Pharmacy Periodical - and some worrying news
I thought this would offer some light relief from the
Supermarket Serials.
Four years ago, I sailed happily through life, not taking anything. I now take enough tablets to make me rattle. One of them comes in capsules, and that's what most people have. Even GP prescription-tracking software defaults to capsules. I started off with tablets, but my first repeat was for capsules and they didn't work, so the software gets overridden.
I'd got fed up with being deafened by the internal radio broadcasts in my local chemist, and abandoned it for a while, but decided recently to support it after all, rather than the rash of in-house pharmacies springing up in all the supermarket. So I went back there about 18 months ago. Six repeat prescriptions ago, to be precise.
They greeted me warmly and dispensed my pills quickly. I opened my bag of goodies when I got home and took out the capsules. Phone the surgery to make sure that the prescription was definitely for tablets. Phone the pharmacy, identify myself and ask them to check their stock of tablets so I don't waste a journey.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Did you get them from here?"
Drive back, return capsules, wait for ever while they search for my prescription to satisfy themselves that it says what I say it says (didn't they do that when I phoned? No, that would have been too organised), wait while they exchange them for pills. The capsules can't be returned to stock. They have to be binned, as they may have been incorrectly stored, which would spoil them, and because there is a risk of tampering and adulteration.
OK, mistakes happen. Next time, I remember to read the prescription first and it's for tablets. I take everything home before I open the bag. Phone, drive back, exchange capsules for pills, drive home. Capsules are wasted. So's a bit more of my petrol.
Third time lucky? This time I remember to read the prescription before I hand it over, and to check the bag before I leave the shop. Wait another ten minutes while they get it right. And how grateful is the pharmacist that I haven't left the shop, so I've saved him wasting another load of capsules? Can't tell. He's scowling. A smile and a thank you for saving them about £100 would be quite nice. No, too much to expect. An apology for getting it wrong? Ha!
Fourth attempt: same as third. Nobody says sorry or thank you, and nobody even bothers to scowl. What a hard life it is.
It gets better. Fifth attempt: remove the three boxes of capsules and wait for three boxes of pills. It'll be a long wait - they've only got two left. Here's a scrap of paper which entitles the bearer to one box of tablets on demand, and I can come back for them any time after tomorrow lunchtime. Thanks! I'm not happy but it's not worth arguing.
Sixth visit was on Monday, and you know the drill by now. Hand over the prescription; make the usual assumption that anyone with the intelligence to qualify as a pharmacist is also quite good at reading, and will surely, one day, see "tablets" and understand that it doesn't spell "capsules"; sit and wait and wait; take the capsules out, say AGAIN very loudly in the middle of an otherwise unmemorable sentence; sit back down again and wait a bit more.
"I'm afraid that we can't complete the prescription, as we only have two boxes left. We'll have to order them in, and they will be here on Wednesday."
So I have to come back for them - again? This is exactly what happened last time. Can you not deliver them?
"Well, I suppose we could, as it was our fault, although strictly speaking the home delivery service is only for the housebound. I'll speak to the manager and I'll phone you when they come in."
(Only for the housebound, is it? They keep that very quiet!)
I take my two boxes home. Attached to the bag is a scrap of paper which entitles the bearer to one box of pills, so they're obviously expecting me to come back for them. And the phone call? Still waiting. But I got a very nice phone call from their head office when they got my email.
There's a lot of cancer in my family, and breast cancer saw off my mother and her sister, and both my father's sisters, at ages between early fifties and late seventies. So imagine my shock when my brother rang me to tell me that his firstborn has got it, and she's only 31.
I remarked on the age gap, and it seems that it's only in our family that it waits for 50, 60, 70. Women in his wife's family have got it in their thirties and even twenties.
She's going into hospital tomorrow for surgery, to be followed by eight months of chemotherapy. I've rung my niece's house and left a message of support but my brother will keep me posted. He's never been very good at news, my little bro. Perhaps he'll get better now.
Four years ago, I sailed happily through life, not taking anything. I now take enough tablets to make me rattle. One of them comes in capsules, and that's what most people have. Even GP prescription-tracking software defaults to capsules. I started off with tablets, but my first repeat was for capsules and they didn't work, so the software gets overridden.
I'd got fed up with being deafened by the internal radio broadcasts in my local chemist, and abandoned it for a while, but decided recently to support it after all, rather than the rash of in-house pharmacies springing up in all the supermarket. So I went back there about 18 months ago. Six repeat prescriptions ago, to be precise.
They greeted me warmly and dispensed my pills quickly. I opened my bag of goodies when I got home and took out the capsules. Phone the surgery to make sure that the prescription was definitely for tablets. Phone the pharmacy, identify myself and ask them to check their stock of tablets so I don't waste a journey.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Did you get them from here?"
