out of date medicine from the chemist

[IShallWearMidnight]

DD needed a prescription earlier in the week, GP prescribed a mahoosive size of bottle which the chemist didn't have in stock and which they needed to order in. When I went back to collect it, they had given me three smaller bottles, which was fine. But then today I was looking at the bottles, and they have use by dates of December 2011, March 2012 and April 2013 . Thankfully we'd opened the April 2013 one (although the March 2012 would have been OK I suppose), but how bad of the chemist was that!

So, AIBU if I go back and make a huge fuss, even though we don't actually want or need replacement bottles, if DD needs it in the future she can have it as a tablet (we only asked for medicine this time as she struggles at the moment to keep tablets down), and we would never have needed a 450ml bottle in the first place. Or should I just chuck it out and not worry?

YWNBU if you went in calmly pointed out mistake and waited for their response.
Imagine they will be mortified, conduct internal investigation and replace your bottle.
Least that is what happened when something similar happened to me !

Point out the problem when you take them back to the chemist for disposal.

I'd point out the problem tomorrow - you can phone them. It may make them check their stock carefully - as there could be unintended consequences with some meds.

Actually there is the point that YWBU not to bring it to the attention of the chemist. The mistake may be small to you but imagine if they did this in another situation where the consequences are more serious. They have failed to properly check your medication, which demonstrates a lack of following procedures....

The sticky label on the bottles, showing your name, should have the date they were given to you. I'm one of those who would be more likely to go to Trading Standards. Was it a one-man-band chemist? Perhaps it was just old stock that had been bought and they thought you were an easy target to get rid of them and they would still be paid by the NHS for the prescription.

Trading standards? Really? I mean, yes it's bad, especially as it's medicine, but honest mistakes do happen and they will have an internal procedure for dealing with it. Point it out to them, if response is uncaring or unsatisfactory you can always still complain externally. Can't imagine the response would be anything other than 'so very sorry, we will exchange that for in-date medicine immediately and check our stock'.

i would complain to someone else.

this medication was ordered in, so it not just 1 human error but another person who sent the medication aswell....how could this not be noticed by 2 pharmacist

What McHappy said. It's bad that it got by two people without either of them noticing.

As another poster said, this could have had serious consequences for someone else.

update - pharmacist was hugely apologetic, promised they'd review their checking procedures and that she'd Have A Word with all the staff. Don't think it was ordered in actually, I think they gave me the quantity prescribed but in smaller off the shelf bottles, as one still has the price sticker on (not the out of date one ).

But still, they should have been more careful, and someone will be getting a bollocking later I reckon.