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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

A pharmacy one. This can't be right can it?

59 replies

IncognitoMam · 03/10/2023 14:20

Dh went to the GP and was prescribed anti bs and an inhaler. He went to the local pharmacy and they said there was a prescription for me too and gave him it. We both pay.
Y issue isn't really with me, dh knows I have this medication. But some people might not want their dh knowing surely?

AIBU or is this not unusual?

OP posts:
Roystonv · 03/10/2023 14:50

I wrote at length on the thread Why do you Complain and this is one reason why; next time it might really matter that they have disclosed this and once they ignore the rules for this what else might they get wrong in future

Mumofteenandtween · 03/10/2023 14:55

Yes - that’s really bad.

Doormatnomore · 03/10/2023 14:55

Also this assumes you only share an address with your spouse, what about families with grown up children?

it doesn’t matter if you should share all you medical info with your spouse, you might not want to and you are entitled to keep your medical information private. When I worked in a dentist we had this drummed home when someone left a message on an answering machine ro say dentures were ready to be picked up and the spouse hadn’t known.

Original poster
IncognitoMam · 03/10/2023 15:38

Very balanced voting.

OP posts:
bigshort · 03/10/2023 15:39

Also this assumes you only share an address with your spouse, what about families with grown up children?

What about flatmates? What about seperated couples who stay in the same home (more common than you would think these days)?

Canibearsed · 03/10/2023 15:45

We collect each others meds from our pharmacy and I have never given it any thought. Meds are in sealed down individual bags . I used to collect my sons meds for him if he couldn’t get to the pharmacy.

Marblessolveeverything · 03/10/2023 15:59

Very concerning - medical information has very strict GDPR requirements. They really stuffed that one up.

That could put a lot of women in danger of abusive partners - I would log a complaint.

Ponderingwindow · 03/10/2023 16:06

Did you not just sign a form at some point putting your husband on your account? That is what DH and I did so our accounts are linked. It would drive me crazy if we couldn’t pick up one another’s prescriptions given how often we each have to go to the pharmacy.

bigshort · 03/10/2023 16:09

Canibearsed · 03/10/2023 15:45

We collect each others meds from our pharmacy and I have never given it any thought. Meds are in sealed down individual bags . I used to collect my sons meds for him if he couldn’t get to the pharmacy.

Presumably you asked for their prescreptions though, they didn't just randomly hand them to you?

Oooooooooooo1 · 03/10/2023 16:16

I agree with you @IncognitoMam , he didn't ask for them.They supplied the information which is confidential

Noseyoldcow · 03/10/2023 16:19

Whilst I see the points about GDPR and abusive relationships, my pharmacy allows us to collect each others prescriptions, it would be a PITA if not. Come to think of it though, you do have to ask as in they don't volunteer to just hand you the other persons prescription, and they often ask also how many items or what is it, so I suppose they're kind of covering themselves that way.

ActDottie · 03/10/2023 16:28

Wouldn’t bother me but I can see why some people wouldn’t want this happening.

Juliet55 · 03/10/2023 16:38

I went to the pharmacy with my dh the other day. I was stood behind him in the queue when the shop assistant announced in a loud voice that he would get free prescriptions soon because he was about to turn 60. Everyone in the queue heard. He wasn't bothered but I would have been if it was me she had been talking about.

lanthanum · 03/10/2023 16:44

Jules912 · 03/10/2023 14:41

I had the opposite once. I sent DH to collect my prescription as I was too ill to do so (hence needing it urgently) and they wouldn't give it to him until he called me and I said it was ok. So on that basis I'd say no they shouldn't.

Interesting. At our pharmacy, if you know the name and address of the person you are collecting for, that's enough. I once collected a prescription for someone I'd never met - the entire family was down with covid and she asked if anyone could pick it up adn drop it round. I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd wanted to call her to check.

However I totally agree that the pharmacy should not initiate you picking up someone else's prescription. My DH didn't tell me he was going one time, so didn't know he could have collected mine at the same time, but that's my problem.

