I left it with him, then I learnt they couldn't get the newly prescribed one either.
So I went into the Medical Centre to talk to the receptionist that deals with the prescriptions.. and she said leave it with me I'll sort it out with the Drs and pharmacist. That was last Tuesday.
But then last Thursday at 5:45 pm I had a phone call from the Medical Centre to tell me they had been unable to source any suitable tablets and their inhouse pharmacist suggested, that I phone the Urology dept at the hospital to get them to prescribe a drug!!
What??? I was to phone the hospital to ask a consultant to write a prescription of a drug he'd know?? What rubbish!!
In less than 10 mins I had researched the drug and phoned the my regular pharmacy to give them names of several others with the same effect. And they informed me not only did they have several suitable ones I could have, but they had had a delivery and had my original tabs were here, I just had to get my Dr to write another script.
I managed to get through to the surgery just before 6:00 pm, when they closed and today I've collected my tablets! What a to-do.. why are there shortages? Is it Brexit. or is it the Ukrainian war or blooming Trump??
No, it will be as Karl Marx said..'The root of everything is money!'
I am writing a letter to the Medical Centre Practice Manager, to inform him of my concerns and the worry his staff caused me.
Chrisxx
10 comments:
I had a similar worry about my immunosuppressive medicine. I would be down to the last few days when I finally got them. Part of the problem was the gp was only supposed to prescribed 100 at a time; but I take 4 a day and it was taking 3 weeks to lay my hands on the next issue! I now make sure I have plenty in reserve and persuaded them to prescribe 250 at a time. Problem sorted.
One has to be really proactive these days.
As Kirsten said, above, you really have to be proactive and keep ahead of the game. Maybe someone is not in charge of stock control, who knows?
I'm not in the UK but here in the USA I've had to wait a day or two occasionally for shipment to come in before getting certain drugs. They want you to set things up so they auto deliver to you but don't like that. It's bad enough that they pester you to reorder a million times when you still have a good supply on hand.
I had to give up on the meds for over bladder because of the side effects. Boo Hoo!
What a frustrating experience! Medication shortages can be incredibly stressful. Glad to hear you were able to resolve it in the end.
Here in India, I have had occasions when I haven't got the medicine the doctor prescribed. (In India, it's the doctor who prescribes medicines.)
Usually, in such cases, the pharmacist at the store will give a medicine of another brand which has the same components.
Only in rare cases we tell the pharmacist that we need exactly the medicine that was prescribed. Or sometimes, we will check back with the doctor to confirm if the replacement medicine is fine or not.
The same happened here with a drip my husband and I both take. It took a lots of effort to have the unavailable one replaced. Pharmaceuticals companies are calling the shots these days. Costs will go through the roof you can bet to ensure supply!
Sorry you have experienced problems.
You may be interested in reading this from the UK House of Commons Research Briefing Readings, published 9th April 2025.
"Pharmacies in the UK dispense millions of prescription items each year. Since 2021 there have been reports of increasing supply problems affecting medicines. Recent media coverage has highlighted shortages of medicines used to treat diabetes, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and epilepsy, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and others.
This briefing provides information on the causes and consequences of medicines shortages in the UK and internationally, and the UK Government’s approach to address supply problems."
Do read more using this link:-
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9997/
All the best Jan
Mid 23 and half way through 24, one of my drugs was "on back order". Turns out the factory had closed for a refit. Nothing available across Canada. I was able to source a 5 month supply in Spain while on holiday. I was also rationing it to 6 doses a week not 7. Finally, they imported some from the US and then the factory went back into production.
It was terrible.
It's the same all over the country.
My neighbour was prescribed a course of simple antibiotics and had to either wait for two days for the village pharmacy {which we thankfully still have} to get them in, or she had to drive 40 miles round trip to the nearest Boots where they were available.
IMO, it's Brexit to blame.
I have to take medication for Parkinson's which comes in 100's too, but I was prescribed three tablets 5x daily, so 100 pills lasts less than a week. We must give 14 days notice for our repeats! I couldn't get the receptionist to understand what was happening. Eventually, a GP found the same dose in a larger capsule so now 100 lasts me 20 days and he has overridden the protocols to allow me to order 200 at a time. We really do have to look after ourselves!
I'm glad you were able to get the prescribed medication, in the end.
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