Boots withdrawing dossette box service

[Itsnotallaboutmoney]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61881272.amp

Name changed for this as I really don’t mind it ending up in the Daily Fail for once.

I seriously cannot believe what Boots are planning. For those of us who have elderly parents (particularly with memory issues) who we are trying to persuade to allow help in the home (to no avail) this is a kick in the teeth. Whilst I understand it’s probably time-consuming etc to fill the boxes, the sheer danger of missed tablets, overdosing or the wrong combination as a duty of care from a profession surely outweighs the cost-saving element of providing this service. My in-laws both currently have memory issues and without this service, the lady who comes in to help each day would not have a clue as to what they have taken each day. My own parents at-home care service will not distribute any meds not in a pharmacy-filled dossette box. So where do the elderly and vulnerable go from here?

This morning I couldn’t imagine anything getting me more wound up than having to book a hotel stay in order for my child to get to a public examination today.. but here we are. I sincerely hope Boots have not tried to sneak this in on a day when everyone is watching the rail strike hoping no one has noticed 😡

I've asked til I'm blue in the face as has my Care Co. Nothing has been offered.

And who is going to fill these boxes for them? If someone can't manage the bottles etc, they can't fill the boxes.

Not everyone will have someone who can do it for them.

@PurpleButterflyWings we are all aware that these boxes exist. The distribution of meds from these DIY boxes is NOT permitted by the care agencies in many case funded by Local authorities (a cost of which in the case of my relatives is payable on top of care allowances and is ££££) and Who fills the DIY boxes? A dementia patient? Someone with arthritis who cannot open the packets or fill the fiddly boxes?

A strange thing to get wound up about? I hope to God you don’t find yourself in the position of having to worry about these things.

This is what we're talking about! Boots (and other pharmacies) refuse to give me blister packs - it is not just a case of asking!

Ok, thank you, I will give that a go.

That's a very good point, too.

Doesn’t surprise me, Boots have been cunts for years. Remember the “We’re keeping the price of the morning after pill artificially high to dissuade women from using it” shitshow?

Yes this.

I wasn’t talking to a boots person a while back. They don’t get paid to deliver this.

Get off your high horse and don't ASSUME that I and people close to me 'don't have to worry about these things.' What an ignorant remark! You know fuck-all about me and my life, so button it.

THIS is 99p from Poundstretcher.

www.poundstretcher.co.uk/7-day-travel-pill-box

6 or 7 people I know use them, each little compartment holds 5 or 6 tablets (which is as much as many other dossette boxes,) and several people I know have arthritis and can easily open the little 'doors.'

There are LOADS of boxes like this available all over the place. Getting wound up about ONE STORE not stocking them anymore is ludicrous.

As I said, get off your high horse and stop assuming ANYTHING about me!

In fact the little compartments could probably hold up to 10 or 11 tablets! Just the people I know use up to 6 or 7!

I make up dossette boxes for an independent pharmacy. It is very time consuming and takes up most of my working week, as the pharmacist has to check the drugs and make sure I've done it properly in order to ensure a safe and legal supply.
Sometimes we will do a patient's trays up, only for the doctor to make a change of medication then we have to start all over again.
Or patient's family will call to say the carers have misplaced the packs, and then we have to source a new prescription and do it all again.
A lot of pharmacies have cut down on the service locally, I've taken on a few more of these patients that are elderly, housebound or vulnerable in other ways but I'm nearly at capacity.

Yet another nightmare around care in the home - my mother’s carers wouldn’t do meds without a box - and they won’t do them if I’ve poked around in them either - can’t blame them as it would be their responsibility if anything went wrong. I will be happy to pay but not sure how that works - they normally fetch them as well as part of overall package.
The results of squeeze on resources hit in all sorts of ways, most people won’t even know about many of them such as, but together they culminate in reduced quality of living for many people in different walks of life 😞

I never liked those dosset boxes for my Dad as his medication (18-20 pills a day) would often get tweaked and it was then a nightmare to try to identify the pill to remove or add them. I bought these (two in case I went away) and used to dispense them myself. But it's not very helpful if you can't get there to do it every week.

Anabox Weekly Pill Organiser - Rainbow amzn.eu/d/7MAEYKx

@PurpleButterflyWings I think you've missed the point. Yes, people with arthritis, etc, can "easily open the little doors" on a dossette box, but they can't get all their meds out of the genetic blister packs in order to put them in the dosette box in the first place!

Or they have caters who come to do a medication prompt for someone with cognitive issues who aren't allowed to dispense meds, only prompt the patient to take them, which they can't if they're in 20 different boxes rather than a blister pack.

@PurpleButterflyWings and when the person who requires the meds needs them administered 4x a day by a professional career and because they are not in a pharmacy issued box signed off as being filled correctly by a pharmacist cannot get them overseen by the care agency? What are you proposing then? Do you actually understand the issue here? It’s not pound shop boxes are not available to buy at Boots 🙄

i’m not on a high horse. I’m on an actual horse. As I said, unless you are faced with the realities of the withdrawal of this service you really, really don’t understand most of the valid points being made by many on this thread.

@PurpleButterflyWings I use one of these for my own pills, however I have the mental and physical ability to organise my own medication. Not everyone does, which is the point I think you're missing.

Thank you, that's very kind.

Things like the box in your link aren’t what boots are now limiting, what you’ve posted is not a dosette box. A dosette box comes preloaded with a weeks medication, it also has the medical details in the lid/cover, so not only can carers administer medication, the pack can be also be used if a person is taken in to hospital as the prescription for each drug is available.

My husband has arthrogryposis, he cannot open pill boxes with doors, sliders or little switches, without a dosette box he is unable to take medication without the assistance of another adult when the dose is needed.

No. And what if you don't have a carer?

Try reading the thread! Poundland and Wilko's do not provide a blister pack service as they are not pharmacies!

🙄
At this stage i dont need to assume anything about you.

And you have made it clear that you understand why the blister packs are so important.

I do understand that, but surely if pharmacists do it for goodwill, the NHS would leave them to it. To then just stop this service is going to leave a hell of a lot of patients in trouble. Shouldn't pharmacists have some kind of responsibility to the elderly and vulnerable people who rely on blister packs?

You are quite right OP, some people aren't interested if it doesn't affect them.

Wtf?!

Oh my lord! Read the thread!