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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The time it blessed takes for a prescription to be filled?!

154 replies

Looklively · 14/02/2022 18:09

Am I the only person that can’t quite understand why, when there is no queue, and apparently three members of staff plus the pharmacist (hiding) behind the counter it still takes an eternity for someone to serve me, and then another lifetime for them to fill the script?? I wouldn’t mind but this happens every single time at every pharmacy I’ve tried recently, and I was collecting medication that had been prescribed and sent by the doc (he checked it had been sent whilst I was at the surgery) at least four hours previously - I even received a text to say that it was ready! And why, when all I’m doing is confirming my name/ address are they so damn surly? Am I just really entitled for thinking that these people don’t really understand the idea of expediency/ efficiency/ customer service? It takes less time to collect my orders from next - and they are almost always friendly and usually only have one or two people on hand.

OP posts:
Cherrymix · 14/02/2022 19:43

Plus also does not explain why our pharmacy used to be great but now is awful.

Thebedistoohot · 14/02/2022 19:45

What’s up with everyone’s comprehension today?! The OP said she had a text to say it was ready to collect - so had been filled and checked already!

TheOrigRights · 14/02/2022 19:45

It is odd that even though you've received the text saying it's ready to collect that it isn't. You could maybe ask them to check their text sending, because if that's not working then you're not the only one turning up expecting it to be ready and just needs the final check.

When I've asked for it to be filled on the spot I understand that I'll need to wait.

The only problems I've had is when Tesco have been unable to fill the script but haven't told me. I think they need a better system for that. I understand about supply etc, but if I am informed then I can try another pharmacy.

Esspee · 14/02/2022 19:48

We have a lovely local pharmacy. They collect the prescription from your surgery, order it, fill the prescription then call you to say it’s ready. (and it is free for everyone). One off the benefits of having a government (Scottish) which treats health as a priority.

TheOrigRights · 14/02/2022 19:48

@Thebedistoohot

What’s up with everyone’s comprehension today?! The OP said she had a text to say it was ready to collect - so had been filled and checked already!
It's ironic really, considering the issue under discussion involves something which requires absolute precision, accuracy and concentration!
DetailMouse · 14/02/2022 19:48

I used to get a message saying the ordered drugs were in.....but learned to my cost that's not the same thing as "ready".

mjf981 · 14/02/2022 19:49

I think every single person moaning on this thread should be forced to do a few days in a customer service role. And no, working in a cafe 20 years ago when you were in uni is not the same. The current general public are insufferable entitled wankers. Common courtesy has gone out the window. You’d change your mind sharpish OP.

DetailMouse · 14/02/2022 19:50

@mjf981

I think every single person moaning on this thread should be forced to do a few days in a customer service role. And no, working in a cafe 20 years ago when you were in uni is not the same. The current general public are insufferable entitled wankers. Common courtesy has gone out the window. You’d change your mind sharpish OP.
It's because I work in a customer facing role that I find poor service so frustrating.
Esspee · 14/02/2022 19:50

I should have added that if you are too ill to collect they also deliver free of charge.

MrsReeves · 14/02/2022 19:51

@Thebedistoohot

What’s up with everyone’s comprehension today?! The OP said she had a text to say it was ready to collect - so had been filled and checked already!
Was the text from the pharmacy or the GP surgery? We often have patients saying they had a text to say their item is ready, we don't have this service but the GP sends a message when the script is "ready" aka just been sent to pharmacy
Yabyboda · 14/02/2022 19:51

@mjf981

I think every single person moaning on this thread should be forced to do a few days in a customer service role. And no, working in a cafe 20 years ago when you were in uni is not the same. The current general public are insufferable entitled wankers. Common courtesy has gone out the window. You’d change your mind sharpish OP.
I suspect many people have worked in customer service and recognise that ignoring someone at the counter and having them wait around despite saying its ready to be collected is very poor service.
hiredandsqueak · 14/02/2022 19:52

Ours is hopeless. We order online, expect to wait five working days for it to be ready. You go in seventeen days after the phone call to place the repeat and it's not been done and they ask you to come back tomorrow. You can only pick up prescription between 9.30 and 11.30 and 2.30 and 4.30 to allow for pharmacist's lunch hour so there is always a massive queue stood outside as there is still the one in one out restriction in place.

VikingLundyMalin · 14/02/2022 19:52

@Thebedistoohot

What’s up with everyone’s comprehension today?! The OP said she had a text to say it was ready to collect - so had been filled and checked already!
Not necessarily - the EMIS GP system has a habit of sending text messages to patients saying scripts are ready when they have just been sent.
MyOtherCarIsAPorsche · 14/02/2022 19:53

@MrsReeves

Hmmm

Undecicive · 14/02/2022 19:54

I'd rather they worked slowly and precisely than being given the wrong medication.

