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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Pharmacy Jobsworth or Normal?

315 replies

bangheadhere40 · 15/10/2019 13:26

I would like opinions on this please as I've not had this in a pharmacy before.

I took time out of work today to go and pick up a prescription from the pharmacy for my husband. It was ordered online and had been signed by a doctor, all good.

When I went the lady in the pharmacy said she wasn't going to give it out as it is too early to order it again on repeat. I explained that the doctor had signed it off and she had the signed prescription ( she doesn't know my husbands medical needs). She said no she wasn't going to give me it for him and she is sending it back to the doctor and to try in a few days.

Is this normal? I always thought if the doctor had signed it then it's good to go!

OP posts:
DameFanny · 17/10/2019 16:49

This whole thread makes me grateful for my lovely local, independent, pharmacy. I order repeats online with the Dr, they send it through and I pick it up 2 days later.

Because they're independent they're not underpaying and understaffing their pharmacists as Boots and Lloyds have been doing, and because they're not Boots or similar I've yet to be told to come back because they only have half the amount needed to dispense.

And because they're highly qualified professionals, when I was prescribed iron tablets recently with extra cautions for not taking within 2 hours of thyroxin or omeprazole - and which added a caution not to take the omeprazole within 4 hours of thyroxin - instead of having a meltdown about the logic puzzle of it all I was able to sit down with the pharmacist and work out what and when based on superior knowledge. Turns out the Dr had misunderstood the categorisation of the omeprazole and lumped it in with things like zantac, whereas PPIs are fine to take with thyroxin - and indeed iron. And I was very relieved to not have to wake up at 4 in the morning to take one thing in order to take the other at 8 and then wait 4 hours for breakfast...

Cherish your local independent pharmacist, don't let them go out of business...

TequilaPilates · 17/10/2019 16:55

Just be grateful you don’t have to pay hundreds of pounds to see a doctor or to have your drugs...yet.

And actually, yes I do. I have paid privately because had I waited for treatment on the NHS I would have lost my job.

Plus my husband and I pay thousands each year in tax that go towards funding the NHS so no, I won't be grateful for shoddy treatment just because it's free at the point of delivery and nor should any patient be expected to accept sub standard healthcare just because they didn't pay for it upfront. That is a shocking, but sadly all too common attitude from hcps and the reason why poor treatment is so common within our health system.

JenniR29 · 17/10/2019 17:19

Tequila nobody gets into the healthcare profession to deliberately provide shoddy service. The system is struggling and chronically underfunded.

I help as many people as I can but there are rules and regulations to follow. I’m trying my hardest to get people to understand my profession, there have been so many negative threads about pharmacy lately and they all seem to stem from a total lack of information as to how the system works.

I don’t pretend for one second to know how the nursing profession operates so I wouldn’t criticise it on a public forum.

TequilaPilates · 17/10/2019 17:32

But I wouldn't object to you complaining about receiving poor nursing care - that would be your right as the patient on the receiving end and that is what we are doing here as the patients/customers on the receiving end of poor treatment by pharmacy staff.

I'm not arguing against pharmacists following rules and abiding by the law - far from it. I take exception to the "computer says no" attitude and transferring any problems back to the patient to sort out when they may well be the least well equipped person there to deal with it.

If a patient is issued with a prescription earlier than they should be why does the pharmacy have to reject it? Why can't they hold onto the medication, either until they speak to the gp or in the case of the op until the correct date? Why would the patient have to go back to the GP and then get another prescription issued?

Or, as other people have said, if the patient uses a different pharmacy each time no one other than the GP will know how frequently they are being issued will they?

Ridiclious · 17/10/2019 17:40

I had 10 days left but going on a 15 day holiday so needed it early. Took a couple of conversations but got it on time. The OP just wanted the pharmacist to have a conversation with the doctor to sort things out.

JenniR29 · 17/10/2019 17:52

The OP didn’t actually speak to the pharmacist, she came on here to slag them off before having the full picture. She also doesn’t actually give any indication that she ever spoke to that pharmacist to get the full story.

I can’t be bothered to post it again but look at my previous posts to OP, it’s all explained there.

There’s a big difference between poor care and a HCP not doing what you want them to.

DeathMetalMum · 17/10/2019 18:24

Why didn't they keep the prescription? To prevent it being dispensed in error. Maybe the pharmacist was finishing soon or there was a locum due in later in the week. By rejecting it, the prescription just can't be dispensed early.

Patients do try and abuse the system. We have paitents who always come in on a Saturday as they know we can't double check with the surgery. We've had paitents who persistently try and get us to give them their prescriptions early - paitents who have a weekly perscription due to a history of 'lost' medication. Who come in daily with a reason as to why they need their perscription a day early. If the phamacist was to give the prescription early thry could be in serious trouble. Obviously the op wasn't this situation but it highlights why the pharmacist would err on the side of caution and destroy a perscription that shouldn't be dispensed.

Original poster
bangheadhere40 · 17/10/2019 19:17

UPDATE this just gets better. My husband got a phone call today from the pharmacist after they had dispensed it.

