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.

Pharmacies are independent of the NHS, as are GPs. They have their own processes, which don't follow any particular NHS procedure.

I just order the next month's prescription at the pharmacy when I collect mine. The pharmacy reorders and I turn up 4 weeks later to collect it (and reorder for next time). Depending on the meds involved, some of mine are on a 1 month prescription (NSAID painkillers), everything else is on 2 months, so I just tell the pharmacy which ones I need next month. This is Asda pharmacy, so I can pick up when doing my shopping.

Due to the number of meds I take for various conditions I pay for a pre-payment certificate once a year. When the current cert runs out, I will have hit 60 so will get them for free anyway

There is plenty wrong with the prescriptions systems, when my husband had multiple illnesses, getting the medicines was almost a full time job! Everything had to be ordered in, then the cycles (so four weekly) were different, so they wouldn't sync and everything would be ready at different times, the system from the surgery to the chemist was faulty/down a lot and then lots of it got put on weekly prescription, at one point I had to sit in the pharmacy signing 28 scripts to get them. If they were available, which often they were not. If prescriptions were changed, it was a nightmare to get the new ones issued and the old ones ignored. I was stockpiling not needed drugs!

It wasn't anyone's 'fault', everyone was helpful and lovely but the system wasn't fit for purpose. Oh, and if you are in hospital, then the hospital have to issue all drugs for the coming week which then messes up the four week system. And they often don't have those drugs in either.

It was an utter shit show and I held down a full time job whilst spending several hours a week driving to various surgeries, pharmacies and the hospital to sort this out. What was amazing was that it was all free. What wasn't amazing is that several times I caught problems with the wrong dosage being issued, the consequences of this (for medication which prevents life-threatening events occurring immediately) were unthinkable for older or vulnerable people who didn't have a 'me' running around checking and collecting the right meds all week.

The system works well if you have one or two meds, things that don't need ordering in, which repeat indefinitely, the system falls down if you need frequent changes in meds (which you do for terminal/severe illness), move between hospital and GP a lot, and have meds which aren't easily ordered in or where there's a shortage.

When you say you went bat shit, I do hope you weren't rude or abusive to the staff.
My sister is a pharmacy dispenser and gets spoken to appallingly by customers on a daily basis (usually by addicts). It's really not their fault, they didn't make the system, they just work there, on minimum wage.

You could always ask the pharmacy and GP why you have to collect only a month’s worth at a time and can’t just collect the six months you have been prescribed for at the same time? Then you’ll understand the reasoning behind it.

It’s likely because the pharmacy were making up lots of prescriptions that people didn’t bother picking up. Their time is as important as yours. It’s a phone call, not a big deal.

You can't make one phone call before you need to pick up your medicine. FFS, first world problem. It takes minutes to make a phone call. God help us if you had a serious problem.

@nutmegofconsolation2

Echo. Job done.

Yep, I have a repeat prescription I’m only allowed 2 months of at a time. Echo tell me when I’m running low, I request it through them and it comes to my door usually within a week. My GP surgery does also use an online service where I can ask for repeat prescriptions. Very easy.

If you are collecting 3 months supply they will need to order more in.

@Oliversmumsarmy

TheSilentStars

Come to the country I live in

Prescriptions are generally cheaper than Britain for your bog standard meds like you need for reflux

Only.

There's no such thing as a repeat.

You want a prescription, you have to see your GP

You want more than a small amount, you have to see your GP

So exactly like the NHS (see my pp) just cheaper.

How much is a smear? Or a mammogram? Or a blood test?

My dp had a detached retina in the summer and apart from the approx £250-300 for the post-op meds paid about £200 for various blood tests first.

In the public system.

I paid £36 for a smear, then £60 for the actual nurse to do the smear, then because they didn't get enough cells, another £36 for a repeat.

I have a gallbladder scan in Jan which I paid £38 for

All public.

It's not even the cost really, it's the hassle you have to go through (see MY pp) to get these things done in the first place. So forgive my teeny violin for someone who goes "bat shit" because they have to ring for a repeat prescription.

Do you have an option to request prescriptions online and then get the prescription sent though to a postal pharmacy?

I have repeat prescriptions for warfarin and metformin. It has taken a while to bed them in but now all I need do is go online to order my prescriptions then pick them up from the pharmacy.

I was using Pharmacy2U but found the lead times were a bit unpredictable for medicines which I must not run out of so now use a local pharmacy. They are fine if the occasional hiatus isnt going to cause a problem.

Then once we’ve dealt with the little matter of a global pandemic, lets start by making the great British public more accountable for the misuse of prescriptions/medications that costs millions every year. Stock piled drugs, poor compliance, abuse of prescription painkillers etc. Put those issues high on the list

How about making the medical staff more accountable

I might be willing to pay £5 for an appointment but for that I would expect them to do something
Most of the time you get to see the gp at least 3 or 4 times before they actually do anything.

