To Be Fuming With This Pharmacy!

[NemoIsLost]

I get my prescription sent electronically from my GP to Tesco pharmacy.
Almost every time there is a problem, either it's not ready when they say or theres only 1 box instead of 2 but today they surpassed themselves!
I went to collect it and after alot of faffing they said I had already collected it!
Well I havnt, they showed me the form signed for by me under 'exempt for contraception.
A. It's not a contraception!
B. It's not my signature!
The pharmacist got involved and said he doesn't know what's wrong and will investigate, but I still.have no tablets.
I need these tablets to live seizure free.
I'm so angry with them. The pharmacist is trying to get me a box by tonight. I told him I would be interested to know what's happened as someone has forged my signature and more worryingly someone may have the wrong medication!
Surely this is a serious incident for them?!

[NemoIsLost]

K123 omg that's hilarious, you couldn't make it up!!

Enlightened owl will seriously consider going back to paper scripts, it's just more hassle as I work in a different town so it's all time consuming

[theorchidwhisperer]

@EnlightenedOwl. You have this, I do the same. Frustrating but necessary.

[k1233]

Not related to an incorrect dispensing but pharmacy related. I used to get painkillers, vet prescribed, for my dog from the chemist. Used a different chemist one day and the person behind the counter read the name "Samson Brown (canine)" and goes, is canine his nickname? I just looked at her quite perplexed and said canine means dog...

[NemoIsLost]

britnay I am going to check, although I won't actually know if they are telling the truth or not....

[Hairyheadphones]

I once collected some antibiotics for one of my children from a Tesco pharmacy. As I was walking away I looked at the bag and noticed that the name was not my child’s. They hadn’t checked the details and had given me the wrong persons drugs. When I handed it back the lady was so angry with me, she did find the right drugs and then make the proper checks.
A children’s hospital made a very expensive mistake. My DS was changing medication and was supposed to get 10 days worth (about half a box) of old medication and then three months of new medication. We waited nearly three hours for the drugs, took the bag and left. When I was on the train home I saw that they had prescribed ten boxes of the old drug rather than ten days! At £70 a box that was a very expensive mistake!

[Writersblock2]

Just wanted to throw in - I have meds for seizures too and they won’t actually let me submit for new meds until I’m less than a week out from being without any.

[britnay]

I would check if I were you. They could get in serious trouble for doing that.

[NemoIsLost]

Tbh he didn't say they were the drugs that the person took home, but seeing as they were struggling to find me one box by close of play and I suddenly has 2 boxes available I assumed they were the 'original' drugs.

[LittleMissMe99]

My husband changed from our local boots pharmacy for similar reasons. He's a type 1 diabetic. He NEEDS insulin and can't risk it being messed about. We have no trouble with our new pharmacy

[Lulualla]

They absolutely are not allowed to give you drugs with have already been dispensed to someone else. All returned drugs must be destroyed, even if they look perfect. They cannot give them out to anyone else.
Are you saying they didn't have any other a in stock so they gave you drugs which someone else had already taken home? They cannot do that.

[britnay]

It would be going against the Deparment of Health guidelines if they had reissued the same drugs back to you after they had been given out to someone else.

"Pharmacies are obliged to accept unwanted medicines back from patients. The Department of Health (DH) however, states that medicines returned to pharmacies cannot be reissued to other patients.
The reason for this is that once the medicine has left the pharmacy, storage conditions cannot be guaranteed. Some medicines are sensitive to heat, light or moisture and can become less effective if not stored properly. It is also not possible to guarantee the quality of medicines on physical inspection alone."

[TheFaerieQueene]

I’m not sure they should have given you the returned meds.

[NemoIsLost]

The pharmacist said the checks were not made so it will be taken further. I always get asked my address normally....Yes i got the tablets that the person had bought back,
Even if my name was on the tablet boxes, which it is, an elderly person, or someone with Demetia may not have read the name and just taken the tablets.
Enlightenedowl I have read and taken on board your comments thank you

[Dungeondragon15]

Thinking about it the name on the tablets must have been yours OP, so there wasn't really much chance that the wrong person would take them.

[britnay]

@adaline It is SOP for Boots. I'm not sure what the SOPs are for other pharmacies.

[adaline]

Did the person who wrongly gave your prescription out not do an address/postcode check?

I use Boots and although the pharmacist knows me by sight, she always asks for the first line of my address and/or my postcode before getting my prescription.

I thought that was standard when collecting medication from an electronic prescription but clearly not!

[britnay]

I hope that they did not give you the tablets that had been handed out to the other person. You should have had a fresh box dispensed. The returned box should be destroyed as there is not guarantee as to the conditions in which the medicines were stored.

[GreenFingersWouldBeHandy]

Jesus, when you're dealing with potential life-saving (and the opposite) medicines and dosages, you want a bit more than 'luck' to ensure you're getting what was prescribed for you.

Please do report to stop this happening to someone else. If might have fatal consequences.

[EnlightenedOwl]

I have provided some useful advice to avoid pharmacy issues don't know if anyone is taking any notice but tried

[GibbonLover]

I was given my mother's repeat prescription once, one of us is Ms. C. Gibbon, the other is Ms. G. Gibbon. The 18 year old me was most perturbed by the Estriol cream!

[goldfinchfan]

by way of contrast in twenty years I have never had this problem, I use an independent pharmacy.
I had no idea how bad some pharmacies could be.
I hope the OP does make a complaint because it seems that Tesco and others are getting away with very sloppy work that could put a person's life at risk.

[NemoIsLost]

I don't think the police need to be involved
I picked up my tablets, the pharmacist apologised again and said they are taking it further and will inform me of the outcome if I wanted to know. . He also said they were extremely lucky that the person who took home the wrong tablets has the sense to return them! no shit sherlock

[Lulualla]

@Sunflowers211

What are you on about? Report what to the police? It has nothing to do with the police. There are regulatory bodies who deal with this. What crime is it you think has been committed?

[Jinglejanglefish]

I always have problems with the electronic ordering through the gp too, drives me mad. Everytime I go to collect it they act like they've not a clue what I'm talking about. I once went a week without my anti depressants for PND due to the pharmacy being crap and felt so unwell by the end. They didn't offer me an emergency prescription or give me advice on what to do without it. Grr.

Definitely complain.

[Sunflowers211]

The pharmacy needs to report this to the Police. Your GP should be able to do an Emergency Script, failing that ring 111 and tell them. They can arrange an emergency prescription to be collected out of hours.