To be annoyed with NHS 111

[Iamacatslave]

I phoned NHS 111 yesterday at 11.30am. and I am still waiting for a GP to call me back. I need to increase my meds by 25mg and am unable to do this by cutting my 50mg tablets in half. The advisor I spoke to said I needed a new prescription and a GP would call me back in 2 hours. I have phoned back several times, only to be told they are very busy and will phone. And I really don’t want to waste time at A&E for a prescription.

Rockall

My pharmacist would give me 25mg capsules of things if they didnt have 50mg I'm pretty sure this has happened in the past

Also you sound hostile as a pharmacist and it's off putting to get help, tbh!!!

No not hostile - just working within the law. By giving the 25mg I would be making a clinical decision that the it was safe at that point for the OP to increase her dose. That is not my decision to make. I have no access to her records, no clue if anything has changed with her treatment since she was first prescribed the lower dose, no idea if her routine bloods were being done - and even I did know all that I could still not legally issue - it is not a repeat medication.

Even the GP at the Out of Hours wouldn’t issue.

I help people all the time and know where (in the area I work in) to direct people if I can’t. What I won’t do is risk my registration by having a GP quite rightly report me, for doing something illegal and clinically unsafe.

My pharmacist would give me 25mg capsules of things if they didnt have 50mg I'm pretty sure this has happened in the past

That's not the same as increasing an existing dose without a proper prescription.

Make sure you read the leaflet before splitting a capsule, some very clearly say do NOT do this.

Split the capsule, put the blood sample tubes in the dishwasher

111 are shit happy to pass the buck and leave people in excruciating pain for days on end. I’ve been there. Some of the advisors are really fucking heartless and unsympathetic aswell.. but that’s a whole other thread.. I hope they can get a dr to call you to sort your medication out or at least get you an appointment at your out of hours gp. I won’t hold my breath though - the excuse will be something to do with the pandemic or that they are extremely busy..

This isn't the fault of 111 or the pharmacy. My DM once got prescribed a dose of a drug in error. It wasn't possible to dispense the dose prescribed (the Dr had been thinking of one drug but wrote the dose for a different one). My DM was severely ill and desperately needed the medication, but she'd been seen in a community clinic on a Friday afternoon. We called 111, who sent us to A&E, who sent us home to call 111, who sent us to an OOH GP... and it went on. Nobody willing to leave it because DM was so ill, but nobody able to do anything about it, even though they suspected what the dose should have been. Eventually, after a long weekend, a nurse drove to a town half-way between us to provide me with the correct script. She was visiting a patient in the town, so saved me half the journey.

Sometimes it doesn't matter how much it's needed, there just isn't a quick solution.

Hope you manage to sort something today OP.

Well said @RockallMalinHebrides

As a pharmacist there are times when as much as you want to help you quite simply do not have the required clinical information nor can you make the supply legally.

It's a profession that's very misunderstood by the public.

It's quite annoying when people say go to the pharmacy as though we are the answer for all medicinal issues, especially when you have no idea of the drug the patient is on. The op has not received this strength of drug in the community so as much as a pharmacist would like to help they can't. There are very stringent rules regarding emergency supplies of medication for a reason.

The issue could have been avoided if op's gp had read the letter from the consultant and given her a prescription for the 25mg to use as and when needed also placing it on her repeat medication list. Then going forward op would be able to order it as necessary and the gp would do reviews to check how she was getting on intermittently or contact the consultant with regards to how long they felt it necessary for the op to receive it. I don't blame the op for not wanting to try and split a capsule as there is no way to do it safely. Hope your gp actually gets back to you in a timely manner op and I would ask if they can do the above for you so you are not faced with this kind of situation again.

Update..
My GP will phone me today to discuss my request. I just don’t understand why I need to do this. It’s clearly written in the hospital letter, stating I can increase by 25mg if needed and the original prescription was for 25mg. Let’s see what the GP says.

@Iamacatslave

Update.. My GP will phone me today to discuss my request. I just don’t understand why I need to do this. It’s clearly written in the hospital letter, stating I can increase by 25mg if needed and the original prescription was for 25mg. Let’s see what the GP says.

My GP did this about my HRT. Tried to talk me into just stopping it! The gynae consultant who removed my uterus and ovaries wrote a very clear letter to my GP, saying that I was to have HRT transdermal oestrogen indefinitely, and sent me a copy of the letter fortunately.

So that was an interesting conversation.

I finally received a prescription for 25mg 😃

Why couldn’t you do this in regular hours instead of a weekend? The NHS is busy. Your GP surgery would have been able to access your consultant letters and action this with the pharmacist. You really shouldn’t be using 111at the weekend and then having the audacity to complain on here.

Why couldn’t you do this in regular hours instead of a weekend? The NHS is busy. Your GP surgery would have been able to access your consultant letters and action this with the pharmacist. You really shouldn’t be using 111at the weekend and then having the audacity to complain on here.

Did you miss the part where she was advised to call 111?

@bakebeans

Why couldn’t you do this in regular hours instead of a weekend? The NHS is busy. Your GP surgery would have been able to access your consultant letters and action this with the pharmacist. You really shouldn’t be using 111at the weekend and then having the audacity to complain on here.

Oh the audacity of a woman in pain, wanting relief her consultant recommend.

@muffinffaces yes I did. I even scrolled through all the posts as I thought it was strange that someone would ring 111 when it’s a GP to action such request.

Apologies OP

Great news OP. Hope it starts working soon & you get some relief (and sleep!).

@Antisocialdistancer. Doesn’t need to be done at a weekend. Can be during the working week. Given consultant letters take a few days to be actioned most of the time or if urgent, can be put through same day as urgent too and would not have been at a weekend when the letter was dictated.

I had missed the bit where OP was advised to ring 111.

Absolutely bakebeans, if only the OP had written a strongly worded letter to her physical ailments, requesting they flare up during office hours.

It's a bank holiday for goodness sake! Pain clearly had no common courtesy. I hope she puts her nervous system on a formal warning for being so intransigent.

Thanks again for all your messages. The power of mumsnet tis a wonderful thing. D

Ignore the D. I’ve lost my glasses again!

@AntiSocialDistancer you are clearly on here for an argument. I have already apologised to OP as I advised that I missed the part where she was advised to call 111
Oh and guess what. OP advised the out of hours and 111 couldn’t increase meds and had to be done by GP during working hours!!

How are things op?

You could try upping meds as previously suggested till you can get another prescription issued.