to think a branch of Boots should be able to dispense mefenamic acid and the map without making special arrangements?

[Mintyy]

This is a fairly large branch of Boots with a pharmacy in a shopping centre in London zone 1.

Aibu?

Libraries - what was the bog standard anti-biotic?

Mefanmic Acid has major supply issues at the moment - as do so many other drugs. Add in price concessions and unrealistic quotas impossed by the manufacturers and it is a mess. My staff spend hours every day sourcing the 'bog-standard' drugs you all need - makes me wonder why the hell we bother when we are treated with such contempt.

psnc.org.uk/dispensing-supply/supply-chain/generic-shortages/

WillSomebody I'm always nice, we weren't rude about the salbutamol being out of stock, just genuinely bemused :)

I did three pharmacies today looking for one who could dispense something on the minor ailments scheme as I have no money to buy until the weekend and I was in discomfort. The first two were out of stock and the third was a half hour bus journey away. I was cheery at all times and incredibly grateful to the third pharmacist who stopped his closedown so he could dispense what I needed :)

Are you being treated with contempt? Really?

I am surprised that you couldn't get a standard salbutamol inhaler - if it was a specific brand - airomir for example, or device - easyhaler? then that may explain it.

Looking at MAS - we have the same supply issues. In our area we have to give cuplex for warts, but we can't get it, so patients have to travel around to find someone who he stock left.

If there is extra demand for the map over bank holiday weekends

Maybe not normally, but when the weather is so grim and people are forced to make their own entertainment, I can see how it could happen. Perhaps they were expecting barbecue weather, so had stocked up on Immodium and burn treatments instead!

Your comments are pretty insulting Mintyy:

Isn't it a bit like Sainsburys running out of bread though? Neither of them are rare or special drugs. If there is extra demand for the map over bank holiday weekends then you might have thought that the biggest dispensing chemist in the country would have worked that out?

We obviously try to keep enough stock of commonly prescribed items, but sometimes demand is higher than anticipated, especially over bank holiday weekends.

Is mefanamic acid still an issue? I haven't been able to get it for months but found some old ones which have now run out. I am due another prescription for it this week.

What I don't understand is how some pharmacies can get hold of it and some can't? How does that work? Any ideas how to get it?

Thanks

Oh fgs.

Sorry NeuNew, cross posted!

Try Tesco, worked for me.

Pharmacies get deliveries every day as long as an item isn't out of stock. If you go in at the end of a 24hr period where they have given out the 6 inhalers they had in stock and have just ordered replacements to be delivered tomorrow, then no they won't have it in stock.

Anyway Sanio's at the top of my road was out of white warburtons when I was in there earlier.

Yes there is still an issue with mefenamic acid - sometimes we can get it, sometimes we can't. Just try your usual pharmacy and they will be able to let you know what the current situation is.

I had the same problem with mefanamic acid last autumn, it took a few months to come in to my small, independent pharmacy.

It always astounds me when, despite me having my prescriptions on managed repeat, the pharmacy dispenser gives me half my tablets and an iou. It's not like I've spontaneously gone in and asked for them. They order them month in month out for me.

Apparently ibuprofen had been limited supply in my area. I take a particular triptan that isn't very popular (frova) and despite me needing 2-3 boxes per month, they always seem to have to order it in. They know my name by sight but still don't order ahead...

I have to say that I have found my local Tesco pharmacy absolutely amazingly helpful with the drugs I need for my very sick daughter. We have a whole host of drugs often changing weekly and the staff are very helpful getting specials ordered ASAP. They call me to say when things are delayed, if stuff has come in early, suggest a substitute ( and told me about stuff I was buying that could have been on prescription to help us save money) and call GP to sort stuff out eg he only gave 2 weeks by mistake . Stuff that needs to be ordered as not normal stock comes same day if ordered before 10 and next morning if after 10. And the specials eg sodium chloride that are a de to order ( I think) and have short shelf life come regularly and I get a call to tell me. They are fab.

I have a script every month for nortryiptolene. The first month I went to the pharmacy that is part of the medical centre. The girl on the counter returned, shrugged and said 'not got that'.
Benefit of the doubt and all that I returned the second, third and fourth month to be met with the same response. I gave up after That and went to the other Chemist up the road.

By far the most irritating I found are Tesco who will have you waiting for half an hour then return with 75% of your prescription because the rest is out of stock but if you come back tomorrow we'll have it. How bloody annoying to have stood there whilst they filled a script they knew they couldn't fully fulfil. Why not return to the customer immediately and give them the option of going elsewhere?

Some of the HRTs have gone out of stock too, I know Premique is one and, if you ring Pfizer up to ask about supply, you get a recorded message saying "The following drugs have no date confirmed for supply..."

More worryingly I have seen 2 drugs used as part of cancer treatment unavailable in the last fortnight

sisters that's the one on mine that always goes awol too. Wouldn't mind if it was any of the others but this one is pretty integral to keeping my pain under control

Will - no idea of the name. The GP just said that it was very commonly prescribed. One pharmacy said sorry they didn't have it. The next waited until I came back to collect and told me it was out. And that the one down the road didn't either. Then the fourth looked at it and said "yes, of course, why wouldn't we?" when I tentatively asked if they had it. I've also had issues getting my standard combined pills from them. I've given up and go to the fourth one - the big chain - now. Which is a shame as I prefer to support small businesses.

Can I add that soluble paracetamol seems to be as rare as hen's teeth these days. The huge Boots in Meadowhall didn't have any, nor had they had any for some time. Superdrug didn't have any and the local supermarkets seem to have stopped stocking it as well.

Baby milk takes up huge amounts of space, you might be one of 10 patients on specialist milk.
We ask out patients to let us know the day before they need the milk and we order it in for them.

Baby milk takes up huge amounts of space, you might be one of 10 patients on specialist milk.
We ask out patients to let us know the day before they need the milk and we order it in for them

id ask fir it at least a week before you need it. even signed up to the repeat thing boots offer they still managed to screw it up. good job I had enough to last me while they ordered the second and third tub I'm or sent back the 400 g tub of a completely different brand to what was needed.

prescription milk is a medicine there's no alternative you can give in the mean time.off the shelf.

If they can't read a script why on earth are they doing there

We keep 1 tin of the 4 most common milks in stock and then order everything else as its needed, we just don't have the room to keep it even for a week. We are a supermarket pharmacy with limited storage areas. We use 3 wholesalers and can source most things for next day delivery.
Unfortunately we can't stock everything that might come in on a script, prescriptions change all the time and a patient might be on the same expensive drug for years and then suddenly change and you are stuck with a £200 drug that no one else wants.