… to think that my prescription should be waiting for me to collect?

[MereDintofPandiculation]

AIBU to think that a prescription passed by the GP to the pharmacy nearly a week ago should be ready for me to collect? Instead, I was told it would be ready in 20 minutes, and, when I returned, it was missing an item. Because I’ve been given pert of the prescription, I’m told I can’t seek out the missing item from another pharmacy. DH has had missing items on his last two prescriptions.

Is this just how it is nowadays, or should I move to a different pharmacy?

As walk ins are usually people coming from out of hours/weekend emergency doctors. So it's usually antibiotics etc. The acute are probably classed as the kind of medication your husband needs and on the system it will say acute so we know to prioritise them. Eg epilepsy medication. Insulin. Adhd morphine... unfortunately there are only so many hours in the day so Mrs bloggs who has regular paracetamol or e45 creams has to be further down the priority as although its very important she gets her meds they are probably not keeping her alive like the meds maybe your husband needs. People ask why don't we order stuff we know will be used...yes we do. most "fast line" will be automatically re ordered when we dispense but its harder to automatically order every medicine in due to both having a place to store it and cost. We can't pre order just incase Mr blogs comes back next month as he may go elsewhere or have the medication changed. Some of the medication can be in the 100s and it all has to be accounted for and if its wasted then the budget for things like staff have to be cut so it becomes a cycle. We try our best to order certain brands rather than generic for regulars when they request them but if they are out of stock the supplier will send the brands they have and that is totally out of our control. Certain suppliers are limiting orders to so many boxes. But with the backlog we then have to use the ones that do come in for patients that have been owed them from previous prescriptions so yet again the backlog doesn't get cleared and the new prescription can't be dispensed. I fully understand the frustration. It upsets me that people are worrying they can't get medication they need. It is not easy to see an upset patient hand us a prescription that we can't fulfil.when they say they have been to 5 other places that say the same I wish I could do more.

My nearest pharmacy was like that, I think if I collected my prescription 12 times in the year it was ready twice. They flick through trays and trays of prescriptions before eventually getting my medication together. I swapped to an independent pharmacy that I pass on my way home from work and they’re fabulous. Always ready, know who I am, delivered during covid. You should find another chemist.

@MyKitchenRules

Thank you.

It can be stressful as they only give out a month at a time - used to be 3 months - won't allow an early repeat without an argument, and as he has to adjust the amount he takes if he's ill or under a lot of stress a months supply doesn't always last a month.

It's not easy and can be stressful for the patient. Though the amount given out each time will be down to the GP. Pharmacist can only dispense what is on the prescription. Hope your DH is OK

Yanbu, but seems to be how it is now in many places (Lloyds!). They don’t make them up until you go in, the sending direct function seems a bit of a waste of time.

I’ve switched to Boots and they’re better at having it ready (regulars) but there are still some missing items which they don’t order until you collect.