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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect to be able to leave meds at a chemist for several weeks?

129 replies

Letmeoff · 12/09/2020 03:05

If press rate valid for several months, if the doctor sends direct to pharmacy why can you not leave them for a while? With the way life is and the fact the chemist allows 1 person a time and the queue is always long, I did not pick up my prescribed meds for six or seven weeks. I received a couple of tests- the latest last week saying they were ready. When I wenot to get them they said they’ve put them back on the shelf. So I’m without meds for a few days while I wait for doc to reissue prescription and send to chemist. But now I’ve had time to think - if prescriptions are valid for months why couldn’t they just refill the prescription and give it to me? Why do I need to get a new one - aibu expecting you be able to pick up after weeks 🤔

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 12/09/2020 07:40

Arrange for someone else to collect them (including volunteer services if the patient has no family or friends)

Unfortunately this service wasn’t available in this area, was available in another area and cyclists were taking the meds out, it’s great 👍🏻

tiredanddangerous · 12/09/2020 07:42

Massively unreasonable. Where would you expect them to store medications for that amount of time? How would they possibly know that you still need them when you haven't bothered to collect them or to contact them?

Standrewsschool · 12/09/2020 07:49

I’ve always wondered this. Fair enough that they have returned the Meds to the shelf. However, they still have the original prescription, ie. haven’t cashed it in, so should be able to re-use that prescription, rather than having to get a fresh new one. Prescriptions are valid for six months (apart from certain drugs), so the unused one is still valid.

GiggyThePomeranian · 12/09/2020 07:54

@Ifailed

Remove the label. I just tried, it doesn't fully come off - I suppose that is deliberate for safety reasons.
How well they come off depends on the type of box and it's coating but they do come off. Either neatly or in a mess but as long as any patient information is gone it can be put back into stock.
Mummyoflittledragon · 12/09/2020 07:54

Would you call a shop and expect them to reserve an item on the shelves for so long? Or place an order online to be delivered to a shop and and collect it 6/7 weeks later?

No? Just pharmacies then.

Clearly you don’t understand they are just shops, which dispense medication. The stock remains theirs until collected. I worried when I couldn’t collect a prescription for a fortnight due to isolation and called the pharmacy to ask if it would be ok.

DianaT1969 · 12/09/2020 08:22

If this is real, didn't you think to call them to let them know you would be delayed in picking them up? People in the US who have to pay for their medicine would find this baffling.

Corono · 12/09/2020 08:27

YABVU

EmbarrassedUser · 12/09/2020 08:30

YABU. What if everyone did that? The chemist would just be full of meds all because you can’t be arsed to wait in line.

fuandylp · 12/09/2020 08:39

Totally unreasonable.
I appreciate it's difficult when queues are long at the moment etc but why order them so early if you didn't need them for another few weeks? A couple of weeks before running out is more than enough time.

A pharmacy is not a storage facility. When my Dad died I wanted to return his unused medication (which you are supposed to do so). Three pharmacies in the local area were unable to take them because they said they were overwhelmed with medication which had been returned and not yet sent back wherever it has to go, along with piles of medication which had been ordered by patients and not collected!

Be better organized next time.

Smidge001 · 12/09/2020 08:42

Yabu

SchrodingersImmigrant · 12/09/2020 08:42

Yabu. They would need warehouse size of Amazon soon to store everyone's meds.

MitziK · 12/09/2020 08:44

Somebody else would have needed that medication in the two months you weren't collecting it.

Your convenience doesn't outweigh the needs of other people who could have been waiting for it to come back in.

86Emily · 12/09/2020 08:45

YABU

ChesterDrawsDoesntExist · 12/09/2020 08:48

YABVVVU

Why are you ordering them if you don't need them? Or if you're not putting it in, why is it on an automatic repeat? This shit is one of the many reasons the NHS is struggling. There is a significant cost to prescribed medicines and you're leaving it being stored at a chemist until you fancy popping in to get it? You are either ordering it when it's not needed or not taking it properly. Both an unnecessary financial drain on limited resources!

Someonesayroadtrip · 12/09/2020 08:54

YABU. Only order them when you need them.

Aragog · 12/09/2020 08:59

A week or two maybe - but a month and a half, way too long. If everyone did that they'd run out of storage space quickly.

Only order when you know you can pick up within a few days, or arrange for them to be delivered. Or arrange for someone else to,collect for you.

Bluntness100 · 12/09/2020 09:02

Of course this is unreasonable, I’m sure you know that and are just annoyed. They are not storage facilities for you.

arethereanyleftatall · 12/09/2020 09:06

Yabu. Of course Yabu.
But what is so staggering, is that you genuinely seem to think it's reasonable that they should store stuff for you for free. Lower your expectations of the world revolving around you, and you might be happier..

SteeperThanHell · 12/09/2020 09:08

@Ifailed we can usually get the labels off.

SallySolardel · 12/09/2020 09:09

After I moved house, I had a prescription go to the wrong pharmacy. I thought it was all sorted out, then the pharmacy phoned me a year later to say they still had my medication ready and was I going to collect it.

Brighterthansunflowers · 12/09/2020 09:11

YABVU

it’s entirely your own fault if you’ve now run out of medication because you couldn’t be arsed to collect it for 6-7 weeks

listsandbudgets · 12/09/2020 09:14

YABU. How was pharmacist supposed to what your situation was.? You could have been dead / in hospital/ moved to another country/ better / using different chemist with totally different prescription.

They are not psychic. They do not provide
long term storage facilities. They pay for the medicines and can't reclaim until they're signed for.

If it had been me I'd have been deeply embarrassed and apologetic not raging on mumsnet about the "unfairness" caused by my own incompetentce and laziness.

DragonPie · 12/09/2020 09:19

Yes of course the pharmacy is your personal storage facility.

I can imagine they would be really pissed off if they’ve held them for 6-7 weeks only for you to then ask for emergency meds because you didn’t collect them. What a waste of their time.

DizzyPigeon · 12/09/2020 09:19

Yabu.

If you don't need them for six weeks, then you should be ordering them. Order when you need them, then collect them.

Can you imagine if everyone asked 6 weeks to collect their prescriptions? They'd need a warehouse!

feelingverylazytoday · 12/09/2020 09:20

YABU.
If you have to self isolate then either ask someone to pick them up or phone the pharmacy and ask if they can keep them or if they have a delivery service. But it seems as if you just couldn't be arsed to wait in a queue. That's your problem then, most people have had to stand in queues at some point over the last few months.