Pharmacists

[1mabon]

Five weeks ago I asked the pharmacist about a spot on my face, He told me it was nothing to worry about. At the time of writing, I am in recovery after having a wedge cut from my lower lip and chin as the spot was cancerous. Never will I visit a pharmacist for advice instead of thinking I would be wasting my GP's time.

how did they respond when you fed back the findings?

Pharmacist cant do a GP's job.
Unfortunately there arent enough GP's and so pharmacists are being lumbered with more and more to do.

Apparently they are going to be given more responsibility on prescribing antibiotics for minor illnesses. That's the way healthcare is now headed.

Not sure a pharmacist is able to give that kind of opinion anyway - what training have they had in inspecting a mole or mark?

Some of them are brilliant, know their stuff and will help direct you to the right OTC treatment or right medical person for treatment.

Some of them are idiots who just want to get you out the door like the locum near me who questioned whether I really needed antidepressants when I was suicidal and another locum who tried to tell me that I didn't need pholcodine linctus for my cough because the Lemsip cough mixture he wanted to sell me was more effective. It was basically a sugar mixture with no active ingredients.

So the usual caveats apply - they are not all bad and not all great, so I do a lot of my own research before I ask them for things.

They were also great when I had a UTI during Covid lockdowns and couldn't get through to my GP - I was home with the antibiotic medication within an hour of calling them.

They are great professionals,.they are great at their jobs, unfortunately they are being made to do jobs they arent qualified for.

Loads of pharmacies are shutting shop because of costs meds always put of stock- again not their fault but the government. and the government think they're going to be the saviours of primary care. They are just stoking expectations.

Demand will escalate,.patients will complain when the unrealistic demands arent met. It isnt their fault.

And sorry to the OP. Hope everything turns out ok.

To be fair that's not the type of thing one would go to a pharmacist for? It doesn't really come under everyday type illnesses. What he should have said was for you to get it checked out. You obviously then went to a doctor and got referred, and had swift treatment. I hope you are doing OK, and that all will be well.

The "pharmacy first" model nearly orphaned my children. It wasn't "just a virus", it was sepsis.
I would suggest the solution of making the gp profession more attractive so that we have enough in the light of this experience.

Whenever I've gone to a pharmacy for advice they always refer me to the GP. I find them unhelpful and unwilling to commit themselves to making a decision.

Incorrect advice given by a pharmacist last year to a relative. Ended up on antibiotics for an infection. I won't use them.

Well you must have thought it was something to worry about because you got it seen to if in doubt always go to your gp.

That's the model the current government are aiming for Pharmacist First

Well, Mrs.Jayy, don't be so judgemental, I was in the pharmacy collecting a prescription, I thought it was a spot that hadn't burst as it had a yellow head just asked for a bit of advice that's all. I do hope this never happens to you.

Don't worry, we are leaving the profession in droves and soon you won't have the option.

When I went to collect my last prescription from my local pharmacy the queue was out the door and the wait was about 30 minutes for a prescription that had been ordered online, prepared and packaged a few days previously.
They are desperately overworked and I honestly don't think shoving the GP workload onto them is fair or safe.
Flu vaccinations, medication reviews and dispensing is fine.
Diagnosing is not IMO.

We need more GPs, better training and working conditions.
I met up with some retired GP friends/colleagues yesterday and they were saying that there is a trend for newly qualified GPs to go straight off to Canada/Australia, for example, and who can blame them.
We need more walk in centres with clinical nurse specialists, phlebotomy and Xray facilities.
A CNS in a walk in centre saved my cousin's life. He wouldn't be here if he had to get a GP appointment.

I absolutely do not agree with this ridiculous proposal of training receptionists to do triage. Triage is potentially the life and death decision.

I trust pharmacists to put labels on boxes of tablets.
That's it.
They are not qualified to do anything else.
They're always making out they know so much but they're not doctors.

I wasn't being judgemental ,I was just saying you didn't trust their judgement and went to the Dr .

@Rowthe the thing is it's not their skill set. It's very worrying. They are very good at their own profession, why ask them to do someone's else's as well, rather than fix the issue at source.
I had to go in yesterday for a device to be fitted. Ina shop full of customers my needs were discussed at top volume and I was then sent to the gp anyway. At best it was undignified at worst it was a breach of confidentiality.

@TheShellBeach That's simply not true. Pharmacists are highly trained medical professionals. A degree in pharmacology is one of the most difficult degrees to complete. They do not just "stick labels on boxes"

Well, they're not a substitute for a doctor or a nurse practitioner.
They can't refer patients to hospital consultants or social workers or anything useful like that.
I find them to be very arrogant and up their own arses.
Useless, unless you need a label stuck on a box of pills.

@TheShellBeach They're not arrogant or up their own arses. They're incredibly busy and have a lot of responsibility!
Of course they're not a substitute for a Dr or a Nurse...they aren't Drs or Nurses!
If anyone is arrogant and up their own arse, it's you!

Because it's not something they're trained to do.
Nobody should be asking an unqualified person for medical advice

@TheShellBeach unqualified?! So the 4 years integrated masters degree and registration with a professional body still makes pharmacists unqualified? The MPharm degree is much more than sticking labels on boxes ...

You do know that pharmacists don’t put boxes on labels don’t you? The level of responsibility pharmacists have is huge and when it comes to medication their knowledge far out ways that of a doctor.

Pharmacists dont put labels on boxes....the over worked and under paid dispeners do.....for the even more overworked underpaid pharmacist to clinically and accuracy check the medication. Anyway, pharmacists are leaving community pharmacy in the bucket loads so the next issue you will have is that you cant access a local pharmacy 😊

A lot of gp surgeries in our areas now employ clinical and prescribing pharmacists. They are experts on drugs, and are skilled in medication reviews etc.

I'm married to a pharmacist and he is burnt out.

His job sounds awful.

The expectations are off the scale. I'm an HCP and I had no idea the level of responsibility pharmacists had until I married him.

I am sorry for what happened you OP. Very scary.