To expect my elderly dad's surgery to offer non-digital options?

[CaringForMyElderlyDad]

I care for my 89-year old dad. Alongside many other responsibilities, I help him to manage his medication by putting his tablets into dosset boxes.

When he is running out of something, I ask him to call the surgery to request his repeat prescriptions. I write down what he needs and when he needs it by, along with the number for the surgery. Then I check that he has made the call.

I probably could order it from the surgery directly, but until now, it has been something that my dad has been able to do for himself. And as that list of things is gradually diminishing, I feel that it is important for him to be able to do it.

However, he rang today to request some tablets that were running out, and they instructed him that the only way he can now order a repeat prescription is online. Which of course he couldn't do, because he is 89 and struggling with the consequences of cognitive decline.

Obviously, I can do it for him so it isn't an issue, but what if I couldn't? Surely it isn't reasonable to expect all elderly people to be able to access digital options?

To be honest, I don't really understand why he needs to order the repeat prescriptions at all. The GP surgery knows what he takes and how often he takes it, and it should be easy enough to figure out when he will be needing another batch. But I accept that he does have to order it, and that's fair enough. I cannot accept, though, that he should have to navigate his way around an unfamiliar online system simply in order to get what he needs?

I am a GP and I totally agree.
The only thing I would say is that when people are reading out lust medication and someone at other end phone transcribing and then doctor writing script there is more room for error as the request goes through so many people.
Your Dad is lucky to have you.

I agree. My dad's 88 and his surgery do accept calls to reorder medication . He gets medication delivered by the pharmacy.

I do agree Op. We went through similar with MIL. She didn’t use internet as she had been scammed several times and was terrified of it.

Latterly she had dosset (sp?) boxes , delivered, so the pharmacy took over the refills automatically.

If your Dad is not going to be able to order online, perhaps suggest that the surgery instigate this, so it’s one less thing for you to do.

@LunaTheCat thanks for that. I do understand that there is an increased risk doing it over the phone, so I get why they would encourage the online option. But sometimes it just isn't accessible. And surely with it being a repeat prescription, the risk is pretty low?

My elderly neighbour had this. She has no family that help. I was happy to help but she understandably wanted to be independent and why should she share her medical details with me if she did not want to.

She made a Drs appointment each and every time she needed a repeat prescription. She calmly explained each time that she had no other way.

She has arthritis so difficult to type, failing eyesight etc. What did they expect?!

They now allow phone calls on a “case by case” basis.

YANBU.

My parents local pharmacy order their repeat prescriptions on set day every month and deliver it to them. Perhaps there is pharmacy ner you would do the same?

I think its disgusting. I work in the NHS and see more and more elderly people totally isolated and marginalised because they can't manage IT especially online banking and the rest. My next door neighbour is 96 and she cant manage even a simple mobile.
It makes me concerned for my own future Im 64 and live alone. Most of my relatives live abroad. I may not be able to keep up as I get older.

That’s a very worrying matter, God love him.
Having you is brilliant, but it all exposes how elderly people are disenfranchised from a lot of day to day, basic stuff these days. I can scarcely believe it’s even legal, within NHS healthcare. (I’m in Ireland)

It’s astonishing that the surgery hasn’t in place a system linked with his pharmacy, whereby a long (6m +) scrip is emailed to them by his GP, and all he need do is telephone at the correct time, to order the next month’s pills.
(My doc has been doing this for ages, and I’m a mere 70)
Ideally, it’d be a year’s supply on file like this, but I expect his GP requires a checkup consultation at least once a year.
If that were so, it would still mean she could send a 6-month scrip twice a year, (which is my setup). He’d ring the pharmacist every month, et voilà.

But in the broader scene, I hope there is much muttering around in GB, about this absurd requirement for emailed contact with the surgery.
Elder care needs exquisite sensitivity about hurdles and barriers like that, and it ought to start with GPs’ surgery staff/ admin systems.
(It’s wild too, because my own crowd very definitely prefer the telephone to receiving emails from patients.)

