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AIBU?

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Original poster

Aibu to think pharmacy assistants shouldn treat your prescription as private?

30 replies

moonNback · 07/04/2025 22:23

My GP sends my prescriptions to a small local pharmacy near my home. When I go in to collect it, the pharmacy assistant sometimes reads the prescription aloud to verify that it is what I was expecting. She does this even if there is a queue of people, and she does it to others too, so people can hear what medications others are collecting. Aibu to think she should treat this information as private and be more discrete?

OP posts:
BadSkiingMum · 08/04/2025 06:45

I can see that some form of checking is needed, as I once had a prescription mis-labelled. The mild apply-as-needed medicine had received the label for the active, apply-in-limited-amounts medicine. I took it back and pointed out that this was quite a dangerous error and the pharmacist was suddenly very creepy and ingratiating towards me, whereas she had been a bit ‘off’ before - I was a student at the time. I guess because she was worried about a complaint.

But on the other hand I had a breach of confidentiality by a GP receptionist which completely broke my privacy and had quite a serious impact on my family relationships. That I should have complained about! So I would err on the side of confidentiality.

DeathNote11 · 08/04/2025 06:47

DIRECTDORIS · 08/04/2025 00:57

this was years ago but i got someone fired for that

i was giving clomid for the first time(fertility tablets for those that don't know)
doctors could prescribe them then, now its the hospital only

i live in a small Welsh village in the valleys of s Wales (think like what you see in films)

we were well known as we were the "alternative" family and a family member worked in the only fish shop for years

small village chemist, she saw the script and said loudly oh having trouble catching are we? clomid should do it
i wasn't amused at the time but didn't think anything of it

there was only 1 old lady there
this was 10am ish by 3pm outside the school gates so many strangers came up to me and said hope your tablets work soon

(wasn't even picking up my son, we home educate so not a member of the school was just accompanying a friend)

i asked the first how does she know and she said June heard at the chemist, told the baby group, (which is a church group in the hall) how wrong it is to interfere with gods way(laughable as im a atheist) and it spread from there with in hours

i did confront June(someone told me she's at the church ) and had a go and as the paster was there he heard it all

days later a knock on the door, the paster with a major apology saying June is no longer running the group

but the one who started it was the chemist lady so i complained officially as she was not using professional confidentiality
and she got suspended and finally fired as it came out she was telling everyone who was on what medication and i was the last straw as chemist heard about what June did

clomid took 4 years to work in the end, in that time period i had so many ask had it worked yet which was annoying when your going though fertility treatment that's not working

then when baby did come we made the local papers front page as the biggest baby bornin the area in years
he was 11lb11oz 29 inches(natural delivery as well)

we are still here and even now we are the alternative family and im known for june-gate even though june died
and son(hes 14 and 6ft 2 already)is known for the giant baby

What an awful thing to go through. I have childhood memories of the street gossip going door to door spreading 'news'. Her friend was a cleaner at the local GP & she used to read people's notes (back in the days of paper). This went on for years & caused upset for a lot of people, but nothing was ever done about it.

Serpentstooth · 08/04/2025 06:56

YANBU. I collected a prescription for a popular and frequently abused drug from my local Boots. 'Hey, serpent, here's your lorazepam' bawled the assistant as I stood next to the queue of junkies queuing for their daily methadone. Heads swivelled. I expect better.

RenegadeMister · 08/04/2025 07:40

murasaki · 07/04/2025 22:29

They definitely should be more discreet. I've never forgotten going in for the morning after pill, only to have a woman with a voice like a foghorn repeat it back to the whole shop.

I was my twenties and married and still felt absolutely mortified.

Similar happened to me a few weeks ago. I quietly asked to go in the consultation room to discuss MAP and she started having the full conversation/consultation in the middle of the pharmacy. Didn't close the door to the back room when she finally took the hint I wanted some privacy either so all the staff could hear.
I'm not easily embarrassed but there's something a bit vulnerable about medical settings anyway, plus when you feel like you've fucked up, I felt humiliated.

sorrynotathome · 08/04/2025 07:42

HebeMumsnet · 07/04/2025 22:47

Just to let everyone know, we've edited the title now.

Edited it so that it still looks like "shouldn't"??!!

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