Pharmacist reviewed my prescription?

[adultcat]

I live in a smallish village - the kind where everyone know each other (or thinks they do!). I serve my doctor and pharmacist where I work so am familiar with them.
Today, I went to collect my repeat prescription and was asked if I had five minutes to spare for the pharmacist to speak to me. We went off in the side room and he logged on to the computer. He then asked me if I was happy with my medication / any side effects. Asked me if I am happy with my contraception and what alternatives there were as I've stopped taking the mini pill as I wasn't getting on with it - he wanted to know why...!
The whole 'chat' felt really uncomfortable, possibly because I serve him as a customer but I was wondering if this is a done thing now? I thought it would be my doctors place to review my medication and check everything is ok?
Has anyone else had this done??

Perhaps some of the pharmacists with their “better than doctors” knowledge of drugs could take s moment to explain how the Arnica 100C they all sell works? They can be as technical as they like: Dr reflectent can probably keep up.

Thank god for pharmacists, at times I trust them more than a doctor when it comes to medication interactions. On more than one occasion I've had the pharmacist question a prescription as the drugs prescribed should never be taken with my regular medication. I had to go to out of hours one time and was prescribed a drug that had been off the market for years.

I've never had one of these. The only medication I take regularly is the pill so maybe that's why. I'd probably decline if they asked as I can't see any point in discussing my contraception choices with the pharmacist when I've just had exactly the same conversation with the doctor!

Our GP surgery is rural and has its own dispensary but we still get annual reviews with one of the dispensers. And you get them more often if you are taking 4 medications or more.

The aim is to stop the people ordering meds they don't use or take just because it's on their repeat list, and to make sure your drugs are suitable for you. I've been prescribed something that the pharmacist wasn't happy to dispense and the GP had to change it.

Ds is on multiple drugs - pharmacists have pulled up on issues before now.

Pharmacists who haven’t dispensed his drugs before have also questioned doses, which although they are right (is in on off licence doses for his age) I am pleased they check

Thank you for all the replies everyone!
I'd just never heard of them doing reviews before but it obviously is a 'thing'. I don't have any problem with him being male, my GP is also a man. I think it just felt uncomfortable because he's not a stranger (iyswim!)
I definitely don't think he is a failed doctor either! I've always used a chemist for advice before going to the doctors (where appropriate).
Thanks again

The fact that he started asking her about contraception after he had taken her into a private area really rings alarm bells for me
Ffs seriously!
How about checking to ask if she stopped due to side effects, if she became pregnant or if it was making er sick ( possible PE)??
As for failed foctors, do you realise they can know more about drugs and dosages than some of the ‘professionals’?

And mine does regular reviews and its not boots!

It is annoying but you can say no.
We get it all the time because DS has strong yet necessary meds. When our local pharmacy employed a new guy, he tried to persuade me DS would be better off on an alternative medication. He really wouldn't listen to my saying no until I firmly told him the reason he couldn't have that medication was it gave him explosive diarrhoea, unless Mr Over Keen Pharmacist wanted to come and clear up afterwards?
He shut up after that
You could just go with Pharmacy2U? No more nosey pharmacist or uncomfortable discussion with someone you serve?

Several of my daughters’ friends have found that pharmacists either refuse to dispense contraception or do so but tell parents. Complaints get nowhere because professional standards amongst pharmacists allow them to pick and choose what they dispense and make excuses about confidentiality. Most of the FPCs now do their own dispensing as the pharmacies cannot be trusted to provide a service for young, particularly Asian, women.

If you do say no to answering their questions a pharmacist can refuse to dispense

Midnite, not necessarily. Take too many of some kinds of vitamins and you can do a lot of damage. Aspirin was originally based on a natural product. That can damage you as well, as can deadly nightshade extract which was the origin of heart medication. It’s all chemical and irrelevant where it comes from. The important thing is whether it’s properly calibrated and tested.

When I last He this (I get my meds from the GP now) the pharmacist was far more embarrassed than I was as he’d been at school,with DS! Luckily for him my meds were only for thyroid, nothing embarrassing!

Reflectent
I myself researched how I could avoid getting chronic sinusitis every winter by nebulising saline solution. The gp would just give me weeks upon weeks of co amoxiclav.

