prescription items out of stock

zaksmum

I have a repeat prescription for painkillers which I ordered last week and collected from my GP on Tuesday. I put it in the chemist and after waiting a while they said they only had 16 of my 200 prescribed tablets. They gave me the 16 and asked me to come back the next day.

I did, and again they said they had none in stock as the pack size they ordered was out of stock with the manufacturer. Asked me to return today, and yet again they don't have them in.

I'm going away tomorrow morning till Monday night, and therefore won't have enough painkillers. I only have the 16 and a few left over from my last prescription. I explained this to the pharmacist but she said there was nothing they can do. I asked if I give the 16 tablets back, can they give me the prescription back so I can go elsewhere, but they're not allowed to accept medication back from a customer other than for destruction.

They say the tablets will be in at noon tomorrow. So I'll have to leave much later than planned, or manage without enough painkillers till Tuesday.

Wouldn't you think there would've been something they could do? Good job they're not heart pills or something like that!!

McKneff

You could go back to the surgery and get some from the pharmacist there.

Are there any equivalent painkillers you could buy over the counter to tide you over.

But i have to agree with you, its atrocious service and i would mention it to the practice manager next time you go to the surgery

LemonGrove

I know your frustration, but my Pharmacy won't allow you to take part of a prescription so in the case that they don't have all my creams they return it and I go to the one down the road who always have it in. I'd always thought it was a legal thing that it had to be all or nothing.

Maybe I should go there everytime.

debsy42

Can't see it's anything to do with the surgery, they just give you the prescription for the medication, it's the pharmacy that's at fault here.

McKneff

Didnt mean it was the surgeries fault, i meant that if its a regualar occurence then the patients could be forewarned. Or the surgery could bring some pressure to bear regarding the stocks at the local pharmacy.

If the OP's prescription is an ongoing repeat, she could go back to the surgery and explain things, maybe get another prescription to go elswhere or indeed the pharmacy at the surgery.

malkie76

I agree that it's nothing to do with surgery.

I don't see the issue here - if one pharmacist is out of stock then visit another. Best bet is to visit a pharmacy within a hospital as they typically have greater stocks of everything.

If your local pharmacy is out of stock they should have the technology to tell you where it is in stock elsewhere.

If it's essential medication then I would have planned ahead and not left it until days before a trip to restock.

Again, if it's essential are you are unable to travel to a different pharmacy then organise yourself a medicine-buddy who'll travel to get your prescription in the event that you can't (either due to poor health or lack of transport)

Finally, any pharmacy will give you an emergency prescription for essential medications providing you tell them your doctors name and the address of your surgery (ie you could get a restock while away without a prescription, assuming the medication genuinely is essential).

debsy42

Back in the day when I worked in a surgery if the chemist next door wasn't able to supply an item they would sometimes ring us and ask if they could substitute an item. If the doctor agreed they would supply the alternative and send the original script back to us for authorising. The chemist was usually quite on the ball as they get their fees for dispensing the items so of course they want regular customers lol Methinks the chemist could be doing a lot more to help you with this problem. Another thing was that doctors had to be really careful about reissuing scripts especially if contained items such as painkillers as there was always the potential for misuse.

emmell

I have had this happen to me a number of times, I now show the prescription at the counter and ask them if they have enough stock before I pay.
ML.

zaksmum

malkie76 wrote: »

I agree that it's nothing to do with surgery.

I don't see the issue here - if one pharmacist is out of stock then visit another. Best bet is to visit a pharmacy within a hospital as they typically have greater stocks of everything.

If your local pharmacy is out of stock they should have the technology to tell you where it is in stock elsewhere.

If it's essential medication then I would have planned ahead and not left it until days before a trip to restock.

Again, if it's essential are you are unable to travel to a different pharmacy then organise yourself a medicine-buddy who'll travel to get your prescription in the event that you can't (either due to poor health or lack of transport)

Finally, any pharmacy will give you an emergency prescription for essential medications providing you tell them your doctors name and the address of your surgery (ie you could get a restock while away without a prescription, assuming the medication genuinely is essential).

It is essential medication but our surgery won't allow prescriptions to be issued till just before the last one runs out. And the issue is that I can't visit another pharmacy as the one I went to gave me 16 tablets THEN told me the rest were not in stock, and wouldn't then take the 16 tablets back and return my prescription...therefore I CAN'T go to another pharmacy as the first one has my prescription!!! I put the prescription in with plenty of time for it to be filled so it's not like I'm disorganised!

zaksmum

emmell wrote: »

I have had this happen to me a number of times, I now show the prescription at the counter and ask them if they have enough stock before I pay.
ML.

Emmel, that's a great idea, I'll do that in future.

System

none of my local pharmacys keep in stock my DD epilepsy medications so i always have to order ,however the new walk in clinic will collect /fill/deliver her meds all i have to do is put in the repeat at the docs and ring medx when its ready to collect.