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.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow

You talk about being cossetted in hospital medicine - well you clearly have no idea what it is like being in a high tech, high dependency specialty with little support because juniors are not useful unless highly trained, and few are available. This means being on call effectively continuously for very sick patients and admitting such patients, potentially at all hours.

Not all hosp. Drs are in well populated and supported specialities and I could certainly have given you a run for your money in your worst ever outpatients clinics!

I'm sure you work very hard. However - GP visits to the elderly in care homes? - even before covid, like getting blood from a stone, and this despite the extra payments provided by the Govt for this work.

Try to get an ordinary appt. phone at 8.30 or no dice. GPs can limit the size of their clinics - we could not - we merely had to continue them on the wards. Prescriptions? Limited to monthly even for stable patients. Why? So our dispensing practice can collect more fees.

GP's want to give up home visits?
Paid £12.50 for each covid vacc plus an extra £10 for each vacc given in care homes. Wow!

The fact remains that whatever the reasons, the NHS is not patient centered, and the impression is often that patients are either an irrelevance or are cash cows.

@Poppynit
Am really REALLY glad that it cheered you up. And hope that your would-be assailant is either never going to be allowed onto the premises again; or is going to apologise And Mean It (as opposed to Until The Next Time).

My fab pharmacist dropped something up to me as planned earlier AND has provided the full amount of a medication my GP left off my prescription (an antiseizure one, so I really can’t be skipping any doses; definitely not meant to be stopping it; & 111 confirmed I need to get more & then speak to GP about what happened, in case anyone worried...) rather than just doing a couple of days emergency supply; so I just need to get the GP to send the Rx down to pharmacy, rather than any further back & forth over the medication itself.

Assuming you & @TrufflyPig are both off tomorrow, I hope you enjoy the down-time; & that everyone Plays Nicely next week.

Just thought I'd update........

I tried the NHS Echo app when my GP issued me another batch prescription...... asked for it to be sent to the chemist for pick up and the app told me the chemist would tell me when it was ready....

Two weeks past... still no message so I went down.... only to be told they couldn't be expect to pick up echo emails, and even if they had, they wouldn't process it unless I phoned them first.

Which defeats the bloody point.

I use the echo app. They send me a notification to log in and request the prescription, a couple of days later and its posted through the letter box. It couldn't be easier!

Yeah - I'd rather it not be posted and to pick it up at the pharmacy which I can do! Its just the pharmacy seem to want to use only one system which is you have to phone them in advance!

I have this condition, I get 2 months at a time then order the next lot via my surgeries website, couldn't be easier

It seems like your issue is with the pharmacy not the NHS, you could use another pharmacy who are more accommodating

My surgery has an online repeat prescription service.

You log on, request your prescription, and they send it electronically to whichever local pharmacy you want. You can then pick up your meds a couple of days later.

It works really well imo.

It can take a pharmacy a couple of days to get the quantity of medication you require. Then it has to be dispensed and checked which takes time

There are things about prescriptions that are annoying, and convenience for the patient should be taken into account, especially if missing medication could land people in hospital - much more expensive than just letting people have three months worth at once or whatever.

On the other hand, waste is, well wasteful. Confirming you want it isn't the most inconvenient thing.

Reflux is what was used to be called heartburn?
First question, do you actually have a physical abnormality that causes this? Have you been investigated for this?
Second question, if the answer to question 1 is no, why can you not control this via diet?

The issue is the previous system worked well for doctors and patient. Doctors saved time writing out repeats and patients just turned up and collected.

The pharmacy decided unilaterally to change the system to benefit themselves at the expense of the customer - the patient

Who then decided to try again using a system designed by the NHS and who then decided to ignore the instruction sent to them.

I did confirm I wanted it when I sent the echo email over to them!

It is shit but most people on this thread are like poor lobsters in warming water. They cannot see how things have regressed and moreover don't have other shining examples of society to compare to, because in their heads Britain is great and the NHS too. They won't go any further than the tabloids and Telegraph (same people) who all had personal stakes in Brexit and give the same simple messages that are baseless and don't even try to hide the lies anymore. Nevermind that we are slowly turning into a dictatorahip. Roll your eyes all you like..... It is all interlinked. People have been conditioned to be apathetic, and to appreciate a life of mediocrity and lassitude that is handed to them by 'people who know best' (class deference). But you know.... The papers say that the world is really envious of us Brits so it must be true .

YANBU

The repeat dispensing system is crap. Restricting you to 28 days supply is unfair when other surgeries give people up to three months supply of medication. And these tend to be people that are exempt from paying for their scripts!

Not sure why people think we should be grateful for crap service

Haha @HandsFaceLace
So true!