Pharmacy Jobsworth or Normal?

[bangheadhere40]

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!

I think I would ring the doctors and ask them to inform the pharmacist your husband needs the prescription sooner than the repeat prescription is due. When this is done the pharmacy should give it to you. If not ask the doctor to prescribe an alternative.

I agree it's annoying of the pharmacy.

Doctors can print post dated prescriptions, and send them to the pharmacy. So today they could print a prescription dated the 22nd of October and sent it to the pharmacy. The pharmacy can then dispense only on the 22nd or afterwards. The painkillers may also be a controlled drug, there are other restrictions in place regarding these and even if the prescription is prescribed by the doctor the pharmacy or pharmacist may see they have been prescribed within the last 28 days and not want to give out the new prescription. The pharmacist could get into trouble if they were to do either of the things mentioned.

Pps are correct, pharmacists are responsible for the medication they dispense, and will often pick up on mistakes by GPs. Do you still have some of the medication?

Yes, the doctor should check but if they don't - or make a mistake - then it's the pharmacist's job to catch it.

I sign over a 1000 prescription a week repeat prescriptions are printed by the receptionist and I sign .Obviously I check but mistakes happen just what happens when we are under resourced

Pharmacists are qualified professionals with a responsible job, it sounds like this person was simply doing their job.

What drug is it?

As others have said, the pharmacist is responsible for handing out the meds, if they think the GP has made an error in any way, they have a duty to flag that and check back with the GP.

When do they believe it is due? Does he have it weekly or 4 weekly? When did you last collect it?

There's certainly a wave of zealousness regarding opiates. It started in the US and has progressed here with more and more GPs and consultants being especially wary of prescribing them.

Everyone can make mistakes, including doctors. And pharmacists, actually.

I went to fetch a prescription for my husband and was given one for someone else and didn’t notice till I got it home. The other person happens to live up the street from us so we share a postcode, which is the second check they do after they’ve picked the item out of the drawer. It probably didn’t help that this person’s surname had the same first letter and last 4 letters as ours, so at a quick glance you could make that mistake. Completely different first names, though.

I took it back.

If it is a strong painkiller then she is perfectly correct. Of course doctors should be checking that it isn't too soon but doctors are very busy and miss things. The legal responsibility often rests with the pharmacist. We had a case here when I was working in pharmacy. The doctor wrote a prescription for a strong painkiller and wrote it for the highest strength. The patients representative took it to a pharmacy (not their usual one) and the locum pharmacist didn't check that they had had that strength before. The patient died. The pharmacist was jailed and nothing happened to the doctor.

If its a repeat prescription and his dose hasn't increased, the computer will flag up that the prescription shouldn't be required yet. Either he has enough at home or has been taking more than prescribed.

Our GPs have tightened up on repeat prescriptions and you can't request them until you've got less than a week's worth of medication left.

If she thinks your DH has requested a repeat prescription too soon she should have suggested he get a GP appointment, to discuss whether this medication still meets his needs (presumably he's taking it more frequently than they anticipated to have run out ahead of time?) rather than just saying no.

This very annoying. I hate worrying about running out of meds and because of work can’t make it to the surgery or the chemist’s easily.

See if it’s on the controlled drugs list. I wonder if it is an opioid. There is huge pressure on pharmacists at the moment to avoid a situation like the opioid epidemic in the US.

She’s doing her bloody job, ffs! She’s a pharmacist, not a checkout girl.

The problem with this is when you've waited 3 weeks to get a GPs prescription, have a week left of the medication and would have to wait another 3 weeks.

In my view, the pharmacist should have phoned the surgery and discussed it with the doctor instead of flatly saying no. If you could go back to the surgery this afternoon and sort it out, that would be one thing. But they must know getting a GP appointment is like getting an appointment with the Pope.

I don't like all this current nonsense about painkillers not working. They do. And not just as a placebo. If you need them, you need them. Tell anyone suffering from long-term sciatica that they don't need pain relief after 3 months of it!

appointment not prescription

People also ask for their prescriptions early if they are going away and will run out while away.

No never had that happen. My son takes lots of meds, I sometimes order them up to two weeks early if we’re away or something. I’ve had it from the GP surgery but not the pharmacist.

A pharmacist can over rule a doctor when it comes to prescriptions.

Last year my son was prescribed antibiotics for something and the doctor had put the complete wrong dosage on the prescription - apparently it would have made my son really ill if the pharmacist hadn't spotted the mistake. The pharmacist had to call the GP and get them to fax over a new prescription whilst I waited

As someone said it's her job to be a jobsworth.

Everyone dealing with drugs needs to be aware and speak up. One of my Dad's care assistants noticed that his prescription tablets said a different strength on the foil packet to his prescription so flagged it up. Should she have just presumed the pharmacist knew best?

Im on a mixture of medication, my gps do medication, appointments etc online. I can't order the tablets till a certain date. But I've had a few incidents when I've needed medication early, so either rang and told reception or put a note online. I have never had my pharmacy stop a prescription or question the date on it. I would be having words.

She is doing her job. Strong painkillers such as opiates, can only be dispensed when you have a certain amount left to take. So for instance you can only get the repeat perscription filled when you have 7 days left of your tablets.

The reason is so that they are not abused, ie taking more than you should. These are very strong and addictive so they need to be careful.

For next time, ask them when you can collect the perscription so you dont have a wasted journey.

My father had this exact situation, my mum would get the paper perscription from the doctors and then wait until she was allowed to collect the medication before she left it with the pharmacist. If you have a digital perscription, might be worth asking them not to send it over too early. Just have a chat with the pharmacist, they will help.

Surely if the pharmacist was concerned that the doctor had made an error (always possible) she could have telephoned the surgery and asked to speak to your GP. AT most you should have had a few hours wait for your answer - not several days.

This seems unnecessarily "jobsworthian"