Just told by my practice today that HRT is no longer going to be refilled automatically with regular meds but has to be requested each month !

[AlwaysinaFlap]

Was advised of this today. The reasons given were for them to" monitor it and review it regularly". I really wish there was a decent reason for this - my NHS experience of this is a telling off each time and asked when I will come off it. Got this twice in the same of 3 months last year.

How does your practice dispense HRT ?

@AlwaysinaFlap

Was advised of this today. The reasons given were for them to" monitor it and review it regularly". I really wish there was a decent reason for this - my NHS experience of this is a telling off each time and asked when I will come off it. Got this twice in the same of 3 months last year.

How does your practice dispense HRT ?

I get six months at a time....I give them a BP reading and they fulfil my prescription. I do I have to request it though

I'm fairly new to it but getting three months prescriptions at a time. I am surprised at the very different experiences women are having trying to access HRT.

That seems like overkill and a waste of NHS time when they are under a lot of pressure. Also seems to be based on outdated understanding if you have guessed correctly and it's a way of trying to get you off it!

Aargh that would drive me nuts, it's not appropriate. Any chance you could ask them to refer you to gynae/menopause clinic, if they think it's so bad for you surely someone more expert should weigh in? What are their reasons?

I get all my meds on a repeat prescription so I place an order online via LloydsDirect, but something has changed because I'm sure there used to be what Lloyds are calling a batch prescription and now it seems like they have to contact the surgery for a scrip every time I place an order. It leads to a lot of back and forth between the surgery and the pharmacy and delays that the pharmacy blames on the gp and the gp blames on the pharmacy.

Apropos of nothing I had a conversation with a physio (pain clinic appointment about my back that turned out to be completely useless) and I said I had asked to try hrt to see if my back pain (which is joint pain in my spine) might be improved and he railed about how hrt is 'addictive' and causes osteoporosis (!!!). By the end of the convo (during which I think he was googling furiously) he had walked it back a bit and the letter he sent to my gp was unexpectedly contrite, he wrote something to the effect that he had commented hastily on something that wasn't his area of expertise. It has taken me years to get hrt (duty gp made the referral as no one in the surgery would take action) and I feel really bruised about the whole experience. So for what it's worth I feel cross for you!

Will you have to pay a prescription charge each time? This all seems very unnecessary.

@LiveFromNewYork

Will you have to pay a prescription charge each time? This all seems very unnecessary.

No I won't as I am over 60. The other odd thing is that they are asking you to order it by handwriting it on your repeat medications when there is a facility online to do this - what are they going to do? Ignore an online request - will have to try it out.

The other odd thing about this practice is that for most people eg my H they only issue one month's worth of any med and he was told that they do this as they get money per prescription. I somehow got to carry on my usual two months prescription when I moved here from another doctor. I need to investigate this as well.

I have to order by phone each month. I'm only given 8 patches at a time.

I now have to re-order every month, but I can usually do it online.

It used to be a two-month supply but the GP practice tried to stop the prescription altogether about 6 months ago. Some bollox about it 'causing' breast cancer etc that dated back to that gobshite misinterpreted report that's since been discredited.

After an awkward consultation, the prescription was renewed but only for one month at a time. Given I have had my ovaries removed, I'm not sure where the oestrogen is supposed to spring back from if not from HRT. In fact getting HRT was one of the things I was promised when I agreed to a BSO TH in the first place.

This all makes me feel quite snippy.

It's a HUGE waste of NHS time and money. I can strangely get 3 months and sometimes 6 months of HRT, but only one month at a time of thyroid medication. My prescription hasn't changed for years and it is a lifelong condition for which all prescriptions are free.
No wonder the NHS is underfunded when they waste resources like this.

Seems very odd! We had a short problem this month as one particular HRT med was unavailable citywide so we were offering short amounts of an alternative. I can't imagine why they'd be doing it permanently, it makes more work for the practice! I'd ask for the reason behind it.

I am awaiting a reply .

I get my prescriptions for 6 months at a time. Pre pandemic I had to make an appointment each time and have my blood pressure reading taken, but I guess that my surgery are now so swamped that they're just automatically issuing a prescription when I book it online.

I’ve noticed this with other meds too only get 30 days worth so every 25 days having mess around ordering and picking things up. Right pain in butt when you have a med order each week. Can’t see how giving few months at time is any harm surely half the work

I got 6 months after I gave them a BP