Then that just left me with chronic catarrh, which I would constantly spit in a tissue for a month with every cold. The gp could do nothing for that chronic catarrh. A homeopathic remedy recommended for me that I had delivered from a pharmacy in Germany started to clear it after one dose. But hey, that 13 euro bottle of stuff was just snake oil.

As for the comment about chemicals. I think the poster was probably talking about artificial chemical compounds. Drugs are by definition poisons and therefore toxic at some level.

s every winter by nebulising saline solution

Saline solution is not homeopathic.

I have to laugh at the idea that it’s ‘normal’ for a pharmacist to review your prescription like this.
It’s not.
It was brought up after the NHS struggles and to lessen the load of GPs. But also to ensure that they couod give cheaper medication and modify prescriptions needed (see the Brexit stuff too. Pharmacists have been asked to modify prescription depending in availability....)

I mean if GPs aren’t specialist of medications so much so that they need a pharmacist to tell them what to do/check on them etc..l then you have a very serious issue. One where you can’t actually trust a doctor’s prescription anymore.

I would have been VERY uncomfortable about the situation the OP was in. She never ASKED for a review, she was made to have one wo any explaination as to why etc... There is an issue with consent there too.

The worrying thing is that it seems to be quite common (the pp who has had the pharmacist ringing them at home was shocking imo)

I think sometimes people use the word "homeopathic" to describe herbal remedies, nutritional therapies, and various supplements. Maybe one of the problems with homeopathy is that it makes people suspicious of other alternative remedies, which are actually completely different from homeopathy, but which people sloppily confuse with it.

I believe pharmacists get a separate payment for offering these MUR's.

HRTFT, didn't get past Asked me if I am happy with my contraception and what alternatives there were as I've stopped taking the mini pill as I wasn't getting on with it - he wanted to know why...!

eeeeeuuuuuwwwww I'd hate being asked that by a male pharmacist (particularly one I know in a small village), as most people I know who've given up on the pill have done so because of lubrication drying up and reduced libido. Too personal.

Very normal and a routine part of what pharmacists do. I used to work for a School of Pharmacy (I’m an academic but not a pharmacist), and actually you would be shocked how little most GPs know about medicines. They make glaring errors all the time, don’t talk with patients about better options, just can be pretty clueless. Pharmacists are the main frontline providers for many patients and they can lose their licenses if a dispensing error is made, even if made by a doctor. Really though they are just so much more knowledgeable and they are exactly who you want to be discussing these things with.

Mistakes can happen at any point in the chain. That is why it is essential that checks are carried out - pharmacists are the last point in that chain so if they miss an error at some point in that chain it could have major implications for the patient

As with all healthcare professionals you will find examples of good and bad practice across the profession. Pharmacists shouldn’t be forcing unwanted services on their customers/patients and should respect patient confidentiality as well as explaining clearly what additional services are for. If you experience this you have a right to complain about that pharmacist through the appropriate channel. If a pharmacist is unwilling to provide a particular service eg emergency contraception due to religious objections they should signpost patients to somewhere where they can obtain this service. Again if this doesn’t happen complain.
Pharmacists are not “failed doctors.” The grades required to get into the top pharmacy schools are as high as those required for medicine and while of course there are a some who wanted to be medics and didn’t make the grade the vast majority chose it for other reasons. Personally for example I never wanted to have the kind of extended disruptive training program that medicine involves right into your 30s and wanted a job with a better work life balance.
Pharmacists training is very different to doctors and for expert advice on medicines they really are the best people to go to. They are an under-utilised resource in our hard pressed NHS.

PS I do agree about pharmacists knowing more about drugs than doctors. I have naturally very high cholesterol, but couldn't tolerate statins because of leg pain, memory problems and lack of energy. Happened to mention it to a young pharmacist when having something else dispensed, and he told me that in the US now statins are never dispensed without CoQ10. I tried again with (privately bought) CoQ10, and have never had a problem since.

I've had that done twice now. The pharmacist also told me that she is a homeopathhmm
I lost all respect at that point

Nothing wrong with being a Homeopath unless he or she prescribes camomile to treat tonsillitis. Then of course.