To think it should not be this difficult to get a repeat for the pill

[chasingrainbows27]

Moved to a new city. Had a weeks worth of contraceptive pill left. Usually the prescription is automatically sent to Boots so I thought no problem, I will be going back to old city so will pick them up.

Waited but they didn't arrive. I work 9-5 and am out of the house 8-6.30 commuting. So registering with a GP is difficult. My closest with late opening hours has appointments late but the reception closes at 6pm.

Once registered there is a 3 day 'admin' wait then a two week wait for an appointment to get the pill.

So I called old dr. They can't do a repeat without me ordering at the counter.

I'm now completely out of the pill.

Tried to go to sexual health clinic. I'm in a huge city yet all those with outside of working hour clinics are booked for 2 weeks.

Went to closest nhs walk in centre. Am currently in a three hour queue with no guarantee they will prescribe them apparently.

At this point I feel like it would be easier to get pregnant and have a baby!

AIBU to think it shouldn't be this difficult to get hold of the pill?

Sorry OP but YABU - better organisation on your part would have prevented this. At least you will not leave it until the last minute again!

Also, please don't criticise the NHS, we are so bloody lucky to have it.

Also, please don't criticise the NHS, we are so bloody lucky to have it.

"My son's school has them sit alone in their classroom for 90% of the school day with nothing to do, AIBU that they should be teaching and supervising them?"

"Please don't criticise state education, we are so bloody lucky to have it."

But you CAN get a repeat prescription relatively easily despite working long hours and working far from your GP - just don't leave it until the last week!

People like you make those of us working in healthcare (including pharmacists, they're HCPs too which is why they can prescribe and dispense the pill) job so much harder.

If you read the first post properly I have moved 100 miles away and haven't been able to register with a GP due to their opening hours and the need to have a three day admin wait, a check up (two week wait) before making an appointment.

Usually my repeats are automatically sent to Boots but for some reason it hasn't happened which is why I'm in this exasperating situation...

I did read it. "Moved to a new city. Had a weeks worth of contraceptive pill left." Why didn't you request your repeat well before you moved and still had a whole packet left? Then you would have had 4 weeks rot play with to register at a new GPs and get more pills.

Repeats aren't usually automatically sent to a pharmacy without being requested. If you did request it and it wasn't done I apologise, but your posts make it read like you left it until the last minute which is exasperating for the surgery staff too!

I'm sorry but it absolutely should not be an "easy" thing to get hold of. The first pill i went on i ended up in A+E with a suspected blood clot in my chest. Blood test said no clot, no diagnosis but told "probably" inflamed lung lining, but for the next 11 months i had severe chest pains for several hours each and every day bad enough to prevent sleep or wake me up.
Tried Yasmin next as i developed late onset cystic acne and it was recommended, stopped it after 3 days due to severe headaches, vomiting and needing to wee every half hour.
Finally settled on loestrin, a half dose version of the pill with much lower hormones, worked ok, but i had to take it pretty much dead on 24 hours apart. If i was even 3 or 4 hours late taking it my period would start, just that really thick sludgey but light type bleeding and it would continue until i relented and had my week break. Did nothing for the heavy flow or cramps, just allowed me to know when i'd have my period (PCOS meant i could previously be 2-6 weeks apart)
Also don't understand peoples hatred of the implant. It's been an absolute godsend to me, even after the trials of the pill i've had no problems with my implant. I've gone from periods so heavy i had to double up pads and sit on at least one folded up bath towel, in constant pain for 5+ days with cramps so bad i couldn't sleep, and being rendered housebound and mostly sofa-bound, to not having any periods or any cramps at all for the first 12 months, after that i get a bit of spotting, and after 2 years i had one full period but it was lighter with no leaks (i was always leaking, the entire gusset area of my knickers would get ruined every day of my periods) which i'm assuming was the build up of the previous 24 months worth of endometrium, and the cramps were lessened. I made an appointment to change my implant after just 2 years (got it at a sexual health clinic, GP removed and replaced so didn't know it was 2 years not 3)because of that one full period because i panicked and thought my implant had run out and i'd go back to my previous monthly hell, but the wait time for a double appointment with the specific contraception doctor was 8 weeks, and the 2 periods due in that time never showed so my implant probably didn't need changing and it was just a build up my body got rid of, but better to be safe with a new one, than cancel.

When I order my prescription, it always asks if I want my repeat automatically sent to my nominated pharmacy which I do.

www.boots-uk.com/about-boots-uk/healthcare/pharmacy/prescriptions/

For some reason it didn't work, which is why I had this problem.

Personal experiences of why the pill isn't for them isn't really what I was venting at. Obviously I know there are risks but I'm well aware of these as I've been taking it for ten years plus. No, the implant isn't for me thanks.

It was just frustration that I was left in this situation where every avenue to get hold of a contraception I regularly use and have done for a long time seemed to be blocked by a silly admin rule or non flexibility around people who work.

Almostajill, sorry to hear the pill didn't agree with you. It does agree with me, so I don't have much interest risking the implant.