Drive back, return capsules, wait for ever while they search for my prescription to satisfy themselves that it says what I say it says (didn't they do that when I phoned? No, that would have been too organised), wait while they exchange them for pills. The capsules can't be returned to stock. They have to be binned, as they may have been incorrectly stored, which would spoil them, and because there is a risk of tampering and adulteration.
OK, mistakes happen. Next time, I remember to read the prescription first and it's for tablets. I take everything home before I open the bag. Phone, drive back, exchange capsules for pills, drive home. Capsules are wasted. So's a bit more of my petrol.
Third time lucky? This time I remember to read the prescription before I hand it over, and to check the bag before I leave the shop. Wait another ten minutes while they get it right. And how grateful is the pharmacist that I haven't left the shop, so I've saved him wasting another load of capsules? Can't tell. He's scowling. A smile and a thank you for saving them about £100 would be quite nice. No, too much to expect. An apology for getting it wrong? Ha!
Fourth attempt: same as third. Nobody says sorry or thank you, and nobody even bothers to scowl. What a hard life it is.
It gets better. Fifth attempt: remove the three boxes of capsules and wait for three boxes of pills. It'll be a long wait - they've only got two left. Here's a scrap of paper which entitles the bearer to one box of tablets on demand, and I can come back for them any time after tomorrow lunchtime. Thanks! I'm not happy but it's not worth arguing.
Sixth visit was on Monday, and you know the drill by now. Hand over the prescription; make the usual assumption that anyone with the intelligence to qualify as a pharmacist is also quite good at reading, and will surely, one day, see "tablets" and understand that it doesn't spell "capsules"; sit and wait and wait; take the capsules out, say AGAIN very loudly in the middle of an otherwise unmemorable sentence; sit back down again and wait a bit more.
"I'm afraid that we can't complete the prescription, as we only have two boxes left. We'll have to order them in, and they will be here on Wednesday."
So I have to come back for them - again? This is exactly what happened last time. Can you not deliver them?
"Well, I suppose we could, as it was our fault, although strictly speaking the home delivery service is only for the housebound. I'll speak to the manager and I'll phone you when they come in."
(Only for the housebound, is it? They keep that very quiet!)
I take my two boxes home. Attached to the bag is a scrap of paper which entitles the bearer to one box of pills, so they're obviously expecting me to come back for them. And the phone call? Still waiting. But I got a very nice phone call from their head office when they got my email.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's a lot of cancer in my family, and breast cancer saw off my mother and her sister, and both my father's sisters, at ages between early fifties and late seventies. So imagine my shock when my brother rang me to tell me that his firstborn has got it, and she's only 31.
I remarked on the age gap, and it seems that it's only in our family that it waits for 50, 60, 70. Women in his wife's family have got it in their thirties and even twenties.
She's going into hospital tomorrow for surgery, to be followed by eight months of chemotherapy. I've rung my niece's house and left a message of support but my brother will keep me posted. He's never been very good at news, my little bro. Perhaps he'll get better now.
11 Comments:
So sorry to hear about your niece. Hope they caught it in good time.
This pharmacy (chemist?) is ridiculous! May I suggest that, instead of dealing with the obvious idiots, ask your doctor to phone in EXACTLY what he wants you to have!
A lot of pharmacies communicate better with the prescriber, than the customer. Just a thought, but I get everything (except insulin) from Wal-Mart without any extra trips--ever!
Good luck!
By veronikkamarrz, Sep 13 09 9:34 PM
I like the suggestion about having your prescriptions phoned in - provided the pharmacist actually understands the English language!
Your niece will be in my thoughts and prayers.
By bionic4ever, Sep 13 09 9:37 PM
I don't suppose you can Share Your Email? *BIG wink*
I'm sorry to hear the news about your niece. Family genetics are deplorable at times - my MIL is a breast cancer survivor - had her 80th birthday in April and is still trying to dig up half the shire for gardens!
Best wishes for your niece's full recovery. :)
By MarchHare007, Sep 13 09 11:18 PM
Thank you, everyone. Clearly her genes are against her, but perhaps her age, and the fact that she has a husband and three children she adores, will be in her favour.
Whenever I've phoned the shop, I've always spoken to someone who was born here, but I don't think my GP would want to ring everything through to them, however good their English was!
Share my email? are you really that much of a glutton for punishment?
By lesley153, Sep 14 09 7:08 AM
My thoughts are with your niece. Your pharmacy folks may be in the pills themselves. Hope they get their act together.
By garrysouders, Sep 14 09 8:10 AM
I cannot believe that they dispensed incorrectly six times in a row!
