again with the stupid pharmacy!!!!!!!!!

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SilentAssassin1642

SilentAssassin1642

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Another pharmacy rant!

After a rather pleasant evening christmas shopping with the OH we decide to go into boots to pick up my prescription, the one I put in to see me through til after xmas. I get in there and ask for it and the woman asks if i've changed doctors recently, I say no so she goes and has a look for my stuff. She comes back and says that she hasnt got my stuff because the doctor has sent it back because apparently im not a part of their surgery anymore. She shows me the note from the docs and its from ATHERLY HOUSE, the place I was at months ago before changing due to their idiocy. And I told boots and they had made a note of it so what the hell were they doing sending my script to them????????????? I'm then told that because of this I can't have my prescription. And I see red, complete and utter red. I demand to see the pharmacist whereupon I say (rather firmly and polite but with rather nasty undertones) that I need this prescription because I am 'going away' and i would appreciate it if they sorted it out. It takes me half an hour to convince them and i really do begin shouting the odds at them. Its not my fault they cocked up for crying out loud!!!! Half an hour to convince them to do it and another half an hour for it to get sorted. AND THEN the woman comes to the counter with a box of 50 strips, despite the fact i ordered 200!!!! I repeat that I need this stuff badly and 50 is NOWHERE NEAR enough. The woman gets huffy and I have to see the pharmacist again.

It took an hour for it to get sorted. AN HOUR! I couldn't believe it!!! Despite me telling them over and over again that I badly needed this stuff they just wouldn't listen. I got it in the end, all 200 strips, box of needles and a box of lantus (ONE BOX! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON THERE?????????). Do all pharmacies go into stupid mode this time of year???

I was so annoyed I went into New Look and brought myself 2 new tops and a pair of slipper socks. AND I PUT IT ON CREDIT 😡
 
I see a complaint letter, a strong one, being sent to pharmacy boss and head office and managing director and local newspaper perhaps............ not good enough.

Well done for waiting there and shouting the odds. These people have no idea what diabetes is like I would imagine.
 
Oh sweety, I feel it.

Sorry, I know exatly how you feel after my rant yesterday. I thought I must bust an aneurysm I was so angry I completely suprised myself.

Absolutely well done for standing your ground. This forum shows us this is not happening infrequently, we are vastly becoming fast victims of shoddy work practices and excuses that to be frank, STINK.

It gave me the courage to throw my tantrum yesterday and Im glad you got what you deserve as well.

Pharmacies should be actively promting and encouraging us to get full stock and prescriptions done this time of year, not hindering every effort we make. There are plenty of people who dont make the effort to look after themselves and sort themselves out, I feel really sorry for any of us that suffer like this because of the poor practice of others.

Oh god, Im starting to rant agin- shut me up!
 
Sugarbum said:
Oh god, Im starting to rant agin- shut me up!
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Where's my gaffa tape? 😛

I know just how you feel though. It seems I've found a decent pharmacist in the Sainsbury's near me. That and I have little trouble getting what I need out of my doctor. It does get on my tits though when people have to order things in every time that I go to the pharmacy. The worst offender was the Boots that I used to use here in Eastbourne. I could guarantee that 99% of the time I would have to come back a second time.
 
grrrrr, its just so bloody irritating. I c an't even count on two hands the amount of times I've had to switch pharmacies. It was even happening years ago when my mum used to sort out my prescriptions for me! Useless, utterly useless. And I'm seriously thinking of writing a snotty letter or three!!!!

It was the attitude of the people there that got to me. They were just so rude and huffy. And I bet they had a nice bitching session after I stormed out with my bag of bits and reckoned I was the rude one. Hardly. Even the pharmacist who has always been relatively decent was a bit offish.

GAH!!!!!!!!
 
Pitty thee who does this to me, or at least I hope so! Hope that I would stand up and kick off not cower away!
 
Many moons back, I would use a small independent chemist in the town which provided excellent service. My local council took it upon themselves to ban cars from the town centre, and parking is a nightmare!

I decided to use the chemist that was built alongside my new doctors surgery. This was run by a small chain of chemists who have 5-6 branches in my local area. Again it was good service, occasional mistakes but nothing drastic. This family firm was taken over by the Co-op, and every other week they would be a new pharmacist, and the service became poor. Missing items, lost items, waiting over 30 mins for a prescription that they had for days, it all got to much and so I switch again.

