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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Woman on the Sainsbury's pharmacy counter

394 replies

SoggyBottomBoys · 18/02/2017 12:35

Shopping in big Sainsbury's this morning with baby. Tried to buy some Solpadeine at the counter. Have been suffering from various post-birth complications and SPD that's flared up pretty badly (I was basically hobbling). Conversation (in full earshot of 3 people queuing behind) goes like this:
Pharmacy assistant: Have you taken this before?
Me: yes
PA: Are you on any other medications?
Me: No.
PA what are you taking it for?
Me: I'd rather not discuss that.
PA: Then I can't sell this to you.

And she refused to sell it to me! Unless I told her what was wrong with me. Which (because I was really annoyed/emotional by this point) I refused to do. So I walked off almost in tears and now have to lug myself to a chemist to buy some when I can frankly barely walk.

Am I right in thinking she crossed a line here? The first two questions are completely fine. I have no problem with being warned of side effects, don't take for more than 3 days, etc. But the third one just seemed so intrusive, especially in public when it's a woman who clearly has a small baby they have recently given birth to. They can't demand you tell them what's wrong with you...can they?!

Tell me if IABU... as I am so cross I'm considering complaining.

OP posts:

Headofthehive55 · 19/02/2017 12:03

On the other hand your comment was not dismissive to pharmacists?

Out if interest what did you think pharmacists were expert in? It would be a long five years if there wasn't anything to study!

BeaveredBadgered · 19/02/2017 12:05

head I think you might be fighting a losing battle with winter. Earlier in the thread she asked whether I understood the need for patient consent and data protection laws when I mentioned the need for pharmacists to keep good records.

Headofthehive55 · 19/02/2017 12:05

I think you would have been better asking for a pharmacist and going into the privacy room. They could then advise if there might have been a better alternative.

WayfaringStranger · 19/02/2017 12:13

I don't see why anyone should be forced to ask for privacy room. It should be offered by the individual who has to legally adhere to the confidentiality and privacy laws.

FormerlyFrikadela01 · 19/02/2017 12:21

I work in forensic mental health. Every single ward round includes the pharmacist and the consultant psychiatrist usually runs medication changes past the pharmacist first since they know far more about how medications work and their interactions than doctors do.

BeyondThePage · 19/02/2017 12:24

I live in a small village where the village busybody works in the pharmacy. She's not bound by any rules on confidentiality when selling OTC medicines (unlike prescriptios where presumably she is) so you can bet your bottom dollar that if you go in in the morning looking for anthistamines, by lunchtime someone else in the village will be commiserating with you that you've had an allergic reaction. Wouldn't happen with your doctor

OMG - of course she is bound by confidentiality rules - I could not even tell my daughter when her friend has been into the pharmacy without asking her express permission to do so. In that lady's case I would be putting in a formal complaint to the pharmacy - they have to be taken seriously.

thewholeplacestinks · 19/02/2017 12:27

I don't like being grilled either but I am a solpadeine abuser so have a guilty conscience. Some staff in chemists are more jobs worthy/thorough than others. I make a point of spreading out which chemists I go to although dh uses them too lately which is annoying as they get used even quicker

treaclesoda · 19/02/2017 12:30

Beyond I can understand that she is bound by confidentiality when it comes to prescriptions but I don't understand how that could apply to OTC medicines. They're just items for sale in the shop, albeit under controlled conditions.

BeyondThePage · 19/02/2017 12:36

treacle - she would be bound by confidentiality because it is a pharmacy. Like a cleaner in a doctor's surgery would not be allowed to say they saw Mrs X there today, no one who works in a pharmacy should be saying they have seen anyone.

Our pharmacy is in an area with mainly elderly customers and they often ask if we have seen Mrs X,Y,Z in at all - we are really truly not allowed to say if we have or haven't - gossip is not allowed. (let alone saying if they bought anything or picked up a prescription.)

Bedraggledmumoftwo · 19/02/2017 12:36

I wonder if you have the same sainsburys as me. Ours has the pharmacy in the middle of an aisle and once I went back to collect a prescription I'd dropped off earlier for antidepressants. The pharmacist had put a query on it and came out to loudly demand what it was for. I quietly said pnd, to which she gave me a blank look and demanded an explanation, forcing me to publicly announce my depression in the middle of my local supermarket.

I would have complained but waiting around for her to come and interrogate me meant we were late for the school run.

BeaveredBadgered · 19/02/2017 12:38

That's really poor bedraggled, that conversation should have taken place in the consultation room.

FindoGask · 19/02/2017 12:39

I think it's fair enough to ask what you need it for. It's a medicine, not sweets. They have a duty to supply it as responsibly as possible. If you didn't want to say SPD you could have said joint pain or anything really, I don't get the problem.

treaclesoda · 19/02/2017 12:48

If you didn't want to say SPD you could have said joint pain or anything really, I don't get the problem.

That's exactly what makes it a pointless question though. You could say it's for a sprained ankle and then take it home and give it to someone else.

UnbornMortificado · 19/02/2017 12:51

I didn't think assistants were allowed to sell it without a pharmacist on the premises?

My local supermarket (Sainsbury's funny enough) I had a sign out the other day saying they couldn't dispense certain OTC stuff due to the pharmacist's absence.

