To think the CQC report on on ine prescribing services will only make life more difficult.

[ExConstance]

DH and I l both work long hours and struggle to get GP appointments. If we can get an appointment it invariably means taking time off work and then waiting and waiting for so long we have to book leave to cover it. We have found it very useful to use Treated.com for antibiotics and my HRT.

DH ascertained a while back that it is no good to go to GP with raging earache as they won't prescribe antibiotics, the only way you can get something that works is to use an on line service and say you have a dental abscess. I have needed a trimethoprim prescription for a UTI on the odd occasion, if I order on line I can get it the next day, having to wait a week to see GP for this sort of condition is nonsense. I need to go to my GP for HRT prescription once a year but at least the on line services mean I'm not subjected to the usual harassment and doom and gloom over this 4 x a year ( with consequent time off work) . Our bodies our choice, I really can't see if with informed decision making I want to order medication and that is checked ( as it is now) by a GP I should have to jump through additional hoops of proving who I am and allowing the GP who has no interest in me and can't even be bothered to have convenient surgery times to be notified. For many of us I suppose we will now just stock up on a plethora of medication while we can, buy abroad in future and - as my GP is of no practical use to me at all, de-register so there can be no unwanted snooping.

YABVU, and your DH is a prat for faking illness to get antibiotics he 'feels' he needs. If he ACTUALLY needed them the GP would prescribe them.

People like you are the reason why various bacteria are now antibiotic-resistant. People are dying from it because idiots think they need antibiotics for a sniffle or viral infection.

Not EVERYTHING needs antibiotics, the vast majority of things people get them for will clear up on their own, or are viral and therefore antibiotics are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Unless you are actually a doctor (which given your post you can't be) then please think about the impact your ridiculous and entitled behaviour has on others.

Go and educate yourself you fool.

Yabvu

Of course the doctor needs to know who you are and the REAL reason you want (not need, want) drugs

Yabvu for lying about the reason for wanting drugs. Hint: if you have to lie you don't need the drugs in the first place

Wow selfish and stupid behavior.

Antibiotics are NOT given unless they are needed and doctors are sensibly being as careful as they can because they (and the rest of the sensible population) do not want antibiotic resistant bacteria becoming more common.

Do what the rest of us do and juggle your life so you can get to the GP if you need to.

And as for sitting waiting for a long time - tough. Take a book or read some work papers. Who knows when YOU will need extra time from your GP -they're not sitting on their arses drinking coffee and eating cake thinking "I wonder how long we can make Exconstance wait this time"

If you don't like it go private

If you have a UTI you would be justified in asking for an emergency same day GP appointment. YABVU in lying to get a script for you husband. What makes you think you're more qualified than a GP to decide what prescription medication you and your husband need?

If people want better public services, they need to elect better governments. Keep electing Conservatives who believe in reducing spending on public services and - surprise surprise - public services get worse. As we're seeing now with GPs, hospitals, ambulances, the police, prisons, schools, libraries, social care, social services, the state of the roads, parks, social housing, support for the disabled, you name it.

The irony being that part of the reason that checks like this are put in place in these situations is because people lie about the drugs they don't need. If people didn't do this the system you are talking about would be far easier.

Interestingly enough CQC asked, in their mystery purchases, for antibiotics for an ear infection to try the system. DH was advised by a GP we know socially to say it was for something else as he did not agree with the policy. The main reason for the development of antibiotic resistance is the huge use in agriculture for animals. As I am a vegetarian I do contribute in that way. I'd just prefer to sign a huge disclaimer, accept the risk for everything and be allowed to buy what I want. My point is that none of this action protects people as we can still buy abroad, it just makes it more difficult. I seldom need to see a GP and I don't care a bit about seeing someone different every time, I just wish there was some quick drop in service where people who don't need much time ( I'm never in there for more than 5 mins) could go.

Can you not do telephone appointments with your GP? Mine will prescribe over the phone and also referred me to physio for a long term condition etc etc

I don't mind paying for prescriptions privately - typically they are £30 - £40.l What I do object to is my GP thinking that post menopausal women should turn into dried up prunes with vaginal atrophy, osteoporosis and terrible skin because she says so without proper consideration of the risks involved in prescribing HRT. If I can avoid the repetitive lectures on this subject by a simple on line purchase that suits me much better.

But it's not just your risk. It's the risk to rider society that you clearly don't give s shit about

Selfish and stupid behaviour

Do you realise that the problems you describe getting an appointment aren't actually anything to do with the GP, and everything to do with the demand that you and other people make on the service?

By all means use a private alternative if you want, but the use you describe and the inappropriate dispense of those medications is exactly the reason the CQC would not support on line services.

If you would like to be able to access your NHS GP more readily, please pay attention to absolutely any of the thousands of news reports on the underfunding of and debt within the NHS and feel free to contact your MP or vote for a different party.

Got to love people who decide they know better than medical professionals on all areas!

There is a very good reason GPs don't like to prescribe antibitoics unless they are clinically indicated as being needed. There is also a very good reason that they want to check certain things before continuing prescptions.

