89 year old patient with COPD, run out of medication!

[Chicchicchicchiclana]

Hello, can anyone tell me how worried I should be about this? My Mum has very severe COPD (diagnosed 6 years ago) but manages quite well on her prescribed medication. She lives on her own takes care of herself, still cooks, and can go out for a 20 minute walk with her stroller, doesn't have any outside care etc. Just to put you in the picture.

But she has run out of one of her inhalers. The prescription has been with the pharmacist for days but they keep saying they don't have it in stock, they are waiting for a delivery etc. This morning the pharmacist told her on the phone that "it might be a manufacturing holdup".

She has ordinary blue inhalers as a back up and a steroid inhaler too now. But this dry powder one - how long can she go without it? If I get on to the GP what can they do? This is a small local branch of Boots who aren't providing her with the prescription, would they automatically go to their larger in-town branch or surrounding branches?

I'm not sure how urgent this is! But I feel I ought to be doing something to help her.

No idea how urgent it is re COPD, but could you ring round other Pharmacies and see if any have it in stock and if so ask the GP to issue and emergency prescription (explain the situation to them). As far as I understand the current pharmacy are unable to give you back the prescription once they’ve registered it so you would need a new one issued.

I would ring gp and see if they can email another prescription to a bigger pharmacy - sounds stressful!

PS the current pharmacy would have to confirm to the GP that the prescription had not been filled

I'd ask for her prescription back if its a paper one, and go to an independant pharmacy. I know I've been in our local independant and someones come in saying Boots can't get a medication and say its not available, and they have it on the shelf or will get it delivered that afternoon. Apparently they can't get it from other stores, and as they are tied to Boots supply chain, they are subject to more delays

Just ask her chemists to give her back the prescription & take it to another chemists.

Either try anither pharmacy if there is one or cobract her copd nurse and ask if they can get one from the hospital for her. Is it Seretide.

Either ask for the prescription to be forwarded to a larger pharmacy or failing this check which CCG the surgery falls under and call the medicines management team. They usually know which medications are out of stock and what's happening with supply. I called them when it was so hard to get hold of HRT and they were super helpful.

Do you know the name of the inhaler

Prescription back and use another pharmacist. I've recently had the pharmacist print out a digital prescription when they couldn't get some meds in so I could go elsewhere.

Lots of meds are having shortages for a multitude of reasons, google the name to find out if this is the case.

Definitely ring round. I had this with an epipen for my son. Our local chemist couldn’t seem to get one and was very evasive about when they might be in stock, but the chemist in the next Village was great.

The trouble with phoning the GP is that they never answer the phone! You can be 30th in the queue and she loses patience with it. Would they even speak to me if I rang on her behalf?

We would give another script so the item can be obtained elsewhere and the original pharmacy needs to issue an IOU so she can get it when it is back in stock with them.

To a pp who asked, it is Ultibro Breezhaler.

The pharmacist should be aware if there is a supply problem so it can't be obtained anywhere in which case your mum needs an alternative.

Or issue the script back so she can obtain it elsewhere.

As a start I'd ring round some other pharmacies to see if they have it/can get it. If you have success then get the script back and take it elsewhere.

On your mum not being able to get through to the surgery - is she registered on line and are you registered at the surgery to be able to speak on her behalf?

My DM can't use the internet for toffee but being registered online with the GP has been v useful as I use the 'email your GP service' for her which works for 99% of what she needs. And I'm registered there as being able to share her info so I can call up for her as I don't get fed up by being number 425 in the queue.

It's impirtant that your mum has it. It's the maintenance medicine. She will have to let the Gp know. She may need to call around to find a pharmacy stocking it. If it's not available she will need some kind of alternative.