OhTheRoses · 19/02/2017 12:57

I think it's easy to say what op should have said outside the moment. I've bought 8/500s otc and just been able to say "maybe more than three days but the GP has prescribed me 112 30/500s and 112 15/500s and trying to take the smallest possible dose for pain relief. I've still got 30 30/500s and 40 15/500s. Was taking them with 2x500 naproxen. Weaned myself off the codeine after 5/6 weeks and goodness did I have diarrhoea for a week. Nasty stuff. I broke a vertebrae btw and had two weeks off work.

Headofthehive55 · 19/02/2017 13:58

It's normal to ask what you are taking any medicine for. You'd be surprised how many people don't know why they are taking it - or give you an ailment it won't work for!
Also a medication can be used for different things.

melj1213 · 19/02/2017 14:14

That's exactly what makes it a pointless question though. You could say it's for a sprained ankle and then take it home and give it to someone else.

The Pharmacist is legally responsible for the dispensation of any medication, even if they are not the person pysically selling it, and therefore it is their responsibility to ensure that it is dispensed correctly and within the legal guidelines for that specific medication. So there are guidelines which the person selling has to follow ... if you answer all the questions then they will sell the medication to you, but then if you gave it to someone else and they had a bad reaction to it, you can't come back and try to blame the people in the pharmacy for not warning them about it as they recommeded/sold it to you under X conditions, not the Y conditions it was used for.

The people in their pharmancy did their legal due diligence and asked all the right questions, if they have no reason to believe the answers weren't true and accurate then they have no reason to refuse the sale ... if you then go on to "abuse" the medication, the pharmacist is absolved of their responsibility as they can show that they sold it to you under different conditions to the one it was used for, and based on your answers to their questions, you couldn't be expected to know it wouldn't be used for those purposes only.

It's like if I'm working on the checkout and an individual comes in to buy alcohol, I do my due diligence in asking for their ID. If they can't prove their age, I refuse the sale; if they hand me an approved form of ID that shows they are over 18, I will approve the sale. If it then transpires that they are underage and they had used a fake ID, I cannot be held responsible if I can show that I followed store procedure and had no reason to believe it wasn't genuine or that it would be given to other, underage, people. If I can't show that I did my due diligence, then I can be held liable for the underage sale and I can easily lose my job and even be personally fined heavily.

BlueNeighbourhood1 · 19/02/2017 15:16

I have a tear in my shoulder - doctor at the hospital told me to take Nurofen Plus as often as I need it (obviously no more than the dose each day) in order to subdue the pain. They can't operate to fix it so it's a natural thing but this has been going on for months.

Each time I go in Boots - I work in a town centre so only have a few options I feel even more and more stupid asking for this tablets. All because the doctor won't prescribe me straight codeine. Only recently have they started asking what the pain is for, so I state shoulder and that is literally it. They hand it over and that's it. I agree you can make up anything, I'm honest but if it was something I didn't want to disclose I'd say my shoulder over and over.

iloveeverykindofcat · 19/02/2017 16:12

Blue have you asked why the doctor won't prescribe pure codeine? If it is necessary to take it for any length of time, it is technically safer (at prescribed levels!) than an ibuprofen/codeine mix. Of course one could argue that addicts will then keep taking more and more pure codeine (which wouldn't get them very far...it has a metabolic ceiling) but unfortunately addicts won't be put of by ibuprofen toxicity either.

BlueNeighbourhood1 · 19/02/2017 20:19

I have no idea as to why not, I've only had codeine prescribed once before about ten years ago by my local walk in centre when I had toothache. So it's not like I have a medical history of it either!

I've asked before and he said that taking co-codamol/Nurofen Plus should be enough to subdue the pain I don't need a higher dose as codeine only comes in bigger dosages. Which is correct, I take two and the pain disappears almost instantly for a few hours. Only problem is the looks I get, it's almost a 'oh here's the girl again for Nurofen!'

UnbornMortificado · 19/02/2017 20:40

Blue isn't nurofen 12.8mg?

The lowest codeine dose is 15mg, personally I'd ask a different GP it seems like hard work.

Weedsnseeds1 · 19/02/2017 20:48

I have, in the past, been asked why I needed to buy antimalarial tablets. I had no objection to being asked, but there is only one reason I can think of! But codein based drugs, then if course they should be convinced you are asking for them for a legitimate reason.

friendlyflicka · 19/02/2017 21:39

I haven't read all of this thread. I do know that pharmacist assistant's have to ask some questions but some do it with a nice manner and some seem like they are high on power.

Same as in post offices when they ask what you are sending in a parcel. Some have a manner that make me want to snap 'none of your business' although obviously I don't.

friendlyflicka · 19/02/2017 21:41

I needed some anti-fungal shampoo for my cat that had ring worm (yes, I had to bathe a cat). The assistant asked if I had used it before. I explained it was for my cat and she wouldn't sell it to me. That was the law. I understood that and went to another chemist and lied.

Bettyspants · 19/02/2017 21:51

Unborn , the lowest codiene dose is 5mg with 500mg paracetamol. Then depending on brand 8mg 12.5 then prescribed (not otc)doses 15 and 30 per tablet

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