Prescriptions

[Stellaris22]

Apologies if I'm repeating posts.

I understand pharmacies are going to be suffering as much as anyone else right now, and was wondering what typical prescription request times are now.

I ordered medicine two weeks ago (online) and it normally takes 1-2 days to be ready for collection. I really don't want to hassle the pharmacy under a stressful time, but I am also getting low on my inhalers and getting worried.

How long is it taking for others to get prescriptions? It's still showing online as 'outstanding request'.

When I phoned mine into the chemist they told me to give it 1 week before its ready

It's very dependent on the supplier - most repeat prescriptions are still available in 48 hours but some products are in short supply. Boots here is encouraging people to phone to check rather than going into branch and have a member of staff on phone consults

Is it the GP system saying outstanding or the pharmacy?
It may be the delay is the GP not the pharmacy
If you're due a review the GP might be setting time aside to call you just contact who has the delay and explain you're running low

I allowed an extra day and they made it up while I was waiting. I suspect the backlog includes many who are requesting early so they are not racing to make them up.

It's the GP surgery as it's all the same system, use it to make appointments online but also order repeat prescriptions that go to the pharmacy.

Will call the pharmacy, thanks!

Is it just an inhaler? If so it may be one of those that is temporarily out of stock. My pharmacy is back to normal with waiting times so I would assume most others are now?

Is there a list of inhalers that are in low supplies?

It's not a ventolin but a type that means I'm on the vulnerable list, if I don't take it daily then I get bad very quickly. It's why I ordered early to avoid running low (not stockpiling).

I would have thought it should be ready by now. We were inundated with prescriptions 2 weeks ago. Instead of spending 2-3 hours a day on them it was taking about 8 hours to do the acute prescriptions.
Then there was a delay at the pharmacy so over a week in total. But 2 weeks should be ready.

My brown inhaler is one of those that seems to be in short supply. I've got 1 day (well tonight and tomorrow mornings puffs) left of it. My drs warned us about waits at both ends so I ordered as soon as my repeat came up. Drs actually didnt delay in issuing it but still no brown inhaler available. It's frustrating as hell because my gps will not let me order until a set date, which is a week before it should run out and they won't budge on it. I can understand normally but atm given there's a known issue to allow for delay and coverage it would be handier to have an extra few days grace. Doesn't help that our designated pharmacy has a habit of charging you before telling you they can't fully fulfil a prescription but because they can part fulfil it then it's tough meaning you get stuck waiting for them. Meanwhile my neighbour uses a different pharmacy and got the same brown inhaler with no having to wait. Note to self, swap pharmacies in future.

i’ve been ordering my repeats online as usual and luckily no delays. there’s 5 working days waiting period and the pharmacy has been bang on time.

i will say that i don’t recommend pharmacy2u. i registered out of vague interest but then ordered through my GP portal asking for meds to go to usual Boots pharmacy. the request was hijacked by pharmacy2u and there was then a 14 day wait due to volume of prescriptions. luckily my surgery agreed to re-issue the scripts and Boots were prompt as usual.

when i signed up for pharmacy2u it said in order to use them, my meds would need to be logged on their system, confirmed and only then requested on their site. i did not do this, but they intercepted the request and fucked it all up.

now switched back to Boots and all is going swimmingly as usual.

(just my experience, your mileage may vary)

DH put one in a week past Friday and never had a text to say it was ready but he asked on Wednesday and it was there. The date on the pharmacy label is last friday so it must have been done that day. That was for cocodamol. I put one in on Tuesday last week for my migraine meds (dihydrocodeine and zolmitriptan) and had a text later that day to say it was ready! In my experience, if it's been ordered online from the Dr and still not showing as processed, it means I'm due a medication review.

What item is it you are waiting for OP? There are a few things that have been unavailable recently.
Any normal prescription should really only be taking maybe a day longer than usual to process.

Feeling silly now!

It is ready for collection (rang up) it's just the portal hasn't been updated. I was just more worried about calling when they may have been busy.

Thanks for the replies :)

I put in an online request for mine and it took about 6 days until the chemists texted me to say it was ready. That's not much longer than normal tbh, maybe an extra day or so.