I decided to give Tesco's pharmacy a go, and to my surprise it is a first class service. Once requested, I can have my prescription in 2 days, and the staff are very helpful indeed!🙂

Toby
 
My local Sainsburys has a rather good dealer. Otherwise I generally find that there are very few places that can get themselves in order or that can match the standards that I think they should meet.
 
Right Boots, you owe me a free sarnie for this!!!!

I'm sorry you had such crappy service.
(Boots should pay me for all the appologising i'm doing on their behalf. They could at least give me a free Meal Deal or something....😱)
I can't understand how they got your Gp mixed up coz by law the GP's name, address and signature have to be on the prescription. I don't know how your prescriptions work, but i only get one repeat (unless my doctor screws up like he did last time...hehehe), that's two months work before i have to go back and see the twit again. Unless you changed doctors since your last "orginal" i can't see how they got confused. That's mental....
It's probably not much consolation but they probably spent much of the hour you spent waiting yelling down the phone at the GP surgery, or being yelled at by their manager.
I'm thinking that they probably only gave you a limited supply of meds because we can only issue a very small quantity of meds under "emergencies"
, just enough to tide the patient over until a proper prescription can be obtained. Obviously they're not insulin dependant so they don't have the first idea of how many test strips or how much insulin you need. I'm also thinking they didn't explain this to you. This is just one of the rules one has to put up with to avoid being fleeced by drug abusers and unscruplous types, and for the patients own safety. Unfortunately the law doesn't make any accomodation for people with a geniune need for continous medication, like diabetics.
Yeah, i'd deffinately write a letter, it'd be to everyone's advantage to get to the bottom of the matter, you, the Boots Pharmacy staff and anybody else who feels like swopping GPs in your area. Try and get an explaination for what happened and an appology, it's not like we expect people to come to us for drugs for fun or entertainment. Anybody working in the NHS or healthcare should be aware that you seldom see people at their best and that people's health is obviously important to them and an emotive issue,(a fact i wish Dr Twit was aware of), the staff should respect that. Don;t worry about the staff grumping behind your back, they've seen worse and they'll have forgotten in no time.
At least you got two new tops. Ah, retail therapy, if only i could get that on the NHS.....(...thinks.....kind of does...but not enough!)

Rachel The Drug Elf
 
RachelT said:
....that's two months work before i have to go back and see the twit again.
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Oh love it!!! Dr TWIT! :D

You shouldnt feel the urge to aplogise Rachel, you are not responsible!
 
Sugarbum said:
You shouldnt feel the urge to aplogise Rachel, you are not responsible!
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What lou said! This is down to the mistakes made by someone in the branch who screwed up. Not you :D But thank you very much for the advice. It's nice to know that someone will end up getting a rollocking cuz of me :D I really do think I'll be writing that letter. I also need to have a chat with my doc about it too (when i go bug him again next week for more pills 😱 i think its my second home!) because this shouldn't have happened...they knew i was at a new surgery or crying out loud, my doctor even wrote them a bloody note!!!
😡
hurray for new tops though!!!!
 
Cheers guys

They still owe me a bloody sarnie, i'm telling you! hehehe
I just keep reading these threads thinking "omg, what if that was me? What if that happened to one of my patients? I'd be mortified!" At least i'm thinking about the patients, hurrah! I am in the right job after all!! :D I'd recommed you all came to my pharmacy for your prescriptions but we only serve the hospital and besides, you'd all run us out of test strips and insulin within a week😉. I'll let you in a secret, lots of my co-workers used to work for Boots, and they didn't like it much, so i'm guessing it's a pretty unpleasent place to work (not that that's any excuse for bad service, i've worked in the service industry for years, bad service really annoys me!).

BTW I swear Dr Twit got his medical degree in the Henry's Cat school of medicine, he knows everything about nothing and not to much about that! I'm off to see him on Monday evening, see if i can get my yearly supply of test strips (50....) out of him, i never come out feeling good. Be prepared for a rant...

Rachel
 
RachelT said:
Cheers guys

They still owe me a bloody sarnie, i'm telling you! hehehe
I just keep reading these threads thinking "omg, what if that was me? What if that happened to one of my patients? I'd be mortified!" At least i'm thinking about the patients, hurrah! I am in the right job after all!! :D I'd recommed you all came to my pharmacy for your prescriptions but we only serve the hospital and besides, you'd all run us out of test strips and insulin within a week😉. I'll let you in a secret, lots of my co-workers used to work for Boots, and they didn't like it much, so i'm guessing it's a pretty unpleasent place to work (not that that's any excuse for bad service, i've worked in the service industry for years, bad service really annoys me!).

