To think my GPs repeat prescription service is rubbish?

[Greenginghamdress]

I have ordered repeat prescriptions every month for the last 18 months.
Every other month or so something goes wrong. I used to order online and days went by then I would call, for them to have no record of my request. It just fell into a black hole.
I now do paper requests, and allow a good week, which was fine last month but after giving in a request Wednesday afternoon the chemist have no request or medication for me as of today , so now I'm facing running out of what I need before the bank holiday weekend.
The chemist say to call the doctor and the doctors either seem to turn their phone to engaged or put you on hold for hours. What is the solution?
I can't say where I am as outing but my GP is the worst in my borough according to Google!. I don't know what to do? I should probably move doctors but that's for the long term.
I take antidepressants and the thought of being without them gives me terrible anxiety. I had to nip to the loos at work as felt like I was having a panic attack.

Extreme reaction but...it seems so unprofessional to me. I'm not having a pop at GPs or pharmacists at all, I'm sure they are very busy. I don't understand the problems that occur so regularly.

The pharmacy will be able to give you an advance so you are not without tablets, but they may make you wait until Sat as there is still time to receive an actual prescription.

Maybe re write the request and write “urgent” on it and, when you hand it in to reception tell them you prescription request from last week hasn’t been received by pharmacy and you are running out of meds and request that the Duty Dr send it (if it’s electronically sent to pharmacy) today so you can collect in time before the bank holiday.

It really shouldn’t be so difficult should it? I hope you can get sorted asap.

Some surgeries are resolutely stuck in the dark ages and I don’t understand why.

I have a lot of regular meds and request with usually a week to go. Invariably they’re ready at the pharmacy within 2 days.

They use Patient Access and it works very well at my surgery. I can also get same day appointments if needed and doctors phone back in agreed time windows.

Its ridiculous there are some surgeries that can’t make changes and modernise.

I've been using Pharmacy2U for around 2 years after my GP stopped doing electronic prescriptions (it used to be great - it'd get sent and filled at a local pharmacy). For some reason, during the pandemic that stopped. Only they didn't tell anyone (poster at the surgery...).

Anyway, I've found Pharmacy2U to be exactly what I need. It's free - I just pay the prescription charge - and when it comes to needing a repeat prescription, I get a text asking me if I want a repeat, I reply with Yes and my medication gets sent to me.

Mine were being useless recently my barch prescriptionwhich is normally for six months had been reduced to two months. Some if my medication is prescribed by the hospital and some by the GP. I rang and made a telephone appointment with the practice pharmacist who went through everything and sorted it out.

Just for future, most gp surgeries will literally only allow you to order when you only have 5-7 days left. So say you order 4 items, they will only do the ones they calculate you need within the next 5-7days, if they think you have for example 10days worth they reject those medications because you have ordered "too early".

I am a pharmacist and cannot tell you the amount of times I've had to try and explain to receptionists why people are ordering like this but they dont seem to get it.

My local chemist wouldn’t give me a few days of anti D’s when my prescription ran out.

l had to use 111

Our local surgery started to prepare prescriptions at a central location so you have to allow 7 days between handing in the prescription and it being ready. They have no notification when it was in, so it was common to call a couple of times before it came in, or we would forget to collect. We like to support local businesses usually, but this was annoying, and when lockdown started we switched to Pharmacy2you I avoid queuing up with possibly I'll people, and I must say it is brilliant. We order repeat prescriptions through the NHS app, they are usually approved the next day and delivered a couple of days later.

This isnt exactly true.
A pharmacy can give you a supply of a repeat prescription for a limited period of time but it's a private transaction, you have to pay for it and there are criteria that need to be met. Ie it must be a repeat prescription that you have had at least 3 times (and recently) and it is entirely dependent on the pharmacists judgement. If you go to the same chemist for it and they can see on screen it's a regular prescription they can give you some but it depends on the pharmacist and the medication.

I had this issue and it drove me mad. I switched to boots online and had no further problems, you request the prescription from boots website, they het approval from your GP then they post it to you. Surprisingly my surgery was competent at approving the request and I got it every time.

Ask to speak to your practice manager and log a complaint. I'd also choose a reliable pharmacy and not an overly busy one so avoid a health centre pharmacy. The truth is that both sectors are severely short staffed, it's very hard to recruit people for minimum wage or just above and then have them put up with staff shortages and the stress that brings as well as customer abuse. This leads to poor service and at the moment it is a never ending cycle.

It is wrong of a previous poster to suggest that the pharmacy will loan you some. You are not entitled to this medication from them without a legal and valid prescription. If strict criteria is met and the pharmacist agrees they may supply you with a few days but that really is up to their discretion. Quite often a concern is that the Gp may avoid issuing a prescription because a review is due but this information hasn't been filtered down to the patient, ie, short staffed reception hasn't phoned the patient to let them know so they turn up to the chemist looking for it. There is never a guarantee that you chemist will have the item in stock and a pharmacist is willing to make a supply. If the practice is open where I am based we must refer patients back to them to stop this from happening. If there was a dose change or drug change and the patient came to some harm this would fall on the pharmacist's shoulders for making the supply, hence if it isn't your regular pharmacist they may be reluctant to make the supply.

My GP surgery is linked with the NHS app so I can order a repeat prescription and request and keep track of appointments on there. It's so efficient and I haven't had any problems yet. I order in the app a week before my medication runs out and it's always approved by the GP and sent to the chemist the following day. So much better than my mum's surgery where she does paper requests and has to visit twice to drop off the request and then pick up the prescription.

I use systemonline, through my GP, for booking appointments and ordering meds. I have done so for 3 years, and it works perfectly. I order monthly (annoying that it's so frequent but they've explained why!), the order goes to an online supplier, my choice since lockdown, and is sent direct to home within a week, no need for signature. Pharmacist at GP surgery occasionally phones me to discuss my meds, which is excellent.

I do mine through Boots online, only pay the prescription charge and it gets delivered by post with no issues at all.

Our surgery will prescribe earlier if you put a note on about why - eg if you're due to go on holiday, or will be unable to get the pharmacy during the week. During the pandemic, I put "ordering early so I can collect at the same time as my husband's" and that seemed to be accepted.

I can sympathise. Mine are useless, it was over a week before the pharmacy contacted to say it was ready, then when I collected I had been prescribed some completely random unrelated medication, the surgery had obviously mixed me up with another patient. I then had to contact 111 for an emergency prescription as it was the weekend and I had run out of my medication!

Just to clarify, prescriptions ordered via online service such as P2U or Boots still have to go via the surgery to be signed off. It’s no different to putting a request in directly to the surgery. The only difference is how efficient the pharmacy is once they’ve got the prescription in turning the prescription around.

Our surgery allow you to put in a request to align all medications so they can prescribe together in future.
Our chemist also offer a service so that they will automatically request your medication for you when it's due but only if it's on repeat prescription.
I'm diabetic but for some reason they have only put my Metformin on repeat, my BP med and all the insulin and paraphernalia are not so o can only order when needed.

You can get emergency medication through 111 to see you through until Tuesday. I'm on medication pick ups every 2 days and always have problems