica · 21/12/2011 09:10

A doctor, so I do know what I am allowed to prescribe!

People don't seem to be understanding the difference between prescribing generically or by brand name.

UnexpectedOrangeInMyStocking · 21/12/2011 09:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BootyMum · 21/12/2011 09:15

Haven't read all the replies so apologies if this has already been said...

But the pharmacist CAN give the OP Calpol from the prescription the GP wrote - the GP would have prescribed paracetamol and that is what the OP then gets, the brand is irrelevant.

And I also ask for a specific type and flavour as my DS is also fussy and will spit the one he doesn't like out.

OP, yanbu.

Imo the pharmacist is at fault and I would also be spitting chips.

If you take the bottle back that they gave you they should be able to replace it for you.

Theas18 · 21/12/2011 09:19

If generic paracetamol is prescribed then they have to dispense the generic. Both the doc and pharmacist have fulfilled there obligations (and beyond, many Gps will not prescribe paracetamol anyway.

If you want branded calpol buy it.

Simples.

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 09:19

But you cannot write Calpol on an FP10 can you? Do you work in hospital - the rules are slightly different and pharmacists can substitute.

It would be rare to find a pharmacist who would give calpol as we would not get paid for it and we simply cannot afford to the loss at the moment.

Here is an extract from The Drug Tariff section Part XVIIIA - Drugs, Medicines and Other Substances not to be ordered under a General Medical Services Contract

Calcinate Tablets

Calcium Syrup (Berk Pharmaceuticals)

Calendolon Ointment

California Syrup of Figs

Calpol Extra Tablets

Calpol Infant Suspension

Calpol Six Plus Suspension

Calpol Tablets

It clearly show that you cannot prescribe it in the community.

Theas18 · 21/12/2011 09:20

PS the chemist "can " give branded for a generic prescription but will be sacked by their employer because the reimbursement is at generic pricing and the employer will be out of pocket.....

You can try other pharmacies to get the generic you prefer IF they stock it.

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 09:21

Why should the pharmacist supply a product that he is not going to get paid for Bootymum? If you owned a business would you sell products for less than you paid for them?

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 09:24

Not sure we would be sacked Theas18, but we may lose our jobs if the pharmacy goes bankcrupt! We cannot afford to give expensive brands when we get paid for generics - Where would it stop?

Iatemyskinnyperson · 21/12/2011 09:24

Try suppositories. Really useful when kiddies are sick- work really quickly. You can get neurofen suppositories now too...

IKWYM though. Mine would never swallow orange-flavoured nuerofen. I had to shlep round to get the strawberry flavour, which wasn't as widely available.

slavetofilofax · 21/12/2011 09:29

The pharmacist is not at fault, why should they give you a more expensive product?

If you didn't want to take your chances and instead chose to rely on the fact that the pharmacist has personally tasted all of the medicines they have, you should have paid yourself.

Original poster
PavlovtheCat · 21/12/2011 09:31

mumatron indeed Grin but tis the nature of AIBU, they tend to become about those who wish to argue about things, and they grab onto things that actually have nothing to do with the thread. but, hey ho.

OP posts:
NinkyNonker · 21/12/2011 09:37

But the OP has said that she was happy to buy the bloody Calpol, had she known what she was being given. That is her gripe, not the fact she wasn't given Calpol free.

ShengdanRoad · 21/12/2011 09:38

First world problems.

BootyMum · 21/12/2011 09:40

Okay, I am not a pharmacist so don't have all this insider knowledge about cost...

However I know that my GP does prescribe ibuprofen for my DS when required [I don't ask for it, am happy to pay for it myself, but she just prescribes it along with whatever else he needs when he is sick] and the Lloyds Pharmacy I go to give me 'Nurofen'...

Why would they do this if they are making a loss? I don't know. But I do know that I also had to ask for a specifically flavoured antibiotic when DS had a throat infection as he refused the one originally prescribed and the pharmacist was most obliging. Nothing ever was said about one brand costing more than another.

sleepatlast · 21/12/2011 09:43

Most gp surgeries have a policy of not prescribing calpol or generic as expect patients to buy over counter.pct. probably would slap wrists of gp prescribing more expensive calpol on nhs...everything has to be generic these days.so your gp did u a favour.sounds like pharmacy brushed u off a bit. Hope your Lo is better soon.I feel your pain -had to drive to 3 pharmacies at ds' bedtime to get his antibox this week and been up all night...I may have been mildly stroppy too.it's rubbish when they're ill isn't it!

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 09:44

Because they are a huge company that can negotiate huge discounts on certain products.

Not all pharmacies will get the same deal and not all deals will last.

Although I work for an independent we do give brands when we can get a good deal (not with calpol though!) for example we always use the ventolin brand of salbutamol..

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 09:47

Sleepatlast - most pharmacists would phone another pharmacy or two to check for you if you ask - we are lovely people you know!

Theas18 · 21/12/2011 09:49

Bootymum there you have the dfifference between small, independent or chains of 2 or 3 shop, pharmacists and the big chains like boots and lloyds.

Big chains have negotiating power and probably can get branded neurofen at the same price as generic because they order thousands of units. Small chains can't.

I don't mean the pharmacist would get sacked for 1 bottle of calpol but a few of those and a few branded other medication "because the pink ones taste better/are smaller" etc and they profits for the business disappear fast.

I know this is an AIBU and argument is expected, but we really are going to have to all realise that the NHS is extremely cash strapped and every penny counts.

Putting it bluntly if we want grannys cancer treated with the most up to date drugs, that money needs finding, and it could be 30p or what ever saved from generic paracetamol that funds it. The "big society" (ick) is going to have to realise there will be cuts and the "me me" (not the op "me" directly) is going to have to put up with that and manage their own self limiting illnesses.

Off soapbox!

ItsSnowDarling · 21/12/2011 09:51

What theas18 said!