BTW I swear Dr Twit got his medical degree in the Henry's Cat school of medicine, he knows everything about nothing and not to much about that! I'm off to see him on Monday evening, see if i can get my yearly supply of test strips (50....) out of him, i never come out feeling good. Be prepared for a rant...

Rachel
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You go for it girl if you need a rant LET ONE RIP!!!!

You really should start an online pharmacy like a forum spin-off! We could all sign up to you and live happily ever after!

I never think twice about coming out of a consultation and checking a doctors or nurses registration on the GMC or NMC website! Perhaps you should check out Dr Twits crudentials!
 
Umm, online pharmacy...that's an idea. Alas i'm not qualified to run one, i'm a mere minion aka technician. Hummmm, if i could fine a like minded (preferably diabetic) pharmacist...
 
I can think of several very insulting terms for my doctor, but twit made me smile.

I have problems with Boots Pharmacies too, they never have what I want or I have to go back and get it in three weeks time. My GP wont prescribe more pills if I have more than a weeks worth left on the last prescription (which is a pain in waht you sit on), so when I go to the pharmacy I need them NOW.

To be honest I find the independent pharmacies are far more helpful, and round my way there are so many wanting my custom they are prepared to phone round to fill my precriptions.

I think people need to complain and make their feelings felt, and also vot wit their feet and go to a place where they get good service.
 
I survived an encounter with the good doctor today, i actually got only what i went in for (a months supply of Metformin, Ramipril, Simvastatin and Carbimazole, most iof which I will forget to take....) and nothing else. Didn't even take my blood pressure. Marvellous!! I hope he doesn't think that's him off the hook...
 
Flutterby said:
Rachel, you have me genuinely laughing out loud! Dr Twit! Brilliant!
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When I decided to get a second opinion on my diabetes, I had various options of consultants to see, one being a Dr Wreckless - needless to say as a lawyer, I didn't opt for him. I since discovered he is a first class consultant. But the one I opted for is the best in my opinion :D

I am so lucky with both my GP and Boots, but as I've said before, they get my prescriptions six months at a time and use this funny technology called a diary and pen (manual word processor) to note on the 13th of each month to make my prescription up.

There is also a lot of me, 6'3" and ex-rugby player and one member of staff had a run in with me, and apparently ended up in floods of tears, especially when she went to the fridge and found my insulin right there! She did the right thing and said sorry, since then they have all been charming, especially with the old baffoon in front of me who told me I was queuing from the wrong side (with a hearing dog I was actually using the space wisely and keeping the till area clear), this particular lady came bounding out, gave Bruce a massive fuss and handed me the carrier bag with my months supply of goodies, asked me to sign all the paperwork and gave Bruce another fuss and me a wink! The old boy was still waiting to be served, intersting watching the steam build up 😛

One-nil to Bruce I think!

Certainly though there seems to be a growing need for a shake up in the high street pharmacy world, this is part of the problem where there are now so few independants and so many chains. I am presuming the cost to buy into or establish a pharmacy must be considerable given the sheer volume of stock you need to hold.

I've often wondered what my annual value to Boots is as an individual customer, during quiet times I've joked about it with the pharmacist, saying I hope to be on their card list for this year, I think she knew what I brought in as one customer. Add the rest of us together and it's one heck of a turnover for Boots and the rest of them.

Clearly they realise something isn't right as they have these customer survey cards on the counter... perhaps more of us should be completing them? Or organising a mass campaign to their head office?

A forum survey of which Boots branches are working for diabetics and which ones don't work for us? 🙄 How do you do those again Northerner?
 
Einstein said:
...A forum survey of which Boots branches are working for diabetics and which ones don't work for us? 🙄 How do you do those again Northerner?
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You should be able to set one up yourself David - it's one of the 'Additional options' when you start a new thread - 'Post a poll'.🙂
 
Northerner said:
You should be able to set one up yourself David - it's one of the 'Additional options' when you start a new thread - 'Post a poll'.🙂
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There was me hoping to be lazy 😉 :D

Thanks Northerner, you sure I'm allowed and it's not an admin or mod right 🙄

Will give the structure some thought... That will wipe me out for the rest of the week.
 
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