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Why does the pharmacist take so long?

Started by sevendaughters, September 08, 2019, 08:35:40 AM

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touchingcloth

Knock knock.

Who's there?

The General Medical Council.

Hold on, I'm just eating all of the drugs. Right, done. The General Medical Council who?

Eating all of the drugs? You're struck off!

I am regulated by the GPhC, not the GMC.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

I beg your pardon. I am the GMC and I am not done with either the knocking or the knocking yet.

The General Pharmaceutical Council. Did I overhear that you ate all of the drugs? You're struck off! I am striking you off this list of people who don't deserve a pay rise right now!

The GPhC who?

Al Tha Funkee Homosapien

Quote from: touchingcloth on September 12, 2019, 12:23:28 AM
Thanks. I took "controlled substances" to mean "only available with a prescription". Your distinction is duly noted. Out of interest, do you know if it's mainly PoMs or CDs which the pharmacist takes first?

They take all the General Sales List (GSL) meds first (paracetamol, ibuprofen, Imodium, Anusol), then move onto the Pharmacy (P) meds (co-codamol, Piriton, Viagra) before finishing themselves off with a few PoMs and a sprinkling of CDs (A handful of Amitriptyline, and then a few gabapentin and then cover their back in fentanyl patches).

imitationleather

Quote from: Al Tha Funkee Homosapien on September 12, 2019, 10:50:44 AM
They take all the General Sales List (GSL) meds first (paracetamol, ibuprofen, Imodium, Anusol), then move onto the Pharmacy (P) meds (co-codamol, Piriton, Viagra) before finishing themselves off with a few PoMs and a sprinkling of CDs (A handful of Amitriptyline, and then a few gabapentin and then cover their back in fentanyl patches).

Ah, back in the day that was a standard Friday night for me and the boys.

Pingers

I'm surprised no-one has yet suggested that the reason it takes so long is that they are busy taking all the drugs themselves. That seems the most obvious reason.

Ambient Sheep

[tag]Thread titles that can be sung along to Moby songs[/tag]

Had to read over six pages there just to make sure that nobody else had made the same joke yet.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: sevendaughters on September 08, 2019, 01:40:05 PMI just read this response on reddit and am still not convinced.

QuoteWe have to check it's legal. Then check if it's safe. You'd be surprised by how often it's wrong. Then we need to get hold of your prescriber to change it to make it safe.

It would have been nice if my then-partner's pharmacist from 1989-1991 had done any of that.  Then they might have spotted that she really shouldn't have been on Enalapril and Navispare at the same time.  (I'll leave why as an exercise for the reader(s) for now.)  Really fucked up her body chemistry.

It only got fixed when a nurse friend of ours smuggled a BNF and/or a MIMS out of her hospital for us -- that's what you had to do in those days kids, no finding out about your drugs online or indeed pretty much anywhere else -- and we read it and realised her previous useless GP's mistake.  We went to her then-current GP (she'd changed practices in 1990) who apologised profusely for them not having checked her medication as a matter of routine when they took her on their list, and fixed it.


Quote from: Bence Fekete on September 08, 2019, 02:02:52 PM[...] and evaluate the indications because doctors are often shockingly thick [...]

What staggers me is just how many of them can't multiply by 28.  Not just from seeing the prescriptions they write (a friend of mine has been getting double doses of some of their pills for a while now; given a possible upcoming hard-Brexit they've not bothered to change it), but I once sat in a surgery when a doctor was wanting to up a dose from two a day to three a day.

"How many's that? <looks at ceiling> Um... 28... um..."

After about 20-30 seconds I put her out of her misery ("84"), but only then did it occur to her to maybe fetch a calculator to check I wasn't trying to stitch her up.

Even if mental arithmetic wasn't her strong point, you think she'd have had a little crib-sheet jotted down with numbers from 28 to 224 (two pills four times a day) at least...


Quote from: Bence Fekete on September 08, 2019, 02:02:52 PM[...] aligned with the fact that most pharmacies sold out decades ago to franchises run by pumped up shop-assistants with zero medical knowledge who are constantly pressurising you to mince every single last drop out of that sweet government revenue all at the expense of safety and professionalism and requirement [...]

Ironically the best local pharmacy to me at one point turned out to be the one in Tesco.

The "independent" one that was literally in the same building as the doctor's surgery couldn't make up a prescription to save their lives.  They constantly lied over the phone saying it was already made up ready when it wasn't: you'd make a special trip to go in to pick up your repeat, often the day after calling, only for them to start making it up on the spot and then find that they hadn't got one of the medications.  Even when ringing up and saying "And that includes <Drug X>, yes?" and they'd lie and say "Yes all done, including <Drug X>."  LIARS!! <cue Henry Rollins .GIF>  Also the biggest staff turnover I've ever seen: apart from the pharmacist himself I don't think I ever saw anyone in there I recognised more than once.

Another "independent" fucked up the first try so badly... never went back.

Boots were a bit better but still shit at liasing with the surgery on repeats.  After one fuck-up too many finally rolled eyes, sighed, and went to Tesco.  After a slightly rocky start with the repeat liasion, it all settled down and they became about as good as you could get.  Which is kinda depressing to report but there you go.

Btw, I can fully believe it's a thankless job.  Respect.  Even if you do take all the drugs.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: Rev+ on September 11, 2019, 11:36:39 PMThere's an amazing little dance that can happen if you sign up to get repeat prescriptions home delivered, which means that half your stuff might not turn up.  When the driver arrives to collect it, they're handed the bag.  All well and good.

If there are any controlled substances in your prescription, however, the driver isn't given them and the pharmacist won't tell them that they're missing.  They have to suggest that there might be another, more special, bag under the counter.  If the suggestion doesn't come from the driver the recipient is fucked for their tramadol or whatever.  It's a glorious system that only goes wrong every sodding time.

This was part of the problem above.  The surgery would keep all the CD prescriptions in a little yellow exercise book, separate from the usual scripts in the card index type box.  When the local pharmacies dropped by to pick them up, they were supposed to ask to check the book.  (Why? Why couldn't the receptionist just do that for them anyway?!)

So often they'd forget to ask (again, why? they do this three times a week or more!) and then the rest would follow...

shiftwork2

I've heard good things about Tesco as it happens.  And you can crack on with your shopping while they spend half an hour trying out all the drugs.

Thursday

Yes I'm on boots repeat prescription and each month is a coin toss whether or not they order it, or they'll order it, but only sometimes notify me. I mean thankfully I pass by on my way home from work, so I just stop by and ask. Would be nice if I could just rely on them though.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: shiftwork2 on September 12, 2019, 09:45:04 PMI've heard good things about Tesco as it happens.  And you can crack on with your shopping while they spend half an hour trying out all the drugs.

Exactly: that's a boon as well.


Quote from: Thursday on September 12, 2019, 09:51:26 PMYes I'm on boots repeat prescription and each month is a coin toss whether or not they order it, or they'll order it, but only sometimes notify me.

It does vary.  There was a Boots in the next town over that was apparently brilliant, never missed one etc., sadly not convenient for me.

touchingcloth

I planned to go into the pharmacist today and check whether they eat all of the drugs, but I couldn't because my local one is closed on a Saturday because they need to recover from a week of eating all the drugs.

H-O-W-L