repeat prescription timespans

[will2016]

as it said, how long is reasonable to order your repeats and get them? i was later than usual and didnt order till Monday and said I need it for Friday morning, they said you'll be lucky, so now worry all week it wont be there and they wont give me some to tide me over, I have had problems with them before and they can never find mine or it hasnt even been made up and I have to wait, what's you guys experience's ?

 

[LeeLee]

I use the Boots repeat service, where they send the repeat request form to the GP, collect it and then have the medicines ready when you're next due to get them. That way all I have to remember is to go to the chemist once a month.

 

[Mark T]

I assume you are using the chemist to do your repeats? or is that your surgery?

My surgery state 48 hours to collect after posting the script and the chemist can usually sort it that day.

I could get the chemist to manage the whole process, but given the experiences others on here have had - I don't want to trust them so walk it through myself.

 

[LeeLee]

Forgot to add - some GPs do a repeat dispense service, where they write up and sign a year's worth of prescriptions. The chemist holds these, and you ring them whenever you need something and you go in to collect an hour or so later.

 

[newbs]

If I ordered mine on the Monday morning I would be able to collect it on the Wednesday afternoon/Thursday morning at the latest. Don't forget that this Friday is Good Friday so your usual pharmacy may not be open.

 

[Carole F]

If I took a repeat prescription to my GP surgery (or ordered my repeat online with them, as I now do), I would have to wait 48 hours before collecting the items from Boots Pharmacy (arrangement in place). Nice and quick! 🙂

 

[Northerner]

I can order mine either online or drop the scrip in at the surgery and collect it within two days. Then take to pharmacy and usually get my stuff after a 20 minute wait - sometimes have to call back the next day if they don't have everything. I tried using the Boots repeat service but it was a shambles - my stuff was never ready and I ended up waiting longer than if I'd just brought it in 😡 You shouldn't need to wait a week and not very professional to say 'you'll be lucky'

 

[Cat1964]

My surgery is really good, when you phone in they usually say that will be ready to collect tomorrow. Good turnaround time.

 

[Hanmillmum]

48 hours is the norm here unless something is needed asap.

 

[will2016]

it was my local chemist, and it seems they are the problem, think its time to change, thanks all 🙂

 

[trophywench]

If you ring my surgery before 11am, the scrip will be ready to collect from the under the same roof pharmacy after 4.30 pm the same day. Or collect your scrip after 4.30 from the Surgery reception desk and take it where you want to for dispensing.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Tim (from shootuporputup) has a tame pharmacy buddy who describes people with diabetes as 'cash cows'. We may be the bane of the surgery budget, but the pharmacy earns money for every item then dispense to us from what I can gather. If a pharmacy told me I had to wait a week they would not see me again 😱

My GP offer the standard 48 hour line on scripts, though they are often ready within 24 hours and ill then take it to one of several local pharmacies whichever is the most convenient

 

[KateR]

Our surgery has a reasonable system where if you order on a Monday, the scrip is collected by the pharmacy and is ready for collection by the Friday (sometimes earlier).

 

[Vicsetter]

Tim (from shootuporputup) has a tame pharmacy buddy who describes people with diabetes as 'cash cows'. We may be the bane of the surgery budget, but the pharmacy earns money for every item then dispense to us from what I can gather. If a pharmacy told me I had to wait a week they would not see me again 😱

My GP offer the standard 48 hour line on scripts, though they are often ready within 24 hours and ill then take it to one of several local pharmacies whichever is the most convenient

Just to clarify what you have said, our surgery is fighting it's ability to dispense drugs as a local chemist has applied to open a pharmacy in the village. Our surgery has said that the dispensing service funds 1 GP which the village will lose if the chemist wins, so there is big money in dispensing prescriptions.

 

[robofski]

I order mine through the local Co-Op pharmacy and if I call on a Monday it will be ready for collection on Thursday. Much easier than having to deal with both the surgery and the pharmacy!

 

[pippaandben]

I used to take in a repeat prescription and it would be ready to collect in the afternoon 2 days later. Now I order on line and it is ready the next day - handy if you want to send it out of hours and over weekend. However when I broke a pen (the plunger snapped when changing cartridge) they gave me on on the spot - no question, no argument. I live in a town with a large pharmacy and this is the problem with the order/collect service - they rarely have the full prescription - or say not recieved it(!) and the wait is horrendous - as are the stories from others in the line. So get it from surgery and take to independent small chemist with looong opening hours as even if they don't have an item in stock it is guaranteed next day in 12 - yes twelve - hours!!

 

[SimplesL]

My monthly prescription is on an automatic script & I just turn up in the designated week at the chemist to pick it up. No problems with this, only time it didn't work was in the early days when metformin increased to 4, I thought script would be updated but only old amount held by chemist.

Seems docs signed script a couple of days before my meds changed, so not updated until the following month. No real issue as I just went back to surgery who arranged for a prescription that day & picked up on my behalf the next day & filled by time I'd finished work.

The surgery does have itsown pharmacy, but you can only use it if you do not live in the town or the near villages. It covers quite a large rural area & so those who live in a village further afield or 1 where there is no chemist use the surgery 1.

 

[Steff]

If I put a script in mond I'd get it wed

 

[sacol4940]

I order mine online, pick it up 48hrs later from the docs and then go collect the stuff from a chemist that night

 

[DeusXM]

I always avoid using the chemist to collect the repeats. Boots always took a week to do things (and once managed to send my stuff to the wrong branch on the other side of London because some idiot couldn't tell the difference between Clapham and Camden), while Lloyds runs a very weird and inflexible system where they only seem to order on a monthly basis, whereas I had a pretty good agreement with my GP that I would get three months worth of insulin and one month's worth of test strips and BP tabs in one script. That completely confused everyone at Lloyds who then kept ordering this every single month despite me telling them I only wanted the strips so I ended up carrying home over 6 months worth of insulin when all I really wanted was another 28 Lisinopril tablets.

Now I just order my repeats from the doctor - they usually take about 48 hours and the chemist is actually in the GP's building so I then walk the 5m from the GP reception where I collect my script to the chemist desk. I figure as I need to be in that building anyway to get my medication I might as well cut out the part of the chain that causes the problem.