Thanks. The pharmacy do already deliver but they require us to order via the GP surgery first.

With my elderly dad when his memory worsened - he had dosette boxes that were prepared by local pharmacy... Worked well..

He /we didn't have to request them... Every 4 or so weeks we had a call/I received text to say the trays were ready for collection.

We did have to fill an initial form at the pharmacy to indicate he needed it as obvs preparing the trays are pretty labour intensive!

I came on to say similar
I had an elderly relative who had blister packs delivered. I may be wrong but I don't remember him ordering them. He was housebound with carers several times a day

Does he not get a paper copy of a repeat to put into the surgery?

GPs have no way to manage every single patients repeats, it would be insane to expect them to keep tabs on every patient and issue prescriptions based on dates. That is the issue we have in pharmacy that people expect GPs or pharmacy to know when they're running out.

There are serial prescriptions where the pharmacy have a system to issue regular meds without needing to order. GP can set that up.

No, it's awful. Some people are literally worrying about dying because of it/ I know for a fact that if we hadn't stepped in to help relatives, they wouldn't have got their appointments. Not everyone has a decent son/daughter to help them (and obviously some people don't have kids, or have kids physically unable to help them).
And since they introduced the digital system, the surgery has been awful even for those of us brought up with tech and who use IT at work. Fewer appointments. Takes much longer to book one. Cancellations without a new appointment offered-in the past, they'd phone if they ever needed to cancel, and get you booked in again asap.

Although I agree you maybe have a couple of options:

1. see if the pharmacy will handle repeats for you
2. get the login for the nhs app for your dad on your phone. I do '2' as I also sort dossette boxes for my DF and using the app makes it a doddle.

Also get your dad to sign a letter for surgery giving them permission to talk to you.

I agree. I also work in the NHS and I’ll never forget the elderly patient I had seen who was in tears because they kept getting sent texts with links to appointment letters relating to their cancer treatment, that they couldn’t access as they didn’t have a smart phone and didn’t know how to work one. They were terrified they’d miss appointments as physical letters weren’t being sent, and having to deal with all that while coping with cancer was horrendous.

Ask the practice for its accessibility protocol. Your father should be able to access things independently. Had to ask that question for my father and miraculously they were able to accommodate him.

64? You have grown with technology around you are not 94.

you absolutely have responsibility to keep up with modern life

I can't believe that it's beyond the wit of a decent computer system to keep track of who needs what. But I can accept that this isn't possible.

I believe he might be able to take a paper slip into the GP surgery still, but he has limited mobility and he has had to give up his car. Plus I work when the surgery is open so it isn't really feasible.

It isn't really a problem for me to order them for him online. I just don't think it's reasonable to expect an 89 year old to do this digitally.

Thank you, that's a good tip.

You can add him to.your NHS app with his permission and you can manage his account. You can do repeat prescriptions, see a list of medicines on there.

My mum had a weekly blister pack delivered. It was made up by the pharmacy and and changes were made by the surgery directly to the pharmacy. It was divided into days plus morning .afternoon and evening doses.

Oh, interesting! I didn't know I could add him to mine... that would be very useful.

I agree. I do my dad’s meds too but I now just do a repeat order online via NHS app. I’ve just added him to my app and it was relatively easy. But yes, my dad no longer gets letters from the hospital about appointments either, it’s all just uploaded to the app. If he didn’t have me checking everything, he’d not be able to manage.

And physical disability? As people age their eyesight can deteriorate, they become less dextrous (typing, handling mobiles or tablets) and can have general cognitive decline.

I think younger people can underestimate the impact of ageing on things like being able to keep up these sort of skills and how much more difficult it makes it.

Technology is advancing faster each day at the moment. If you are out of the work place it does not matter how up to date you kept, things will change.

I am a hospital consultant, had a 86 year old in my clinic today.
He could not order his medication from his GP and didn’t take the prescription since his last appointment.Luckily he had come very early to the clinic and I am always in the clinic early, we had time to ring his GP surgery and I managed to speak to someone who is not a receptionist and she ordered it online for him! Bonkers!