Being told to go the pharmacy for cystitis by doctor receptionist

[Musica7474]

I have cystitis. I’ve had it before and had different anti biotic for it- sometimes 2 as it has been resistant to treat.

Ive left it to try and sort it self out for a few days by doing all the right things. It hasn’t.

Receptionist told me pharmacies now deal with cystitis and will advise me. I don’t need advice and I don’t want to be talking about my wee and symptoms in a packed pharmacy.

The receptionist made me feel awful for not wanting to go to the pharmacy and insisting on a doctor’s call( I’d have been happy with a prescription being left at the desk and no call just a gp looking at my records to check which anti biotic is best for me). She said I could have a call this time.🤔

Cystis can be really unpleasant and not great if not treated . Anti biotic are expensive and it’s not great to take several, I don’t think women should be made to feel like shit for wanting treatment for it and a gp to look at her records.

The NHS app should have all your previous medication listed. You can show this to the pharmacist.

The pharmacist should be able to look.

You don't need to talk to anyone to buy the sachets.

Tesco even sell their own brand off the shelf. (cheaper than Cysteme or whatever they're called and same ingredients).

The sachets wont treat an already established infection also, obviously.

In my case pints and pints of water and 3/4 sachets a day 'flushing it out' do bugger all. I go straight to a lot of blood in the urine with the onset of other symptoms and i need my ABs. Thank god these last few years i've had it less often. And thank god my GP is fine to do a 20 second phone call and prescribe the right one for me.

<touches wood>

I sympathise re: queues too. Who wants to be the person requesting the pharmacist leave what they're doing to come to the private consultation room and discuss an infection, when the staff are clearly rammed with work and the queue is already snaking halfway across Tesco?

@UndertheCedartree i would hope so. In case our GP starts this.

I assumed the receptionist would have signposted her to a pharmacy within the scheme.

Both the ones up the road from me do this now which is very handy for certain things.

Just to be clear for those that don't know these pharmacists can't prescribe but they can give out prescriptions for certain things for certain patient groups.

I think YAB a bit U, can’t you at least try the pharmacist first? You might be pleasantly surprised.

I didn’t think the sachets actually treated the infection though, don’t they just dilute your urine so that the symptoms lesson and then your body can pass the urine to flush out the bacteria? If it’s a genuine infection you do need antibiotics.

@Soontobe60 that's reassuring.

If there's no blood in urine then the pharmacy will treat you far quicker as they can prescribe antibiotics

I'd love to say I'm surprised that people aren't aware pharmacists do these things. But i'm not. Everyone thinks doctors need to do everything. When in reality there is very little they do, that other professionals in general practice can't for the day to day normal things.

Pharmacists as a rule are a million times better for understanding what drugs work for what. Its litterally their job! Yabu not to at least try the pharmacy first. Phone them. Many actually let you book appointments now. You should really have details of your previous treatment if its specific. Can you access your records online?

Also I REALLY hope you didn't insist on it being a GP. What a waste of their time. A nurse practitioner or paramedic (gp's employ them) can solve it simply also.

I'm sure there's an app which allows the prescription - maybe boots? yabu it's something easily prescribed by the pharmacist.

Sorry, OP. I know how miserable UTIs can be but pharmacies being able to treat these things is crucial for freeing up time and space for GPS, and I don’t think you should be an exception unless you have an exceptional reason. You can explain to the pharmacist regarding what antibiotics have been effective in the past.

If you fall within the group the pharmacist can give a prescription for it would mean cutting out the middle man, basically!

I thought the antibiotic you needed depended on what was causing the cystitis. When I’ve had it (admittedly not for a decade) the GP has always take a urine sample for testing to check the antibiotic would work.

Once I got a letter about 8 days later telling me I needed a different antibiotic than the first one prescribed and giving me prescription (unfortunately it was two days after I’d feinted in the kitchen from the spreading infection and gone to A&E who caught the issue).

