General Chat

David has forgotten that he has had an annual routine home visit, and that his wife (if she is also on a repeat prescription) has been seen by a GP fairly recently.

Talking of problems collecting prescriptions, although not as frustrating as Annx situation.

An elderly neighbour called the out of hours GP service late Sat night. She is prescribed a 2nd course of antibiotics to be collected Sunday morning from a 7 day a week pharmacy...which is 20 min drive away.

Muggins goes off in the morning. No they haven't got the prescription.
Go home & call the out of hours service to see what's happened.
Go back to the pharmacy. Yes they now have it - they'd had a fax paper jam which is now cleared.

They are only able to provide 2 out of 7 days worth - please come back tomorrow (Mon) after 2 for the rest.
Mon afternoon - no it was missed off the delivery. No, we can't take the prescription elsewhere as its been partially filled. Please phone after 2 on Tues to see if its come in.

Tuesday comes & the neighbour says she might be able to collect it herself. Check with her late afternoon & she hasn't. Off we go again, this time successfully. :-|

David ................

if you haven't been to see a doctor for "years", how do you know that you still need to the same medication, that you don't need a change either in dosage or type of medication?


We HAVE to go see the doctor at least once a year to get new prescriptions for each medication we take. S/he will then usually give you a prescription for 3 months, renewable 3 more times ........... so basically a prescription for one year's supply.

I hand that over to the pharmacist, take the first lot, then I can either be on their list for automatic repeats, meaning they call me about 2 weeks before the next repeat is needed and I can pick it up or have it delivered, or I can phone in when I need the repeat.

The only time I've ever had less than a prescription good for a year is when it is a controlled substance or a new medication, when her might give me a prescription for only 1, 2 or 3 months as he wants to see me to make sure that it is working for me.

Most doctors over here do not renew prescriptions over the phone .............. mainly because they want to see the patient, but also because most of them work on a fee for service deal, and they don't now get paid for it. One of my previous doctors told me that it could take him as long as 15 minutes just to do 1 repeat prescription for 1 patient .............. because he had to find the patient record, check that what was being requested was actually what had been prescribed, and enter the record.

He tended to deal with all such enquiries at the end of the day, and it could lengthen his day by 2 or even 3 HOURS.

When the package containing your prescription is dispatched they send you

a Royal Mail tracking number.

To Annx and Vera, regarding someone in to receive them, I'm always in. Ive an arrangement with Pharmacy2U that if the post man doesn't get an answer he puts the package through the letter box.

Your contact with them can be over the phone or online.

David, I looked at Pharmacy2U and decided against using them. I couldn’t see that they were offering any better service than we already get from our local Lloyds Pharmacy. Lloyds will deliver foc though I choose to collect mine. I go in once a month, collect my prescription and mark up what I want for next month and that is it. Easy.

One of the items on my prescription, which I only need to order from time to time, is classed as a controlled drug and has to be kept under lock and key at the pharmacy until it is put into my hands when I have to sign for it. How would that work with something that comes through the post?

Our surgery require you to collect from surgery.When you reorder they are available on the 2nd day.
They use to offer a courtesay service through the local postie but if some people were out when he delivered the post, he wasn't allowed to leave them on the doorstep or push them through the letterbox, he had to give them in person.

I guess security was tightened up as it often meant, he had some prescriptions not delivered, in his house overnight and that could have been a problem if he was broken into.

You can nominate someone to collect on your behalf but you have to complete a form stating their full name and address.

I don't think it would be a case of not bothering the doctor as they have to sign the requests off anyway. So makes no difference whether you ring and request via a receptionist or use this other service. Surely its all part of a doctors job isn't it?
And posting it out as I said could present a security problem. What if they got lost in the post?

Florence in the hebrides

Well you all seem to get a better service than us! We have to hand in our repeat prescriptions at the surgery then collect 2 days later from the Lloyds Pharmacy next door. Last week we called to collect mine on Monday and waited in a queue, then were told they hadn't got some items in stock and to call the next day. OH queued for 20 minutes for them the next day only to be told they still hadn't arrived and to call again in the evening or come back the next day! He called the next day so that was 6 days after putting the prescription in at the surgery. OH then called for his own prescription and was told they only had 1 tube of the ointment he needed and to come back the next day for the other. When he got home he noticed they'd given him cream instead of ointment and it had to be ointment as it was for his eye. We always check before we come home, but he'd only had the ointment once and thought he must have made a mistake himself. After he looked at the old tube, back he went as he needed some for that night and also to make sure they had ordered the right thing for the second tube. Then back he went the next day to collect the last tube. That was 6 trips for our 2 repeat prescriptions in one week and paying to park each time.

Shirley, we have a Lloyds Pharmacy branch in our Sainsbury's, so I'll enquire if they have the same service. I wouldn't trust our usual pharmacy for the above reasons!

Do you have to be at home to receive your prescriptions when they are delivered though as we are often out? I presume if Pharmacy2U send them through the post, they need a signature?

I am sure they are efficient David but what I, and I think others, are saying id that if they put local pharmacies out of business then we don't just lose the pharmacist we lose the rest of the shop as well.

It's been years since I was in the queue in the waiting room of my GP. I'd guess most were there for a repeat prescription (guessing).
I teamed up with Pharmacy2U when I saw their advertisement, way back.
My GP has never commented one way or the other on them.
They are efficient.

Our village pharmacy is a branch of Boots, and if you register with them they will contact the doctor when your prescription is due, go and collect it from the surgery and have it all made up and waiting when you choose to go and collect it.

Alternatively you can drop off the repeat half of the prescription at the surgery and then collect it from the pharmacy the next day.

Local pharmacy for me too - I sign for my repeat every time I collect.

Partner uses the pharmacy at the surgery, they will deliver if requested. They don't want people to use PharmacyU2 as it would be a threat to their business - and jobs for local people. As a very small town we want to hang on to what we have.

Does anyone know who's behind PharmacyU2? How long before they start charging?

David, surely you can arrange to have your meds delivered from the surgery and the repeat on auto?

I request a repeat prescription online to my doctor's surgery. They in turn send the doctor's authorised prescription online to Tesco Pharmacy near us. Tesco Pharmacy send us a text when the prescription has been filled and is ready collect. The whole process takes about 24hrs. :-)

Same as Magpie, I collect them on my monthly visit so no problem for me. :-)

Our surgery dispenses our prescriptions for us to collect on a regular basis. It's in our village and only down the road, within walking distance so no problem at all.

Pharmacy2U make no charge for their service. They must be making a living from some source to pay so many expenses ?

My local Lloyds pharmacy ,who have a branch within the local Sainsbury supermarket ,
also offer the same service

When I do my weekly shop I ask for a repeat prescription when it's due and pick it up the next week

I can also ring in to request the repeat

It does save trips to the doctors as they don't do repeats over the phone but are part of the service

We don't use this as our pharmacy has asked us not to as it would put them out of business. As it is they have our details on computer, we go in and request the prescription and they produce it immediately. Only have to have a check with the surgery's pharmacy nurse once a year. No strain on our doctor at all.

If you are on medication, necessitating repeat prescriptions I recommend you use

Pharmacy2U. For no charge Pharmacy will give you an accountant number to

identify yourself. On a regular basis you phone them or contact them online. They

contact your Doctor on your behalf, obtain your prescription, dispense it and post it

to your address, no charge.Takes the strain off you and your Doctor.