CharlotteBog · 03/10/2023 16:54

I was a volunteer collector of prescriptions for our village's isolating residents during the pandemic. We absolutely had to make sure they had signed the form to allow someone else to collect their meds.
The pharmacist would check I knew their full name, address and DOB.

I would have been livid if the pharmacy within our surgery handed over my meds to my then husband.

Sayitaintso33 · 03/10/2023 17:04

Can't really say without more context. What was the medication. Does your Dh routinely collect your prescriptions. Did the pharmacist know that your DH knew about your medication. How 'dangerous' is the medication. How 'important' in the medication.

I suspect it is against GDPR, but I have a low opinion of GDPR. Privacy is important but many of the GDPR rules are silly.

bigshort · 03/10/2023 17:09

Sayitaintso33 · 03/10/2023 17:04

Can't really say without more context. What was the medication. Does your Dh routinely collect your prescriptions. Did the pharmacist know that your DH knew about your medication. How 'dangerous' is the medication. How 'important' in the medication.

I suspect it is against GDPR, but I have a low opinion of GDPR. Privacy is important but many of the GDPR rules are silly.

None of that is relevant. The pharmacist can't decide, this is important or dangerous medication (or not) so I'll randomly offer it to a relation of the person it was for, who may or may not know anything about it.

Wexone · 03/10/2023 17:18

For our pharmacist we have to sign a form allowing certain people to collect prescription. I have my husband and mother in law. my mother in law has my husband and me. they wouldn't give it to my mother in laws daughter one day as she wasn't on the list

Neilsfavouritechilli · 03/10/2023 17:25

I can see that in some cases it amounts to a breach of privacy (and could potentially have serious consequences for the person with the prescription), however it makes my life so much easier, I can collect all of my family's regular prescriptions in one trip and then drop them round (elderly relatives)

Neilsfavouritechilli · 03/10/2023 17:27

On saying that, I use the village pharmacy so the staff know all of us well and that we share all of medical history with each other. I imagine they'd exercise more discretion if they didn't know families and their set ups.

bigshort · 03/10/2023 17:29

Neilsfavouritechilli · 03/10/2023 17:25

I can see that in some cases it amounts to a breach of privacy (and could potentially have serious consequences for the person with the prescription), however it makes my life so much easier, I can collect all of my family's regular prescriptions in one trip and then drop them round (elderly relatives)

I'm not sure why so many people are struggling to see the difference between these two things:

Collecting a prescription for someone else. They've told you its there and asked you to get it it (they have to have done this, or else how would you know to ask for it?).

AND

Someone who has the same address as you is just given your prescription, without having asked for it, not knowing that you had one to pick up.

GadgetArms · 03/10/2023 17:55

We used to have a consent form too for the prescription collection service, one of the questions was something like: 'do you consent to a nominated third party e.g spouse collecting the prescription on your behalf?'

Any chance you may have signed this in the past OP?

Either way I would never give meds that weren't asked for and you have every right to complain.

Neilsfavouritechilli · 03/10/2023 20:34

@bigshort I haven't struggled to see the difference at all. I just expressed a point of view that for me, alone, I'm glad that my pharmacist is happy to give me prescriptions for the family I live with and those who I need to deliver to (without me asking for them). I'm not suggesting that the OP doesn't have a valid point (although it's moot as it isn't an issue for her either)

Lougle · 03/10/2023 20:58

I often give my surname and a couple of forenames to collect. A member of staff says I've got one here for "Michael" too. I have to point out that he is my brother in law and has a different address. It shouldn't happen.

Original poster
IncognitoMam · 03/10/2023 23:07

Lougle · 03/10/2023 20:58

I often give my surname and a couple of forenames to collect. A member of staff says I've got one here for "Michael" too. I have to point out that he is my brother in law and has a different address. It shouldn't happen.

😳 That's shocking

OP posts: