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.

Took 2 mins for you...but not for the GP. Glad you got it sorted and totally understand why in a vulnerable state you wanted to go with what you know.

But for many women the pharmacist will be able to give them a prescription for antibiotics. They will be able to talk about it over the phone or in a consulting room just like their GP and the pharmacist can access their records just like a GP.

Rubbish to hear it not working for some. Working well here.

Exactly this too.

I'm with you op. Our pharmacy can't cope with current demands let alone folk pitching up with samples. Long queues, staff waffing on for hours. It is chaos.

I refused when my gp practice said to go to the chemist and took my sample to the Dr's. Its was processed as usual.

I'm all for chemists for cough meds and paracetamol but not for submitting urine samples and discussing in a packed waiting area.

This has been my experience too, I find the 'ask your pharmacist' adverts almost as annoying as the 'don't wait, see your GP' ones, neither is a viable option ime.

You have my sympathies and I hope you get something soon to relieve your symptoms. It is horrible.

I had it recurrently years ago and antiobiotics never cleared it properly. I took concentrated cranberry tablets from Holland & Barrett for a period of time and have never had cystits again. Would recommend you take this supplement for a while to see if this helps.

Hope you feel better soon.

It is an initiative to allow pharmacy's to give prescriptions for minor, uncomplicated ailments to certain groups of people. Pharmacists can only give you a 3 day prescription for Trimethoprim, which is the first line treatment for a UTI. If the OP knows that this antibiotic doesn't work then she isn't BU to expect her GP to prescribe the one that is known to work. A Pharmacist can't just look up her record or take her word for it and supply any antibiotic.

If you have recurring cystitis that you find hard to treat it’s utterly crap that you found it so hard to get past the receptionist. I was in hospital once with a UTI. Hope you feel better soon OP.

Absolutely this!!!! You can guarantee if men were prone to cystitis there is no way they’d discuss symptoms in the single packed hometown pharmacy used by all their neighbours.

Easing the burden on GPs?? Have you been in a pharmacy lately? They are the most disorganised chaotic places to sadly have to visit. Someone needs to ease the burden on them. Or give them training on time management and organisational skills.

YANBU

I had this exact conversation with a Drs receptionist. I then went to 4 pharmacy’s. Couldn’t get treatment at any for different reasons. The prescribing member of staff not in, short staffed, computers down, they were administering Covid vaccines so didn’t have the capacity. I ended up doing an online consultation with boots and getting some antibiotic that way (at twice the price of a standard prescription) . Unfortunately for me I went on to have more than 4 that year do have no choice now but to see a dr or nurse at a walk in centre as I can’t use a pharmacy service anymore but I probably wouldn’t try to be honest (unless online again). I ended that day much more poorly than I started it.

Maybe doesn't need saying but will have taken the gp more than 2 mins, to record all that and do the prescription etc
i'm afraid the government thinks this scheme with pharmacists will make up for all the gps that have left/retired/gone part time because they are so overwhelmed, but as here HMG didn't really check it' what the public want and made an assumption that you can tell what the easy work is

Yes it's one extreme to another isn't it. It must be frustrating when folk want to see a gp for a runny nose or an eczema patch without trying the chemist but urine samples?? It is so utterly inappropriate to present a sample at the pharmacy counter.

The more of us who refuse the more they'll go back to getting HCAs to dip them at the Dr's. People do realise it isn't the actual GP who dips the wee don't they?

I suffer from reoccurring UTIs and ended up in hospital with uro-sepsis because my GP was adamant I didn't have an infection and when I finally got antibiotics, the infection was resistant to them and he only gave me a short 3 day course when I should've had 7. I was so ill, I completely freak out now at the first sign of a UTI

Exactly!!!

They'll have people getting BPs checked in rammed pharmacy waiting rooms next.

Just say no. Let the HCA at the practice do samples and checks as they've always managed to do so far.

I completely respect a pharmacist's training and expertise in their area, but I have to admit the potential for lack of differential diagnosis does worry me. The way things are phrased on the NHS website..."if you think you have x, your pharmacist can prescribe y". I might think I have x, but if I'm wrong, will the pharmacist be able to pick this up or could the correct diagnosis be missed?

Twice I've taken my son to the pharmacist as suggested on the NHS website - once with an ear problem, once with a rash. Both times I received what turned out to the the wrong advice/medication and we ended up at the GP days later anyway.

But we self diagnose all the time, don't we? I've got a cold, I've got a fever. OP knew she had cystitis.

But nothing to stop you going to see the pharmacist and tell them your symptoms. No need to self-diagnose.

Equally most people tell the receptionist their symptoms and then they can refer to the correct service. Then the tests and examination happens whether with the pharmacist, the ANP, the physician associate, dermatologist, physio.

I love being able to for example going straight to see the physio, rather than first having to wait to see a GP and then waiting to see a physio.

I do think we are in the beginning stages of this new way of working so there will be lots of teething troubles. But ultimately it means more of us can get seen and treated by a HCP.

The trouble is with the best will in the world we have a massive spike in elderly people needing health care and much as you may feel seeing a GP on demand is a right, there aren't enough for everyone to see one whenever they may want.

So they need to sort out GP numbers then. Most of us rarely see a GP f2f as it is. There are already issues with that.

Cough meds? Any pharmacist will tell you there is no efficacy to cough meds!

I've also done those things in privacy at the pharmacy.

I was all for this scheme, don’t need an appointment and you walk out with what you need. Except it basically relies on the patient knowing what’s wrong. My dm ended up in hospital after seeing a pharmacist, paramedic and physicians assistant over the course of 2 months with seemingly unrelated symptoms. When she got a blood test after seeing a prescribing nurse who put it all together she was straight to hospital. She didn’t know to join up these symptoms and none of them asked any follow up.

A pharmacist can do this.

I understand you are upset. You were not being offered someone inferior, but decided you knew best; try looking up training for pharmacists! They are not just retailers, what you have failed to take on board, is that pharmacists actually have more training and experience in medication than GPs. If you don't like your particular pharmacy, then go to another.

Hmm which begs the question why do they flog them then.

Ok, I'm all for pharmacists dishing out pain meds and ear/eye drops. But really, not for processing bodily fluids.

Maybe they'll branch out and do a quick scope in the consultation room too.

Why tf are pharmacists going along with this shit, is there a massive financial Incentive?

It's interesting because so many people complain about not being able to see their GP when they need to. I always see my GP same day. Ours was one of the first to have a big MDT at the surgery. And because everyone at our surgery are now happy and used to seeing different HCPs, we can see a GP straight away using within an hour or 2 of phoning.

Pharmacies can now advise and prescribe, ask to talk in a private room if needed.