Called to collect my prescription today and was told that my needles were unavailable with no projected timeframe for them to be in stock. The chemist was a small neighbourhood branch of Boots. Has anyone else had difficulties with getting needles?
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Robin
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Are your needles prescribed by brand? Or generic, like mine, my prescription just says '4mm 32 needles for insulin pen, or similar, and my pharmacist can give me whatever brand he happens to be able to get hold of.
It’s not very helpful of Boots just to tell you they can’t get them without advising you what your options are. Or to tell you what they COULD get, so you can ask for a prescription for something that’s available.
In the first instance, if it is the particular brand that’s a problem, can you ring your surgery and get them to prescribe a generic needle?
Otherwise, asking for the prescription back from Boots so you can ring round other pharmacies to see if they’ve got them might be a possibility.
Yes, the prescription specifies the brand. I have spoken to my GP surgery and they’ve arranged for the Community Pharmacy team to ring me. They have asked my GP to specify an alternative and I’m waiting to hear when the local Boots has them. Having said all that I called into another branch of Boots today and although they had none of the original brand in stock (Viva BD) they said that they are now available from their suppliers, having been unavailable for a while.
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