VikingLundyMalin · 14/02/2022 19:55

@Cherrymix

Plus also does not explain why our pharmacy used to be great but now is awful.
I explained the workforce crisis earlier.
Nightlystroll · 14/02/2022 20:04

@mjf981

I think every single person moaning on this thread should be forced to do a few days in a customer service role. And no, working in a cafe 20 years ago when you were in uni is not the same. The current general public are insufferable entitled wankers. Common courtesy has gone out the window. You’d change your mind sharpish OP.
I really take exception to this. I'm a very polite person. But when you've been waiting 30 minutes for a box of tablets that are simply put in a bag, it's infuriating. Why don't the phatmacists have the common courtesy to tell you what the delay time is so you can decide to go elsewhere instead of behaving like insufferable wankers making you wait for 30 minutes with no warning?
NeverDropYourMooncup · 14/02/2022 20:05

I have always assumed that there is a need to wait until the person is actually in the pharmacy before dispensing because once they've been put into tubs/packets split/labels applied, it's not possible to return it to the shelf/dispense it to somebody else if the original prescription is not collected.

Krustykrabpizza · 14/02/2022 20:06

@mjf981

I think every single person moaning on this thread should be forced to do a few days in a customer service role. And no, working in a cafe 20 years ago when you were in uni is not the same. The current general public are insufferable entitled wankers. Common courtesy has gone out the window. You’d change your mind sharpish OP.
Working with difficult customers doesn't mean the service has to be shit. They are supposedly run as private businesses but given that people have little choice but to use them they get away with being crap.
YouCantTourniquetTheTaint · 14/02/2022 20:07

I take 8 different medications for 4 different issues. I use Patient Access to order my meds 3/4 days before they're due. I go into the pharmacy and 9 out of 10 times they're already done, if I have to wait, I have to wait. My pharmacy is in a supermarket so I can go grab a coffee or go shopping. Whatever.

I know the staff in my pharmacy are run ragged. Sometimes people have a bad day, or they might be a miserable so and so.

I do remember once, at the pharmacy I used to use, the woman behind the counter refusing to do my prescription because it had 4 items in it, and that I would need to come back a week later due to a change of policy (that would have been Xmas day) I had no idea the policy had changed. I explained that the meds were due that day, and that I couldn't just stop taking them. No her problem, She still refused and was so rude she made me cry, she could see the meds were for anxiety and depression. I was in a state and I asked her what I was meant to do, and she shouted at me to sit down, whilst she spoke to the pharmacist. She came back and said the pharmacist would deal with me when she can. She started talking about me to the next customer, I was still crying and panicking that I'd be left without my antidepressants for 9 days.

Anyway, the pharmacist came out with my prescription, apologised to me, and helped me to calm down. I put a very strong complaint in about that woman, and she no longer works there anymore.

Chlobo89 · 14/02/2022 20:09

Reading this thread makes me so glad i left community pharmacy. People just have no clue what our work load is like and say things like “you’re just stacking shelves” or “you’re hiding behind the counter”

We are preparing the thousands of prescriptions that we get through, answering the phone, ordering repeat prescriptions, putting deliveries away, sending out prescriptions on delivery, preparing methadone,preparing dosette boxes, counting and filing all of the prescriptions at the end of the day.

We are the ones that had our doors open when the gp surgeries shut their doors and told everyone oh just go and speak to the pharmacist, we made sure everyone still had their medication and put up with all the abuse physical and verbal while everyone was out clapping for all the doctors and nurses 😂
Poor you having to wait 10 minutes for a prescription god forbid they should take their time in making sure they give you the right drugs that are safe for you to take 🙄

Chlobo89 · 14/02/2022 20:11

@Thebedistoohot

What’s up with everyone’s comprehension today?! The OP said she had a text to say it was ready to collect - so had been filled and checked already!
Yes the gp surgeries send a text to say they have sent the prescription to the pharmacy, that does not mean that it is ready to be collected, that means it has been sent along with hundreds of others.
EatYourVegetables · 14/02/2022 20:11

I also came to admire the 4h.

My doctor sends an email which takes 2-3 days to arrive to the pharmacy (must be some special kind of emails to take that long to cross the 2 blocks from the surgery), then it takes 3-4 days to be put in a little baggie with my name. The 20 min wait at the end is peanuts compared with that.

Before someone complains how it has to be like that, I know how pharmacists work in other countries (Europe) and it’s NOT like that. There people have a 5 min wait instead of a week + 20 min.

narcdad · 14/02/2022 20:29

@mjf981

I think every single person moaning on this thread should be forced to do a few days in a customer service role. And no, working in a cafe 20 years ago when you were in uni is not the same. The current general public are insufferable entitled wankers. Common courtesy has gone out the window. You’d change your mind sharpish OP.
25 minutes waiting, no acknowledgement verbal or non verbal, not even a nod or brief smile, no sorry to have kept you waiting, not even a hello. Talking to colleagues etc when your standing there like a lemon.

That is not customer service, it costs no time to smile / acknowledge or say sorry to keep you. Usually find that "the wankers" are the ones who've been waiting forever with none of the above done to appease

ZoBo123 · 14/02/2022 20:30

My local pharmacy is the same so slow. I have often offered to come back later but they don't actually dispense it till you come to collect it so it saves me no time, I still have the more than 20 minute wait. I have an inhaler that is in a box, no counting or anything. I know they are not all like that but I am betting more than half the prescriptions are simple and don't require counting out. The previous poster who mentioned that the pharmacy checks that what you are taking does not conflict with anything else you are taking, do they have access to your health records to know this, because you may use multiple pharmacies, especially if you have a job etc and can't spend all day waiting at your local one, you may use another chemist near work.