Repeat Prescriptions

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janine19

janine19

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi All,

Ive been having few problems with my repeat prescriptions and wondered if u can help. The past 3 that I have ordered have been wrong! I order them on the internet which is my surgery's way of preventing mistakes!!!!

The first time they gave me lancets instead of testing strips! 2nd time same again.

This time they prescribed me disposable novo pens instead of cartridges!

I have checked on my internet order and each time i have ordered the correct stuff but they have got it wrong.

Because I work 30 miles away from home and its takes me at least an hour to get home I am not available to pick it up when they are open. I have to go on my early finish but when its wrong I then have to wait 2 days for a new one. The receptionists have been mixed with me some very appologetic and others very rude, and have tried to blame me! With the novorapid she even tried to tell me it wasnt prescribed to me! When I informed her I had an almost empty box in my fridge so it had to be there she suddenly was able to find it!

Does anyone work in a GP practice or pharmacy that has any inside knowledge of the system or anyone else had this problem. I have complained at the reception but I am ready to take it further and inform the practice manager.
 
Hi Janine with me my pharmasist that i get my prescription from is actually closed for three month it is inside a supermarket you see and thats being renovated so thats a nark for me now i have to go to my surgery etc etc and change it over let them no blah blah all the usual..
BUT as for what you where saying 2 weeks ago i was running low on test strips and the way it works with mine is i telephone in and they sort it for me that way well this time when i went to collect they said it is not ready they said 2 more days so i was like ok i can handle that i still had 10 left , i went back and she coud not find my prescription so she went on the computer looked and said ohh looks like they have not re-ordered she said how many are you using a day i said 2 she said ahhh there must of assumded your only using 1 a day so 50 would be plenty which is how many is in each pot , she said sorry about this but i will have to re re oder if you get me i said look i wont have enough she said well we can give you a pack of 10 so i had to take them and gladly when i went back 2 days later they where i,
My gripe was that she made me feel bad for using 2 , the gp's should not assume i only test once a day 😡😡
 
I had some initial problems with my surgery cocking up the repeat prescriptions. I asked for lancets and testing strips as well as some needles. Got given a new box of Novorapid and Levemir. Didn't ask for them but got them anyway.

Its settled down a bit now but I've often had to get the pharmacy to ring the surgery and ask for permission to dispense what I actually asked for. Course that can only happen Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.

I've said on here before that at the pharmacy I had a stupid pharmacist tell me I didn't have to test my blood sugar "that often". I think I said 4 times (3 meals and Levemir shot at night). I explained I was a new diabetic which shut him up. Perhaps he was thinking of type 2 diabetes? Who knows?

I've also spoken to another type 1 diabetic on MSN, not from these forums, who asked me how often I tested my blood sugar. Told him 4x a day. His practice said he should be able to make a pack of 50 testing strips last about 25-30 days. :D

I think the best thing to do would be to complain to your GP or the practice manager if there is one. Explain what they are doing wrong and how it affects you if they make a mistake. Perhaps drop something about potentially running out of insulin or needles and see if they get the hint about how dangerous that would be.
 
Yes lots of problems!

Last month i asked for levemir - they got it wrong 4 times!
They tried to tell me i could only have it in dsiposable pens - until i explained we need a cartrdge as the pen goes up in half unit increments and a disposable doesnt! Then they got the name of it wrong. Then they gave us just the pens without insulin. Finally i got the chemist to write down exactly what they needed to see on the prescription and it worked!!!!!!!!!!:confused Bev
 
It's certainly worth asking the pharmacist what the prescription is for. That will at least say if the chemist or the GPs got it wrong.

The internet engine for your repeat prescriptions might just generate an email to someone in the GPs this is almost certainly the case if you have to type each item, rather than selecting from a list of items you have on repeat.

If this is the case, someone then goes to your record, with the email on screen and selects the item they think is what you want from the approved list for you. Then the script is printed and your GP will sign it, and the pharmacy will collect it and process it.

So, if the person operating the system isn't computer literate or just goes for the easiest option then you're always going to find this as a problem, until the practise puts measures in place (Quality Assurance!) to ensure everything is checked.

My PCT have a system called 'repeat dispensing'. Every six months I sit down with my GP, we go through my current medication, make any changes and then a set of scripts are printed - I think its four in total - as some dose last 28 days others longer or shorter they grouping of the items has been prepared onto the four pages, although with the way my pharmacy now works this is slightly academic.

The GP then prints six sets of the scripts, signs them and hands them over to me, I wander round to Boots, hand them over and on the 13th of the following month they will make up my entire prescription, ready for me to call in and collect. There are advantages:

The order is always correct as I was there with my GP - if not its the pharmacy who made the mistake so easily and quickly recovered
My prescription is always ready on the 13th of the month
My prescription very rarely has anything out of stock
The GP sees me and my scripts for the repeat review and doesn't need to see me for another six months, or spend the time or their staffs time printing and signing new scripts every month
I don't need to pester anyone and can collect when I need to.

There are downsides

If my meds change I need to get a new set of scripts for that item printed - the old item or changed item is simply erased by the pharmacy - a pen through the line!
Sometimes different items are used at different rates to other items, so you could have 6 weeks supply of some items and 4 weeks of others.