I would mention to the counter staff prior to dispensing, can they make sure that you receive tablets if you go again.
Otherwise, try an independent pharmacy. They will be eager for your business and will make sure they get it right as they cannot afford the luxury of wasting so many packs (money) returned that have to be destroyed once they leave the pharmacy (legally - we can get into serious trouble for re-using stock that has been returned, whatever the reason).
Please don't try to get the surgery to phone anything through to the pharmacy, I would bet any money that things would definitely be done incorrectly if that particular step were added into the equation!
I too hope that your niece has had it detected early and makes a good recovery.
By nasty_liar, Sep 14 09 9:59 AM
I couldn't believe it either. That's why I didn't draw their attention to it, because I didn't believe that they would get it wrong this time. I know they can't put returns back into stock, and relax, I'm not going to try to get my GP on the phone.
One of the staff had a theory. The first time I had this product, it came as pills, and it worked a treat. Then I went to my GP for a repeat, and he, or the software, defaulted to capsules, which didn't work. I got him to prescribe tablets again, then and every time since then.
The theory was that if I'd ever been to them and got capsules, it will have been entered on my computer record. So, every time I bring a prescription in, they will look at the screen, which tells them that I have capsules.
Translation: whoever does the dispensing reads the screen, not the prescription. Then whoever checks it does the same thing. I think that telling me they don't bother to read the prescription, in an attempt to explain or excuse the mistake, is even more damaging than a simple admission that they made a mistake.
It also means that it never occurs to any of them to amend the computer records, and they've had six good opportunities and reasons to do that. I'm not impressed, and I'm not planning on going back in there.
By lesley153, Sep 14 09 4:59 PM
It's actually very easy to make the mistake, while we are looking for the potentially serious things to be correct with the prescription like dosage, strength, drug it can be very easy to overlook since it makes no real difference what form the preparation takes.
But not six times in a row and not when the error has been pointed out to us the previous five times!
Also, not knowing what medication it is I can't say this for sure. But some things we use almost exclusively in capsule form because the GP surgeries have cottoned onto the fact that they might be cheaper (or vice-versa sometimes). So they are churning out almost all prescriptions for that form. The dispensing staff start to assume that it will be that form, be it caps or tabs. Not saying that's good, but it's an understandable assumption when speed is an important factor in your customers minds. Remember, they're trying to turn these prescriptions around as quickly as possible because nobody wants to wait more than two minutes. But, repeatedly getting it wrong is... well, bad for continued business :)
By nasty_liar, Sep 14 09 6:16 PM
It's Omeprazole, which I was first given when I had The Ulcer, nearly five years ago. Are capsules cheaper than tablets?
Getting it wrong every time is bad for business, but they've finished it off with their attitude. Never apologise for making a mistake, and always assume that customers have all the time and money in the world to keep coming back till you've got it right. I can understand that they're frightened to agree to my request to deliver the outstanding box, but amazed that it's too much trouble for them even to pick the phone up.
If they are rushed off their feet, I'm really helping them out by not going in there any more. I don't want to wait more than two minutes but I often wait for 20.
When my son had his first prescription in central London, he decided to take it to the pharmacy at Harrods. He handed it over to someone who took it in silence, and walked away. He was not impressed - he'd been expecting the usual spiel - "it'll be about 15
minutes - will you wait?" Ten seconds later, the someone came back and handed him his medicine. He won't go anywhere else now.
I don't know why they ask if you want to wait. It's not as if people who are prepared to wait get any preference over those who say they'll go shopping first, or will come back tomorrow. They're still made up in their order of arrival.
By lesley153, Sep 14 09 7:32 PM
It's a polite way of saying, 'we're very busy, if you wait then you'll have a long wait' ;)
I simply say that! I don't mind being blunt, people prefer it. The only difference is, some people will walk back out with their valuable prescription. C'est la vie!
Your son has done what I cannot believe more people do not do! Find a quiet pharmacy and use it religiously! Most people seem to walk from their surgery right into the pharmacy next door, same place everyone else has just gone. Try to find one that is not right next door to a surgery.
By nasty_liar, Sep 15 09 7:12 AM
This lot are obviously sneakier than you are. They have the prescription in their sweaty little hands before they tell you how long it will take. And then it's just that little bit more effort to get it back.
When I got to the surgery to pick my prescription up on Monday, their prescription collection van was just arriving. They're a mile or so away but the collection services make the world just a bit smaller, so they may as well be next door.
So far I've resisted signing up for a repeat prescription collection service because it means I'm tied to them until I make a big effort leave the service. I'm extra pleased that I didn't sign up with this lot. I shan't be going back.
By lesley153, Sep 15 09 9:12 PM