Also, can’t the pharmacist look up what you’ve been previously prescribed anyway? I thought they had access to your NHS record?

But even if I’m right about the above, YANBU to not want a consultation in a queue in a pharmacy. That’s totally inadequate.

GP just rung and was really helpful. Looked up all the previous ABs I’d had, told me which one I was growing resistant to and sent a prescription over. Told me to ring Monday if not shifting. I feel really grim

Took 2 mins.

Happy to use pharmacy for many things but not cystitis. It can be horrible if you’re prone to it and can lead to kidney infections. It also involves personal detail. I don’t think women should be made to feel precious and that they’re using their gp unnecessarily when they have it if they feel they need gp advice.

Same! I've tried three times for three issues they said they don't prescribe antibiotics for asthmatics with a chest infection go to your Dr I said that's over 100 miles away so? Was the response call 111 we did they sent us to you....blank stare

Second time we don't help people under 16 call 111 they sent it to you

Tried another chemist that time he said I'm not sure call your Dr at 2pm on a Friday that's not going to go well 🙄

Antibiotic is one word!
Yes, sadly that is my contribution. Except that many AHps/pharmacists/nurses have developed their practice by attending and passing a prescribing course. And @Musica7474 , if a pharmacist, who has trained for 7 years, can't prescribe the correct antibiotic, then who can? They will see what Abs you have previously tried and which have not worked, and know which ones do work.
Get a grip

Have taken a grip thanks. Haven’t rushed to the gp in the first instance but tried all the things you should. I now feel quite ill with it. Wanted advice based on my history and got it.

This happened to me. I have recurrent cystitis, have been on prophylactic six-month courses of antibiotics twice, have seen a urologist twice. I know from experience that a three day course will not clear it up, and that I need to get to it early or it will hang around for ages.

I had an outbreak and I too was told to go to the (on site) pharmacist. I told the receptionist the pharmacist wouldn't be able to deal with it. They told me to go anyway. The pharmacist was away and I was told to come back the next day. When I came back the pharmacist, as expected, said I would need a GP appointment (after a lot of explanations from me as to why a three day prescription would not cut it, and me producing a letter from the urologist). The receptionist then said there were no appointments that day and I would need to come in for a third day, or ring up at 8am (this never works) to book an appointment. I ended up crying with frustration, saying I couldn't sleep from the pain, and magically an appointment with a nurse became available.

I understand GPs are busy and there are some routine things that can be passed to nurses, and pharmacists. But not every UTI is a "take antibiotics for three days and it will be fine". When you have a history, you should not be palmed off on a pharmacist, but try explaining that to the individual parts of the chain.

This is a very sensible way of easing the burden on GPs and pharmacists haven't just been on a 2 week training course they are highly skilled professionals! Many have been shouting about their underused expertise for years and welcome this move. Mind you, GPs can't win whatever they do so not surprised people react this way

I had this and just told reception the pharmacy can't treat me
I'm immunocompromised and need a min of 5 days antibiotics for a UTI which the pharmacy won't do

Yes yes to this. I’ve been in a few times and been sent to the gp, once for conjunctivitis!! It just elongates things and makes conditions worse. I work full time , have restricted time for calls and can’t be trailing between pharmacy and the GP. With cystitis at the level it is I absolutely don’t want to leave it over the weekend.

I had a bad flare up and I had to do a urine test last time at Christmas. I didn't see GP directly but had anti biotics prescribed and handed in sample

What interests me here is that the patient has to self diagnose, then a receptionist confirms the diagnosis and makes the referral.

No tests, no examination.

This seems to be normalising the removal of services that we have always had a right to (and pay for) and convincing us that we never needed those services in the first place.

You need a diagnosis with a check on the bacteria to be sure you get the right antibiotic. A pharmacist can’t do this and can’t prescribe antibiotics. Insist on your right to a medical appointment. The receptionist is not your medical doctor.