All in all it works very well for me. Worth asking if something similar is available near you.

Oh, as for your current problem, yes, report it to the practise manager, if you don't they can't do anything to rectify this for you and I am sure there are others in the same position as you.
 
We take our requests for repeat prescriptions down to the surgery. As we have had problems in the past we take a note book and ask the recpetionist to sign to say we have handed her the repeat prescription. Some of them will sign and some of them wont. Invariable it gets lost or is wrong when they wont sign...
 
That's just getting back at you for asking them to do something not in their job description - putting their name to anything.

Repeats are a problem for us in rural areas, where the journey to the GPs, then to the chemist is a trek from home, nevermind when you work 20 odd miles in the opposite direction!

The system I outlined above works incredibly well for me, now we've worked the gremlins from the system. The sooner the NHS introduces a scheme for central booking of prescriptions the better, has to reduce fraud and save the time of everyone - and gives the patient ultimate freedom.

Ho hummm I'm blue in the face holding my breath on enough things already, don't think I'll add this one to the list. 😉
 
never had a real problem as the one time they got it wrong i called them, they got it re issued with the right items on it while i was on the phone and they sent it to the pharmacy who then delivered it for me. all in the same day.
 
My luck has improved with my repeat prescriptions, after a lot of messing about and wrong stuff being prescribed. I am lucky, i always go to my local chemist and because im always in there.. or so it seems.. they will lend me anything that i have run out of until my script is ready.:D I know what it is like when you are out in the countryside... lovely to live in but not when you need local facilities.. doctors , dentists, chemists etc I was brought up in the middle of nowhere so i know how hard it is.
 
i haven't had too many problems with my repeats at my surgery. I always take the repeat tot he surgery and then go back 3 days later to collect it then take it to the pharmacy myself. this means I can check it before I leave the doctors. The only problem I had was they once prescribed me ketone blood test strips when i had asked for glucose test strips. I told the receptionist that it was wrong and I waited for the next Dr to finish their appointment and she did the correct prescription.
 
Thanks everyone. Makes me feel bit better that its not only me. Im gonna write to the manager.
 
Ok, i know i have moaned about my gps before........but i have to say they have been fantastic with my prescriptions. Hope im not tempting fate now 🙄

I send my repeat by post, with sae and within couple of days i have my new script.

Couple of weeks ago had a real problem. Just gone onto lantus, went to get my new pen out of the fridge and the whole box was frozen! My mistake had left them in the cardboard box and placed at back of fridge, they must have got stuck on the element thingy, froze and i did not realise. Rang surgery all panicky as needed new pen that evening. told receptionist, who looked up my script, they were not on there, as not received letter of change from hospital. but she was great, just confirmed what i needed, said could i collect it today and it was done. :D
 
I haven't had many problems

with my prescriptions as I have a very helpful pharmacist who bullies the surgery when things go wrong. Prior to settling with them I moved around pharmacists quite a lot - remember as a diabetic you're a very valuable customer for a pharmacist - so make them work for you! Otherwise, fire them!

This is, however, probably more practical in a city where there's a high concentration of friendly pharmacists.
 
I just drop my repeat request at my surgery and then 2 days later pick up all the items direct from the pharmacy as they pick up the completed prescription from the surgery for me and then prepare the items ready for me to pick up. Therefore only making one trip to the surgery to drop the repeat off.

It works very well and only had one hiccup when changing from metformin to the slow release version a couple of weeks ago. The GP prescribed me the normal metformin. I never noticed it until I picked up the prescription and pointed it out to the pharmicist. He told me to leave it with him to sort out. Next day I went in and he had it all out with the surgery and I had the correct metformin or glucophage SR (I think they are called).

As someone said previously us diabetics are a catch for the pharmacies and they want to keep us. For example I take 11 tablets a day and also inject lantus. My prescription alone is probably good money for them.
 
MarcLister said:
We are? Because of the huge number of things we need on a regular basis?
Click to expand...

Exactly! Most of the kit we get is quite expensive - especially things like lantus - and the pharmacist gets a nice cut. It's also good regular business - after all our diabetes is hardly going to get better! ;-)
 
Exactly... thats why my friendly chemist is only too happy to "lend" me stuff if i run out and am waiting for my prescription to be prepared.
 
Thick doctor!

I've just picked up my repeat prescription. I had written a request for an Autopen 24 as I need a backup for the 1-21 unit pen for my lantus. I have 2 2-42 unit pens but now need to be able to make single unit adjustments - I'm currently on 11 lantus.

Sooooo, I wrote down very explicitly that I needed a 1-21 unit pen - even included the product code - and what do I get? You guessed it, a 2-42 unit pen...grrrr!!!! It's not urgent, but now it means trailing back to the surgery/pharmacy next week. It was impossible to misinterpret what I had requested, so I'm totally unimpressed😡😡
 
the problem was that you requested it so it was bound to get ignored, if it had been the hospital then you'd have had better luck

its great when we're not taken seriously about what we require, you'll probably have to attempt to get it added at least twice more
 
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