to not understand why we settle for things as a nation (prescription related)

[TransplantedScouser]

I have a very low level underlying condition (reflux).

I used to phone each month to the doctors to get a repeat prescription.

then they said, go onto batch. We send the prescription over to the pharmacy every six months and all you have to do is collect it each month. Now, bearing in mind you used to get 3-6 months prescriptions in one go so having to do it monthly was a pain in the backside this was a good thing.

Everything worked well for a couple of years.

Went to pick up my latest prescription yesterday - not ready.

Apparently you now have to phone the pharmacy 7 days before you want to collect it to ask them to make the batch up.

I have to admit this sent me a little bat shit. what is the time saving in that? I may as well just phone the doctors every month for a repeat prescription if I'm going to have to phone the pharmacy anyway.

They have taken a system that worked well and basically regressed back.

the pharmacist said "Well the batch was just to save the doctors time having to write a prescription each month".

So, AIBU to think this is another case of the NHS being set up for the convenience of the staff and not the patient?

After this batch I'm going to get a private prescription and cancel my NHS pre pay.

I can get a six month prescription including the fee for the doctor doing it for less than six months pre pay costs me. And I only have to worry about it twice a year.

Anycrisps Actually I am capable of making a complaint about serious issues whilst managing to make a call for my prescriptions once a month.

OP is it a drug with a generic over the counter alternative if you can acquire it so cheaply privately? Something like Gaviscon for example?

Oh do stop your moaning. Be grateful for all that we do have from our NHS compared to other countries.

Once you try another EU country’s health system you’ll realize how little there is to be “grateful” for with the NHS.

Once you try another EU country’s health system you’ll realize how little there is to be “grateful” for with the NHS.

This

It's called repeat dispensing (RD) where 6 months of prescriptions are sent to the nominated pharmacy, each month that months prescription gets downloaded to be dispensed. The system is archaic and old, pharmacies have to note for each patient when that month is due as the system has no automation to inform them/remind them to download.
However RD caused unnecessary problems for community pharmacies during COVID, who were inundated with prescriptions and understandably prescriptions got lost in the system/didn't send/didn't print.
Local CCGs then set a rule of 28 days max prescriptions to help with workload, and because the suppliers limited orders on stock for community pharmacies, as such prescriptions would not have been fulfilled if greater than 28 days.
It's a shame you're unhappy with the service but providing you receive your items, as prescribed, I think that's a fair service

I've done the same with private prescriptions. I got a years worth for £78 which includes both the cost of the prescription and medication. Would have cost me £109.20 through the NHS because they'll only give me a month at a time. A pharmacist once told me to always check if the medication was available over the counter first or you can end up paying a full prescription fee for something that costs less than half that.

@NotABridezillaToBe

Once you try another EU country’s health system you’ll realize how little there is to be “grateful” for with the NHS.

This

There is absolutely no way I would step foot in a French hospital ever again, the ‘care’ was dangerous.

YANBU the NHS has become a replacement religion to some people, criticism is not allowed.

For those saying be happy you don't have another system. You do realise that the NHS/UK has below EU average outcomes for cancer survival? Maybe the health system style of Germany or France would be better, as they are clearly getting better results.

Please don't repeat the empty mantra the NHS cannot be changed.

Sorry, £105.90 with pre payment. But it's the only regular medication I get so still cheaper privately.

Pharmacies aren't part of the NHS. Find another one if you don't like your current one.

Surely if it's cheaper and more efficient for you to get a private prescription OP then just do that. Can't imagine why you wouldn't have anyway.

@PastaPins

Oh do stop your moaning. Be grateful for all that we do have from our NHS compared to other countries.

I do think you are a bit BU, but THAT attitude is ridiculously unhelpful.

There should not be a competition to the bottom for our health service. Instead of focusing on what countries have it worst, why not focusing on all the ones who have a BETTER system, better care, better resources, much better outcomes?

The state of the NHS is an absolute disgrace, there's nothing to be "grateful" about.

Find a pharmacy that creates your next repeat when you collect one lot of medication - Boots do this. When I collect I just tell what I want next time and the do the reorder so it's ready for collect in 28 days time. They then send me a text to remind me to collect - some pharmacies have excellent systems.

There is absolutely no way I would step foot in a French hospital ever again, the ‘care’ was dangerous.

looking at how many local patients begged to be sent for treatment in French hospitals when it was still possible for a better and faster care, your bad experience is merely anecdotal. You need to look no further than the Calais hospital if you want a small example.

and you can read threads all over this forum about what people have to put up with our "NHS", disorganised, understaffed, lacking resources, funding, decent facilities and that's even before the pandemic.

The NHS is not set up for anyone’s convenience - it is aimed to get the best value healthcare for the most amount of people/clinical need for the least amount of financial cost to the nation. Doctors’ time costs money. Patients not collecting “automatically” generated repeat meds costs money in staff time and waste. So the system you describe is the best value for us all - reduces staff time, reduces waste. No, it’s not about your convenience and nor should it be. If it’s cheaper for you privately then fantastic, do it that way, and it’s even better for the whole system. Everybody wins

Dp is diabetic
This isn’t going to change. He now has to write to the dr every fortnight to get a prescription for his insulin.

