Charged twice for one prescription due to doctor error. What are my rights?

garyfern

Hello everyone.
My doctor recently prescribed me a 10-day course of antibiotics. 

I picked up the medication from the pharmacy, paid £9 for the prescription, and when I got home, I realised that I had only been given HALF the amount of tablets I needed. I should have been given 80 pills, however, the pharmacy only gave me 40.

So I rang the pharmacy. They said that it was the doctor's fault - my GP had accidentally prescribed 40 pills instead of 80 - enough for only 5 days. So I rang my GP, and they confirmed it was indeed the doctor's error. So they sent another prescription for the other 40 tablets to my pharmacy.

When I went to pick up my tablets, I was told I had to pay another £9 for the prescription. I said this can't be right - I've already paid for a 10-day course of meds, received only enough for 5 days, now I have to pay again for the other 5 days?

The pharmacy said "there's nothing we can do, as it's a separate prescription you have to pay for it, it's the doctor's fault not ours". Completely understandable.

 So I went to the GP surgery and they basically said "Sorry, there's nothing we can do, you're just going to have to pay twice, and you can't get a refund".

This seems ridiculous to me. Why should I have to pay a total of £18.00 for ONE course of antibiotics?? I understand that the pharmacy can't do anything since it wasn't their mistake, but in my opinion my GP surgery should be refunding me half of it. What are my rights here? 

Aylesbury_Duck

garyfern said:

Hello everyone.
My doctor recently prescribed me a 10-day course of antibiotics. 

I picked up the medication from the pharmacy, paid £9 for the prescription, and when I got home, I realised that I had only been given HALF the amount of tablets I needed. I should have been given 80 pills, however, the pharmacy only gave me 40.

So I rang the pharmacy. They said that it was the doctor's fault - my GP had accidentally prescribed 40 pills instead of 80 - enough for only 5 days. So I rang my GP, and they confirmed it was indeed the doctor's error. So they sent another prescription for the other 40 tablets to my pharmacy.

When I went to pick up my tablets, I was told I had to pay another £9 for the prescription. I said this can't be right - I've already paid for a 10-day course of meds, received only enough for 5 days, now I have to pay again for the other 5 days?

The pharmacy said "there's nothing we can do, as it's a separate prescription you have to pay for it, it's the doctor's fault not ours". Completely understandable.

 So I went to the GP surgery and they basically said "Sorry, there's nothing we can do, you're just going to have to pay twice, and you can't get a refund".

This seems ridiculous to me. Why should I have to pay a total of £18.00 for ONE course of antibiotics?? I understand that the pharmacy can't do anything since it wasn't their mistake, but in my opinion my GP surgery should be refunding me half of it. What are my rights here? 

You have the right to understand that people in the medical profession are under unprecedented pressure at the moment, so mistakes are inevitable.  Don't waste the GP's time exercising your rights over £9 when they're in the middle of a health crisis.  It's unfortunate, and in any other circumstances I would suggest a polite letter to the surgery to see if they can do anything about it, but at the moment?  Move on.

garyfern

Aylesbury_Duck said:

garyfern said:

Hello everyone.
My doctor recently prescribed me a 10-day course of antibiotics. 

I picked up the medication from the pharmacy, paid £9 for the prescription, and when I got home, I realised that I had only been given HALF the amount of tablets I needed. I should have been given 80 pills, however, the pharmacy only gave me 40.

So I rang the pharmacy. They said that it was the doctor's fault - my GP had accidentally prescribed 40 pills instead of 80 - enough for only 5 days. So I rang my GP, and they confirmed it was indeed the doctor's error. So they sent another prescription for the other 40 tablets to my pharmacy.

When I went to pick up my tablets, I was told I had to pay another £9 for the prescription. I said this can't be right - I've already paid for a 10-day course of meds, received only enough for 5 days, now I have to pay again for the other 5 days?

The pharmacy said "there's nothing we can do, as it's a separate prescription you have to pay for it, it's the doctor's fault not ours". Completely understandable.

 So I went to the GP surgery and they basically said "Sorry, there's nothing we can do, you're just going to have to pay twice, and you can't get a refund".

This seems ridiculous to me. Why should I have to pay a total of £18.00 for ONE course of antibiotics?? I understand that the pharmacy can't do anything since it wasn't their mistake, but in my opinion my GP surgery should be refunding me half of it. What are my rights here? 

You have the right to understand that people in the medical profession are under unprecedented pressure at the moment, so mistakes are inevitable.  Don't waste the GP's time exercising your rights over £9 when they're in the middle of a health crisis.  It's unfortunate, and in any other circumstances I would suggest a polite letter to the surgery to see if they can do anything about it, but at the moment?  Move on.

This is nothing to do with the current situation, trust me. My GP surgery has messed me about so many times in the past and made many mistakes (long before the coronavirus started). I've been polite in the past and ignored their mistakes but now I'm getting fed up to be honest. A letter is a good idea, so I'll be sending one. Thanks for your help!

ElefantEd

Move to Scotland (prescriptions are free).

garyfern

ElefantEd said:

Move to Scotland (prescriptions are free).

Wouldn't that be nice! What a shame nobody's allowed to move house at the moment. 

Nick_C

You have a right to change to a different practice. 

You have a right to look at the prescription and check it before leaving the surgery.

Diamandis

Yes, they made an error but you also didn't check so it's not completely their fault. 

garyfern

Nick_C said:

You have a right to change to a different practice. 

You have a right to look at the prescription and check it before leaving the surgery.

I will be changing to a different practice as soon as I reasonably can. Under normal circumstances I would always check the prescription before leaving the pharmacy, but I forgot this time (probably due to my mind being concerned with getting out of the pharmacy and getting home ASAP). I acknowledge that I should have checked, and trust me I will be doing so in the future. but I still don't feel I should have to pay this time. 

Nick_C

If you have nothing more important to worry about right now than giving an additional £9 to the NHS, then you are a lucky man Gary!

Aylesbury_Duck

Yeah, but....rights.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

If you require lots of medication a year, get a pre paid certificate, otherwise think at the moment your extra £9 has funded someone's recovery!