My point is that none of this action protects people as we can still buy abroad, it just makes it more difficult.

There are huge differences in rates of antibiotic resistance according to national prescribing and availability of antibiotics. See here resistancemap.cddep.org/AntibioticResistance.php

Do you not understand the concept of having appropriate medication, appropriately prescribed?

It's not like buying shampoo. Medication can kill you, or save your life. If you want to bypass the assessment process and take the risks that you are taking the wrong medication for the wrong problem then knock yourself out.

"Raging ear ache" doesn't necessarily need antibiotics. It doesn't necessarily equal that ear pain = infection. There are a plethora of other possibilities that are causing the ear ache. Even if it were an infection then antibiotics are rarely indicated and many ear infections are self limiting and/or can be treated with sprays rather than oral antibiotics.

You had a UTI. Are you sure? Do you dip your wee to confirm the presence of nitrites and leucocytes? If persistent symptoms did you culture the urine sample? Are you sure you didn't have candida, interstitial cystitis or bladder cancer? How do you know any bacteria present in your wee would be sensitive to trimethoprim? Maybe nitrofurantoin would have been more appropriate?

I get the frustration at trying to get a GP appointment, I really do. But I don't think repeatedly self medicating for anything other than minor ailments is sensible. And deregistering is shooting yourself in the foot really unless you have a fuckton of money in the bank to pay for private healthcare for every thing.

Interestingly if I was to chose to be a user of illegal injected drugs the local authority would support me with a place to inject and the means to do so.
Sidge - Trimothoprim has worked for me on the odd occasion I've needed it - usually after long distance horse riding and vigorous sex - the on line prescribing services have a GP who asks all these questions anyway before issuing the prescription. Sheepisheep - I minimise the risk to wider society by not eating meat from the animals that are routinely dosed up with antibiotics. I'm not persuaded that a prescription of a small amount of antibiotic every 2-3 years is going to bring about the end of the world.

I think you summed up very well in your OP why online prescribing is a bad idea...

I minimise the risk to wider society by not eating meat from the animals that are routinely dosed up with antibiotics

There is still substantial antibiotic use in the dairy industry. You reduce, not minimise the overall burden of antibiotic use by being vegetarian. Getting correct treatment at the correct time is what the purpose of antibiotic awareness is. Of course you should have trimethoprim to effectively treat UTI, but the system you use to get it lacks appropriate checks to minimise the risk of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.

It is a pain getting quick and fast care for otherwise fit and well adults who have busy lives and demanding jobs. The reality is that your needs are lesser, and so you get pushed down the list of funding priorities. I say again, the fault is with the lack of money being put into healthcare in general.

I'm sure it has ExConstance - its a first line treatment usually. However the point I'm trying to make is that you just don't know! Also riding and sex are can cause urethral bruising and inflammation rather than an actual bacterial urinary infection and would resolve by itself. So the trimethoprim appearing to cure it could have been coincidental.

Our bodies our choice

Bollocks. Your choice is putting everyone else in the community at risk. Agricultural antibiotics are part of the problem but over/wrong use of antibiotics in human is much more important to resistance in humans.

When we are back to the situation of people dying from minor cuts or scrapes, it will be thanks to attitudes like yours. And don't think that is a distant possibility - it is already happening.

You are also stupid on a personal level because taking antibiotics when you don't need them means that they will be less effective when you do.

Why do you assume that an ear infection needs antibiotics. In most cases things clear up by themselves. The reason people want antibiotics is because they are too impatient - they want to get back to work (and get their children back to childcare/school). There is a difference between having a lot of pain eg a tooth abscess, and feeling grotty and under the weather,m and unable to work.

I had a throat infection a few years ago which very unusually for me, really hang around and was horrible. After 3 weeks I finally went to the GP and they gave me a prescription for anti-biotics, but asked me to wait another couple of days before actually getting the pills from the pharmacy. I was better by then. It may have been bacterial and it took my body that long to get rid of it, or it was viral and still took my body that long to get rid of it.

Ear infections don't always need antibiotics, as a pp said pain doesn't mean infection.

And unless you've had your urine cultured to a particular antibiotic (if required) then neither does your self diagnosed UTI.

Quite often things clear up by themselves after a few days.

You are contributing to antibiotic resistance, I couldn't care less about your vegetarianism.

Wow, I didnt realise so many people had medical experience without being a doctor. At work I speak to so many, its a wonder why we need gp surgeries at all.

I think you summed up very well in your OP why online prescribing is a bad idea...

Though I use them for worm tablet and nit treatments - partly as I don't go to GP for these as we don't need to but mainly as I get embarrassed answering questions and sometimes means we get treatments delivered to home so faster than if we have to get to a pharmacists in town.

I would also have thought any reoccurring issue - with exception of nits and thread worms with school aged children - would need a GP to rule out some underlying problems or something more serious.

You are being so unreasonable, for all the reasons you have described so perfectly in your post. But you know better of course....