This isn’t about saving money as a telephone appointment every 2 weeks to get his medication costs money.
Then not getting what he needs also costs money. He has told them he only needs one of his medications but they always give him 3. He has now taken to handing the excess back to the pharmacist who then gets annoyed as they go straight in the bin.

The NHS is set up to be permanently short of money. It is a joke.
All it would take is just listening to the patient and it wouldn’t be short of so much money

Yeah it's irritating, there's lots of stuff that's irritating and mired in inefficiency about the NHS, i work in it and I can guarantee very little of the systems are set up to benefit me, it's like a thousand tiny cuts every day.

But seems like you've got a solution, and it didn't seem like a hugely distressing issue. And this thread seems a little designed to bring out a mad NHS debate where everyone piles on from increasingly polarised positions. It's almost as if that's what you were aiming for?

You are being massively unreasonable.

The repeat dispensing system is an administrative nightmare for pharmacies, especially during covid. It conveniences nobody but the doctor.

We asked people to call 72 hours ahead because we could not cope with the amount of people coming in saying 'the doctor said my prescription was already in the pharmacy' they were technically correct but we did not have the man power to make them up on demand nor did we have the stock to give everyone 3-6 months in one go.

We started pre making them at one stage but the amount of people who didn't bother coming in to collect them was staggering.

Making one phone call a month really isn't a big ask to obtain essential medicines.

Also: don't be a dick to pharmacy staff, they've suffered enough this year!!!

Good tip about Boots, thank you. I am also finding the repeat prescription system a pain at the moment. My young daughter is on a long term medication and the GP will only give me a month at a time. I have not been able to get the GP to see her in person since before March. My friend in Switzerland can take her kids to a paediatrician if she needs, covered on her health insurance. For DD to see the paediatrician in October, I had to pay more than £2k. I am not complaining about my GP, who are great by UK standards, but it should be possible for a child to see a paediatrician in less than 7 months (the NHS services would not even take referrals in that period). Lucky we've got money saved up, eh? What about those who haven't?

I stand by what @TrufflyPig said, I work in prescribing in a gp surgery, everyone is working so hard at the moment we are at breaking point, the pharmacies work so hard and so do we, for anyone who has all these judgments to make i beg you to work one day for the nhs and see how hard it is, not all of us can work from home either, think how many people your surgery staff and pharmacists come into contact with every day so you can get your medication, we're doing the best we can believe me

Our local pharmacy brought in a 7 day lag from getting a repeat prescription to bring able to collect. OK we planned accordingly. Then Covid. Queuing up outside with potentially sick people. So we tried pharmacy2u. We now get a reminder to order the prescription, one click on the app and the prescription is delivered in less than a week. We may go back when the virus has eased but they may have lost us

My DH worked as a volunteer at our large GP’s surgery in the summer. The number of people who order and don’t bother to collect is staggering. Or the people who collect the meds and then don’t take it. My DF who before he moved to a care home had lots of unopened packs. He was having it delivered month on month and just stock piled it.

If I am honest he couldn’t be bothered to cancel it and after all it was his entitlement so he took it ( that is a whole other story). There are lots of people who either don’t bother collecting it or don’t take it properly at all.

We only found it when we cleared his house that he wouldn’t let anyone into. Literally floor to ceiling hoarding.

This isn’t about saving money as a telephone appointment every 2 weeks to get his medication costs money. Then not getting what he needs also costs money. He has told them he only needs one of his medications but they always give him 3. He has now taken to handing the excess back to the pharmacist who then gets annoyed as they go straight in the bin.

Is he just phoning to request the repeat, or does the doctor do some kind of check/review? If it's just to request, it can be done on the app in seconds. If the medication hasn't left the pharmacy at all then there's no need for them to throw it away, unless its ordered in as a bespoke item which no one else ever uses and has a short shelf life; but if he tells them everytime they should contact the GP if he has had no luck getting the item removed from the prescription (which sounds odd to be honest).

I live in another country with a reputation for a top health care system (in the EU). The NHS is actually better. Here GP's are literally just prescription writers. They don't diagnose anything. Every little complaint involves seeing a specialist who tells you what my NHS GP would have known because of his vast experience.
Specialists in many fields are hard to see because there aren't enough of them. I need
both gynae and dermatologist appointments but can't find one taking patients. Dermatologists are more interested in doing botox and other cosmetic procedures because they make so much money doing that so I can't get psoriasis looked at. You can't get a big supply of medication so if like me you have a long term condition you have to keep going back to the doctor every five minutes.
The NHS has it's problems but honestly, medicine run for profit is not good.

Historically, around 10% of the NHS budget is spent on medicines and around 10% of them are wasted.

There is plenty wrong with the NHS and it’s systems, but trying to reduce medicines waste is a positive in my book.

NHS "not fit for purpose" OP ? I'm actually staggered you said that, they've been run ragged for months to put it mildly but hey you're more important

OP your thread title intrigues me: you wonder why we settle for things like the situation you've described. Tell me, what should be done? a bloody coup? revolution?

You sound hugely entitled and as if you've far too much time on your hands.