To put this in context my husband has had surgery on his back and is in a lot of pain. She told him she wants him to try just paracetamol, and that stronger painkillers aren't very effective, and he should try to cut down.

When you are in this much pain he can't just cut down as they do work.

The doctor said he needs them at the moment. I really think she's going above her station now.

OP posts:
JenniR29 · 17/10/2019 19:22

Banghead, I think you are making this up as nobody would back you up earlier. A pharmacist has better things to do than ring individuals on opiate based painkillers in order to tell them they are ineffective (because that’s not true).

Original poster
bangheadhere40 · 17/10/2019 19:24

She phoned him today, and said that. I'm not making it up for goodness sake.

OP posts:
Tojigornot · 17/10/2019 19:26

Well, that's a very strange turn of events.

JenniR29 · 17/10/2019 19:37

I find it very hard (almost impossible) to believe a community pharmacist would do that, it’s not clinically correct nor would they have the time/inclination. They’d clarified a frequency issue for a controlled drug and dispensed it, job done, no need for any further interaction.

Aaarrgghhh · 17/10/2019 19:48

JenniR29 I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you for the most part but you are very quick to shoot down what others are saying because the pharmacist could have been doing this or that etc and when the problem was being resolved you stated as fact that the pharmacist called the doctor. How do you know all this? Why do you insist on knowing the specifics of this incident? Why can the pharmacist not be in the wrong? If you don’t believe the op report the thread and move on.

Original poster
bangheadhere40 · 17/10/2019 20:00

The pharmacist was told yesterday though she had to dispense it, and now today has phoned him to discuss his medication.

What is so hard to believe about this?

OP posts:
Booboostwo · 17/10/2019 20:10

Unethical behavior by the pharmacist. She has tried to block the doctor’s prescription and undermine his treatment plan. There must be a professional body that regulates pharmacists that you could take this up with.

JenniR29 · 17/10/2019 20:25

I find it hard to believe because it’s really not common practice to do that and the advice is wrong (potentially dangerous).

If it did happen then you need to report it.

I guess I’m getting defensive because I’m just sick of pharmacists getting a kicking on MN by people who don’t have any knowledge of pharmacy practice or law. It’s a stressful job and we are often not appreciated. Someone even used the word ‘nazi’ to describe us on here 🙁.

You’d be shocked at how we get spoken to for simply doing our jobs. Recently I got called a ‘fat f*king c*t’ for refusing to sell two boxes of co-codamol (I was 35 weeks pregnant so yes I was a little fat but still uncalled for!).

Original poster
bangheadhere40 · 17/10/2019 20:30

I understand Jenni but I am being serious here.

She said to him they are very addictive, not as effective as people think ( quoted a percentage of effectiveness), and said he should cut down and try just paracetamol, which in her opinion is a better painkiller.

From what I know about these pills ( I may be wrong) but isn't paracetamol more damaging than codeine? Ie if he was in more pain from cutting down and was therefore tempted to take more paracetamol only this would be worse.

OP posts:
Aaarrgghhh · 17/10/2019 20:35

JenniR29 so because some people are dicks about pharmacists you just aren’t going to ever believe when one is in the wrong. Okay, fair enough. Sounds stupid to be like that but you do you.

Northernsoulgirl45 · 17/10/2019 20:37

If it's a controlled drug than she was probably right.

puppyconfetti · 17/10/2019 20:41

This reply has been deleted

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Original poster
bangheadhere40 · 17/10/2019 20:43

Can I also pick your brains Jenni.. What are the dangers of codeine? Ie pure codeine for instance, I know they are addictive, but what physical damage do they do?

OP posts:
Original poster
bangheadhere40 · 17/10/2019 20:44

As to me the danger is more in paracetamol as I said below.

OP posts:
JenniR29 · 17/10/2019 20:50

No need to call anyone stupid arrrghh, I know plenty of pharmacists who have been wrong before (myself included). I just really don’t know a pharmacist who would do this kind of thing, I suspected it was more likely to be a case of crossed wires and in the first instance OP did not have the full story. I was trying to reason and explain to people on here why a pharmacist MAY have done what she did. But maybe I was trying too hard to defend someone who could potentially be indefensible.

Bang, she’s correct in that the medication is addictive and they may not be the most suitable if the pain in his back is nerve related. But it’s very unpleasant withdrawing cold turkey and can lead to a patient relapsing then overdosing as their tolerance has dropped. Dose reduction should be medically supervised, some prescribing pharmacists do specialise in this area though so she may have been trying to get your husband on such a scheme (albeit poorly communicated).

Chivers53 · 17/10/2019 20:52

How did she get his number?

JenniR29 · 17/10/2019 20:55

Course you can Bang. Codeine isn’t really that dangerous when used correctly, it’s one of the weaker opioids. However it is addictive and you do develop a tolerance to it which leads some people to seek larger doses or move on to stronger opiates. It can be fatal if you overdose or use other opiates alongside it.