Boots refusing to sell canesten to men! Wtf!

[Stressedgiraffe]

Dh went to boots to buy canesten today and the sales person refused to sell it to him as he was a man! Apparently the pharmacist stepped in and he bought it.
Wtf? Surely men can get thrush or could have been buying it for someone else. It's bonkers
Apparently she said it was a boots policy!

Best thread ever. Thank you @Stressedgiraffe

Came for the gender outrage.
Stayed for the millipede.

Okay, so explain why I can buy anything I want online, without the usual Pharmacy Third Degree/ No You Can't Have It Because We're Pharmacists, So Piss Off. Which is what everyone on this thread hears from an actual shop.
We're able to buy stuff online though.

It's a nonsense.

Because you are buying online where unlicensed sales are harder to prosecute, especially if the seller is based overseas.

If you buy stuff online from a CQC-registered online pharmacy like Dr Fox, you have to fill in a form that asks all the third degree.

Basically, you can buy pharmacist-only medications online from dodgy unqualified and unregulated sellers in the same way that you can buy heroin from a a drug dealer with no questions asked but have to be in hospital in enormous pain (e.g. childbirth) to get a prescription for clinical-grade heroin (a.k.a. diamorphine). The only reason why you aren't at legal risk doing the former is because pharmacy-only medication isn't illegal to possess without a prescription, whereas heroin is. You face all the other risks that a heroin buyer faces, including counterfeit or tampered with product and no diligence on the part of the seller to make sure that the product won't harm you.

The pharmacist giving you the third degree or refusing the sale is to protect you from harm and the pharmacist from prosecution, loss of licence, and loss of job. Don't blame pharmacists for the regulations they work under.

Am I the only one who doesn’t really give a shot about the chemist business but just wants to hear more about Dave? And Princess.

*shit.

You are not alone!

Actually, I feel a bit guilty for stealing Dave's limelight by sharing my views on pharmacists on the thread.

Sorry, Dave. Hope your leg gets better soon.

Afternoon everyone - we've had a lot of nominations for Classics for this gem of a thread...it's certainly got legs

We're going to move it over now and we really hope that Dave the Millipede is feeling a bit better now, @Stressedgiraffe - please do give him a foot massage from us!

Watching it walk its way over to the other board. Well done, Dave.

Yay for the Thread of Dave!

I don't understand how pharmacists could lose their licence over a sale where they performed their duties by asking and advising but the person lied.

Surely if investigated and it's established that the only thing the pharmacist is guilty of is not being psychic (to know if the medication is truly for the person or not, or what they're really going to do with it despite saying the right thing), the pharmacist wouldn't lose their license.

I did promise not to mention pharmacists again on this thread, but honestly - nothing they say and do makes sense.
Rules and regulations, yet you can buy anything online...........

That's not the fault of individual pharmacists though is it? It doesn't make one a wanker for sticking to the rules, even if the rules seem silly. They don't really have a choice 🤷🏻‍♀️

As I explained already, buying medication online from a regulated pharmacy will get you asked the exact same questions as in real life, but as a web form.

If you buy from an unregulated website, you are putting your health at risk. You don't have any assurance that the medication is even genuine. You could be sent something that is counterfeit, tampered with, or not what you ordered.

So do pharmacists in shops analyze everything that comes in as stock?
Just in case the manufacturer has made a mistake?

The manufacturing, wholesaling and supply of medicines is heavily regulated. Pharmacists have to ensure that they purchase medicines from within the regulated supply. If they purchase and supply unlicensed medicines (still from within that regulated supply) they are taking personal responsibility for the quality of that medicine.

Counterfeit and falsified medicines are a big problem.

The rules aren’t silly. The legal classification of medicines is under constant review with medicines that are safe for the public (with even less understanding than some posters on here) to buy moving from prescription (POM) to pharmacy only (P, like Dave’s Canesten) to General Sale (GSL) that you can buy on a petrol forecourt.

I agree they aren't silly @WiseUpJanetWeiss but I was making the point that even if @TheShellBeach thinks they seem silly, it's not the fault of individual pharmacists that they have to follow rules and regulations.

He / she seems to think the pharmacists are all / mostly wankers for doing so, but they don't have a choice as their hands are completely tied by the legalities, rules and regulations they agree to work within.

Well yes.
Unless they sell medicines online.....

Do you really think all pharmacists working in bricks and mortar pharmacies are jobsworth wankers?

Or can you acknowledge they are just working within the rules and regulations they legally have to in such bricks and mortar pharmacies?

You seem so annoyed with them doing their job but they aren't legally allowed to ignore those rules and regulations.

The same goes for many jobs.

Pharmacists selling medicines online are obliged to follow exactly the same legal and professional processes as if they sell to you face to face.

There are of course illegal sites out there, and a few unscrupulous pharmacists (until the MHRA or GPhC catch up with them). But more fool you if you buy from one of those.

Yes! Classics!! Wahooo

Pharmacists selling medicines online are obliged to follow exactly the same legal and professional processes as if they sell to you face to face

Okay - so why are there completely different goalposts?

Like being able to buy 2% clotrimazole? Or cyclizine, which is not an OTC preparation.

@TheShellBeach cyclizine is an otc med, it’s got a P classification.