To expect my GPs to realise that my tablets will not last a whole month?

[listsandbudgets]

Except perhaps in February.

I'm on a repeat prescription and every single time I have to chase my GP to reissue it to my chemist (who apparently send them reminders a week before I'm due to run out).

I get 56 tablets a month and take 2 a day - simple maths they last 28 days so I need 13 prescriptions a year but the receptionist told me thsi morning that their computer will only issue it on the 16th of each month regardless of length of month or the fact that I only get 4 weeks worth at a time. Everytime she makes me talk to a GP in order to override the computer - this has been going on over a year now.

Last time I missed a couple of doses I was in hospital for a week - the prescription is CONSIDERABLY cheaper than the impact of not taking it....

I know several people who had this issue, but it was sorted.

My friend has 200 tabs on a prescription of this one particular thing, and couldn't figure out why she kept running out before the 4 weeks was up. Because they insisted she was getting 4 weeks supply. She totted it up recently, and 4 weeks supply is 224. So she was 3 days short each time. 200 is 25 days supply - not 28.

Moreover, when she puts in a prescription request at her surgery, it takes 2 full working days to get it. So if she gets one on 1st January, she starts to run out by 25th/26th, and they don't even let her put the prescription in til the 28th, then it can take up to 4 or 5 days for her to get a prescription item. (If there is a weekend in the middle.) So she runs well short.

What she did this one time, was collect a prescription, and pretend she had lost it, then she asked for another a few days later so she had a surplus for 6 months, but when that was gone she was stuck again.

So she went to see the doctor, and she changed the prescription to 240 - thirty days supply.

If your doc says no, you may have to tell a white lie too, and say you have lost it, to get 6 months surplus. Then do it again in 6 months.

Yes.
I got a month's supply of one medication and a week's supply of the other.
Because the receptionist printed the repeat from an out of date list.
I waste a lot of time on the phone these days.