GP error - advice please?

[LittlleMy]

(Posted here for traffic)

So I had antibiotics prescribed by my GP and for some unknown reason, my allergy wasn’t considered and so not long after, I reacted to it in the form of an itchy rash and swelling. 111 made an emergency appointment and my GP prescribed me a different type.

When I went to collect the new one, my Pharmacy charged me again. I asked as it wasn’t my fault for being prescribed the wrong one, couldn’t they consider the new one a free of charge replacement? But was told no and that it is not linked per se to the NHS and is a separate business. They couldn’t give it without charge as otherwise it would come out of their profits. The Pharmacist himself didn’t have a clue what I should do to get a refund.

Has anyone had any experience of this and could advise me whether a procedure to claim a refund in such circumstances exists?

Thanks in advance.

I think in this situation you need to contact your gp,
explain what’s happened and ask their next steps for having the prescription charge refunded to you.

Are you able to make a complaint to the GP at being prescribed antibiotics that you are allergic to? I assume that would trigger an internal investigation to find out if they were at fault. Then take it from there? It would be their responsibility rather than the pharmacist, who are just supplying the prescription they’ve been given.

First rasie with the GP practise that your allergies are flagged on the system at GP practise.
Sometimes penicillin allergies get overlooked. If you always use same pharmacy you can ask for a note to be put on their system about your allergy too

As above, contact the Practice Manager, file a formal complaint as they should have picked up on your allergy. Dd is allergic to penicillin and has an anaphylaxis reaction. There is a big red banner that flashes across the top of the screen when the gp goes into it.

Mind saying that I do know locums especially dont look at them because they once tried to give it to her and then kicked me off the practice lists for arguing with him the senior GP that it was their responsibility ronchecknwhat they were prescibing was safe and pointing out he should probably go to the opticians if he couldn't see the banner in front of him when I could see it 2m away

I would definitely contact your GP and find out what went wrong. But I think you need to take some responsibility for this yourself also. Why didn't you question the prescription? Why did you take a drug you are allergic to?

In fairness it is not always clear what drugs antibiotics have in them just from the name.

For example amoxicillin has penicillin in, erythromycin does even though they sound similar when pronounced.

They all say what's in them on the box and/or in the patient information leaflet. If you know you have an allergy then surely you'd check? (GP and pharmacist should have checked too of course.)

Thanks everyone for your advice. I have taken note and rung my GP and been told to call back tomorrow to speak to the Practice Manager direct so I will update here later re the outcome in case anyone else has an interest/suffers a similar financial loss through no fault of their own.

NB @selkieselkie, when you’re feeling poorly sometimes you’re not firing on all cylinders and you trust the GP has done their due diligence as the professional in charge. Also, I did check the antibiotic when I got home and it said ‘Doxycycline’. I’m allergic to Oxytetracycline and so maybe it was me being a bit thick but I assumed it was a different type. 111 later told me yes it’s different but as it belongs to the same family (-cycline) then it shouldn’t have been prescribed. I’ve learnt my lesson though and going forward will just always proactively question myself.

@LittlleMy I wonder why they haven't logged your allergy? That's quite concerning . I had a reaction to an antibiotic and this now pops up in red on my GP's computer screen if I'm in for an appointment.

@CurbsideProphet ive had that allergy for almost 20 years and the other GP this morning also didn’t know why. I noted his actual words were “I don’t know why X missed it”. Also 111 confirmed it’s there and sometimes the practice asks me outright when I visit (I imagine to keep their record updated). So it’s definitely on my records.

111 weren’t impressed especially as I live alone and if my throat had swelled/experienced severe breathing difficulties then it could have been a lot worse and said they would raise this as a concern on my notes when they go over. But anyway, I guess it’s just a reminder to trust no one and just make sure you question everything anyway!

GP’s are just becoming more useless with every example. Last time I took my dd, they sent her away with a ‘viral’ infection. I took her to my private Gp the next day as she was on AL the day before. My dd had a raging infection which needed antibiotics. Almost everyone I speak to has a similar story

Prescription charges are a health board thing.
Look up how you’d get a pre payment certificate in your area and contact them.

You can of course complain but I can only imagine that the first thing they will say to you is why haven’t you read the patient information leaflet that’s inside the box 🤷🏼‍♀️

My DH was misdiagnosed over the phone with gastritis when in fact he had a chest infection which then went untreated for several weeks while he was dutifully taking the gaviscon and ameprozol the GP prescribed. He ended up spending 3 weeks in hospital with pneumonia, pleurisy, having multiple i/v antibiotics and a chest drain. He narrowly avoided having surgery to remove all the infection around his lungs. Honestly, I don't know if GPs are just snowed under or have got so used to phone appointments that they're just not bothering any more 😩 Glad that you're ok now OP and hope you get the money back. Very scary that you were put in this position by your GP.

The fee isn't paid to the GP - the fee covers the cost of dispensing the drug and the drug itself - so you can't get money back from the GP as you didn't pay the GP anything. Errors will happen and you definitely should flag this up, but the best you'll get is an apology.

Sorry to read of your bad experience and glad you were able to get a second opinion quickly. I hope your DD recovered well and is okay now.

Thank you for your comment. I explain this further up the thread.

This is what I was going to say. The prescription charge goes to the pharmacy, and the NHS pays the rest of the cost of the drug above and beyond the prescription charge. You've basically bought something (at a subsidised cost) at the pharmacy that is only accessible with a prescription. It turned out to be no good for you, but you paid and they provided the items, so as far as I can see there's nothing to refund here.

Oh my goodness that truly is medical negligence. How frightening that it escalated with all those issues due to that misdiagnosis. I’m surprised the GP was content to not want a in person appointment to ensure he was correct in his diagnosis via a physical exam. Telephone appointments have their place but it’s not good is it if it’s causing GPs to become overly confident that they can diagnose without seeing. Especially as many people aren’t very articulate in explaining their symptoms and seeing the person physically can lead to a GP picking up things more in context so they make a diagnosis more holistically as it were. Sounds like your poor DH went through a lot.

Thank you for your kind words and yes I’m doing much better. I hope your DH is doing well now also.

OP - about 2 years ago I collected my regular prescription from the pharmacy, paid for it and went home.

When I opened it the next day it was an entirely different medication meant for someone else. I spoke first to the pharmacy but they were adamant this was the one my surgery had sent over, so I spoke to the surgery who acknowledged it was their error. They sent the correct one to the pharmacy which I had to pay for, but the surgery gave me a refund of the first payment.

I agree you shouldn’t have to pay for your surgery’s mistake so speak to them and hopefully it be as straightforward for you as it was for me.

You need to take this up with the practice manager at the GPs surgery.

That would have prevented the OP having an allergic reaction but by the time she got the PIL to read she would have already paid the charge?

Just for clarity, erythromycin is definitely not a penicillin (it’s a macrolide antib).

Thank you, this is very promising to hear and I’m glad you were rightfully refunded.

£20 for essentially one lot of useable medication is what the GPs error has cost me and it’s honestly money I can’t as a single person particularly afford to lose.

You have a point there - I retract.

Judging by this MSE forum (albeit from a good few years back), it’s not a thing. Suppose they can say ‘it’s affordable enough so that they can have margins for error’

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/693943/can-we-get-refunds-on-prescriptions-when-gp-prescribes-the-wrong-thing/p2