I have dreadful insomnia. I have been over and over to the doctor who says I should try all the things I have tried before I got to the stage of calling a doctor.
But I have to go away and try them again.
Then I go back and he sends me away again to try to sleep for another few months then I go back and he tells me to try something else I have already tried.
I am now coming up to 7 years of not being able to sleep.
I am no further on with this. I have been over and over to the doctors
Personally if I have to pay then I expect a better service than spouting exactly eat I can get off the internet for free.

I could solve the NHS lack of funds by changing one thing.

Doctors need to listen to their patient. If they did then I think the NHS would be swimming in money virtually overnight

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

How much is a smear in Britain?

before the pandemic, it was a 6 months waiting list to get one at least, and 8 MONTHS for the result. I have no idea how accurate 8 months old results can be.

And that idea that the NHS is "free" is another example of what is very wrong in this country.

Depends surely.

Pre covid I could get a nurse appointment within a week or two and results back not too long after. At the moment this is delayed a bit I'd imagine. No cost to the patient at the point of use,as it's part of the nhs systems.

I have to say that whilst the nhs system can have its issues on the whole we are very lucky where I am. I have had excellent and prompt treatment for many years for a range of issues with both GPS and hospitals. My most recent was prompt and effective treatment in hospital when I had covid.

At the moment there are some issues I agree - I'm struggling to get in touch with my rheumatology doctors during a particularly bad flare up, but I a.so know that this is a combination of it being Christmas and the covid rises, mixed with the system for that department being set up for the predominately older patients rather than younger working ones. It's not ideal but I can understand why there are currently delays and issues. I'll keep trying.

Having paid for a and e treatment when abroad - claimed back in insurance but had to pay out first, unless I wanted a very lengthy painful trip to another hospital elsewhere in the country - then I am grateful not to need to pay every time I need medical help.

TheSilentStars

In my case quite a lot of money as both the smear test and mammogram that I have had done on the NHS left me in such pain for days after that they cost me money as I couldn’t work.

I have now given up going as it was so traumatic

In dps case the question would be how much was cancer treatment.

Over £80,000 just for one operation.

An operation that would have been unnecessary if the doctors had acted on Dp’s assertion that he had bowel cancer more than 6 months before and not waited till it had spread.

Pre covid I could get a nurse appointment within a week or two and results back not too long after.

my example was BEFORE the pandemic. I haven't seen any mention of smear test since, so I have no idea how things are running today.

We absolutely SHOULD start paying a fee for medical care, even if it does get refunded by insurance later - same way some people have to pay a set amount to get a prescription. It should be charged to everybody, and obviously not related to the real cost.

It would remove time-wasters for a start.

@TheChineseChicken

Use Pharmacy2U

NO please don't use them they were fined by the ICO for selling patient data, it was thought to be so serious the BMA wanted them prosecuted

Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

We absolutely SHOULD start paying a fee for medical care, even if it does get refunded by insurance later - same way some people have to pay a set amount to get a prescription. It should be charged to everybody, and obviously not related to the real cost

Would we then be able to get a refund if the appointment has been a waste of time?

It would remove time-wasters for a start

Does this work both ways?

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

We absolutely SHOULD start paying a fee for medical care, even if it does get refunded by insurance later - same way some people have to pay a set amount to get a prescription. It should be charged to everybody, and obviously not related to the real cost.

It would remove time-wasters for a start.

And would remove healthcare from those in poverty.

I quit being a pharmacy technician as many pharmacies don't pay much above minimum wage and pushing myself too far for that wasn't worth it anymore when there was never enough time in the day to do everything without damaging my health , pharmacies are businesses which often care most about profit more than anything they aren't part of the NHS.

Where I worked would make up repeat dispenses a couple of days before someone we thought would be due it but there weren't that many of them to do, I suspect that as GPS need to find ways to save more and more time that they are doing more of them which means more work for pharmacies.

I don’t think you can compare our healthcare system with that of other countries. It is free at the point of use and I very much doubt that ‘customer service’ is the main objective. There are many outdated aspects, not least the allocation of appointments only during the day when everyone is at work. Unfortunately meaningful change will cost money and while we are all very protective of our NHS, many of us balk at the idea of any additional cost at all, even to those who can well afford to pay for additional convenience.

Would we then be able to get a refund if the appointment has been a waste of time?

With so few appointments available and waiting list so long (and god knows how much worst this will be with the pandemic) I don't think many medical personal are wasting time for the fun of it!

I get a text message notification every month from my local pharmacy when my medication is ready. The pharmacy is not part of the NHS, the system works for me. Perhaps your surgery and pharmacy don't have a very good system.

You're extremely, extremely lucky in many ways.

To be healthy
To be able to afford private care

That's a luxury many people simply don't have. Count your blessings.

When you say you went bat shit, I do hope you weren't rude or abusive to the staff.

I willing to bet money that this person was rude and abusive.

I gave up community and switched to hospital pharmacy this year, took a huge pay cut but was worth it to save my sanity.

You would not believe the amount of abuse pharmacy staff have taken this year. Sadly it didn't end when I got home, the online abuse was just as bad.

I'll repeat: do not be a dick to the pharmacy staff.