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AIBU?

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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:
Original poster
bangheadhere40 · 15/10/2019 15:46

ok, this is interesting. I am shocked that pharmacists are personally liable for what the GP prescribes. Fair enough for checking it's the right meds, and that is doesn't interact etc, but I would have thought a signed prescription overrides a pharmacist.

As someone else said, what if I took the prescription somewhere else?

OP posts:
EstebanTheMagnificent · 15/10/2019 15:50

Until very recently a pharmacist could face criminal prosecution for a serious issue arising from a dispensing error. The law only changed about a year ago, and they can still face investigation and the loss of their licence to practice.

Bloomburger · 15/10/2019 15:56

As a GP the pharmacist has done the correct thing he is most likely not due his supply of the controlled drug unless the dose has been increased.The pharmacist has a duty of care and can refuse to dispense any prescription they are not happy with regardless of it being signed by a GP.
If the dose has been increased or changed ring the doctor if not wait till he is due the supply l.

THIS

Considering the epidemic of opioid addiction sweeping the globe someone has to police how quickly these prescriptions are filled. You'd soon be kicking up if he didn't need the meds but had an addiction and they were being handed out like sweeties,

Sunshinelollipops1 · 15/10/2019 15:56

As others have said not jobsworth. Professionally they are expected to check dispensing. It’s not ok for them to say “doctor prescribed” - otherwise anyone could do the job.

HeadintheiClouds · 15/10/2019 15:56

No, a signed prescription certainly doesn’t override the dispensing chemist. Why would you want to try your luck elsewhere? Hmm
If the second pharmacist was worth their salt you’d get exactly the same response.

itbemay · 15/10/2019 15:57

although i do think this person was a bit overzealous the pharmacists are there to safety net the doctors, however if the medication has been dispensed and is in the bag waiting for collection then i think the person was in the wrong.

TequilaPilates · 15/10/2019 15:58

If it’s a controlled substance the pharmacist was being responsible- the absolute last thing you need is your husband getting addicted. It’s frighteningly easy to get hooked on prescription painkillers.

How does this stop patients, who take the drug regularly anyway, from getting addicted?

I've been taking tramadol, codeine and pregabalin for more than 3 years now. I'm pretty sure that even if my pain disappeared over night that I would need to withdraw from these drugs slowly.

PaulRedford · 15/10/2019 15:58

How would a second different pharmacist know ?

JenniR29 · 15/10/2019 15:58

‘but I would have thought a signed prescription overrides a pharmacist.’

No, you do not have to dispense a prescription of you are not happy with it legally or clinically. GP and Pharmacist are two separate jobs, there is no hierarchy there.

Timeywimey10 · 15/10/2019 15:59

If the second pharmacist was worth their salt you’d get exactly the same response A second pharmacist might pick up the phone to talk to the GP who might explain why they'd issued the prescription.

Considering the epidemic of opioid addiction sweeping the globe

Hope some of the people commenting on this post never need strong painkillers for anything.

Justmuddlingalong · 15/10/2019 16:01

If the pharmacist was on their lunch break, I'd imagine the assistant was relaying what the pharmacist has said.

ThanksItHasPockets · 15/10/2019 16:01

How does this stop patients, who take the drug regularly anyway, from getting addicted?

There is a big difference between dependence and addiction. You can be dependent on a drug without being addicted to it.

TequilaPilates · 15/10/2019 16:02

Hope some of the people commenting on this post never need strong painkillers for anything.

Me too.

Bloomburger · 15/10/2019 16:03

OP was picking up prescription early as she had a bit of spare time, the medicine wasn't actually needed yet.

Ninkaninus · 15/10/2019 16:04

If the pharmacist was on their lunch break then no one would be dispensing any prescribed medicines.

puppyconfetti · 15/10/2019 16:05

Hope some of the people commenting on this post never need strong painkillers for anything.

The whole point though is that he didnt need them. The pharmacist wasn't refusing to give necessary medication.

ThanksItHasPockets · 15/10/2019 16:05

Incidentally, OP, does your DH usually manage his own prescriptions or are you usually involved in the process?

I ask because there is a big focus at the moment on controlling opioids and repeated early requests for controlled drugs can trigger a flag for potential drug-seeking behaviour. I'm not suggesting that this is applicable to your DH but if he has made a few early repeat prescription requests recently then something might have flagged on their system.

puppyconfetti · 15/10/2019 16:07

How does this stop patients, who take the drug regularly anyway, from getting addicted?

It stops them from upping their dosage, from misusing. The pharmacist was correct in realising that of the medication had been taken as per prescription the OPDH would not require a new script at this point.

TequilaPilates · 15/10/2019 16:15

But I assume that most, if not all of us who take these medications for a while are addicted to them. We aren't misusing them but I think we would suffer withdrawal effects if we stopped taking them suddenly.

So this process might stop a patient from misusing but it won't stop them from becoming addicted will it?

Original poster
bangheadhere40 · 15/10/2019 16:19

ThanksItHasPockets I usually pick up for him as I can get to the chemist more easily,

OP posts:
Aridane · 15/10/2019 16:20

Hmm - I thought the pharmacist or,e was more for dispensing errors (eg incorrect dose), not for questioning the propriety of the prescription. Baring something like, say, two contraindicated medications on the same prescription.

If my GP was prescribing me, say, tramadol, I would not expect this to be overruled by the pharmacist.

AmIChangingagain · 15/10/2019 16:21

Do you need to use the word "jobsworth" OP?

It's so daily mail. (Along with fuming)

MitziK · 15/10/2019 16:23

Oh ye dogs, she has appointed herself as Overseer to GP's. Because CLEARLY she knows more about medicine than they do

Pharmacists do know more about the medicines. That is literally what they study.

Trouble is that a lot of people won't just take their prescribed meds, they'll increase them, sometimes out of 'well, double must be twice as effective', sometimes as they've developed tolerance, sometimes because they can make a few quid from flogging them to their neighbour or the guy who brings around the hashcakes and sometimes, as with my mother, because she was enjoying the feeling of being absolutely off her fucking tits and wasn't about to have a mere GP or Pharmacist tell her that she shouldn't take 30 days of Tramadol in just over a week.

PaulRedford · 15/10/2019 16:24

I still don't understand about a second pharmacist. If the OP had taken this prescription to a pharmacist where they didn't know her or her Dh from Adam, how could they possibly know when his next prescription was due ? Unless of course they rang the G.P , but why would they do that ? Do pharmacists now routinely ring G.P's to double - check prescriptions ?

Idontwanttotalk · 15/10/2019 16:27

@bangheadhere40

"He has a few days left but the pharmacy is a pain in the arse to get to and I had some time free today."
Why don't you sign up with a pharmacy who will deliver to your home free of charge? That way you won't have to go out of your way to collect it in future when this problem has been sorted out.

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