Surgery rant!

[Copepod]

Actually, the pharmacist who works most often in the chemist I usually use, has type 1 diabetes - he let it slip when he commented that his GP prescribes just 1 box of insulin at a time, not the 4 boxes I get. Obviously, I need long acting more often than short acting, and never at the same time (well, perhaps once every 5 years or so), but it makes life so much easier, especially as it's best to get new insulin into cool as soon as possible, so I only collect on my way home, not on my way out anywhere, like I can with other items.

 

[Rivki061]

Grrrr! 😡 Well, you know how I feel about this It is so lazy of some doctors to fail to notice when they have capable and motivated patients and brush them off with such a terrible lack of understanding. I could perhaps understand if diabetes was a rare condition but it's not, many of their patients will have diabetes and it is negligent of them to offer such poor help and advice. Not only that, but gliclizide should automatically allow for provision of an adequate supply of strips. Just WRONG!!!! Grrrrr!!!

I know just how you feel Alan and I quite agree with you; sadly I don't seem to have a lot of say in the distribution of testing strips!

 

[mcdonagh47]

I have asked two GP's for the strips and have so far had no success;another thing I've heard is that they are unnecessary if you are not on insulin but I have been on Gliclazide and I have had a couple of hypos.
Looks as though I will once again need to fund them myself!

actually NICE Guidelines on Type 2 Diabetes guarantee test strips to about 70% of T2s i.e. The 40% of us on insulin and the further 30% ( ?) on sulfylonureas.

You are on a sulf (gliclazide) so you are absolutely GUARANTEED test strips.
print off the relevant section of the NICE guidelines on sulfs and go kick your GP's door down. If you are still refused them find a no win, no fee lawyer and bring a MALPRACTICE suit against your GP.

You are the victim of medical negligence ...
you should never have been prescribed Glic without test strips !!!!!

 

[Lauras87]

actually NICE Guidelines on Type 2 Diabetes guarantee test strips to about 70% of T2s i.e. The 40% of us on insulin and the further 30% ( ?) on sulfylonureas.

You are on a sulf (gliclazide) so you are absolutely GUARANTEED test strips.
print off the relevant section of the NICE guidelines on sulfs and go kick your GP's door down. If you are still refused them find a no win, no fee lawyer and bring a MALPRACTICE suit against your GP.

You should never have been prescribed Glic without test strips !!!!!

Mcdonagh - my gp said the (old) pct guidelines & nice guidelines were irrelevant so I got my DSN involved.

If anyone was thinking of sueing for clinical neg etc you need to be careful sueing on a no win no fee basis as after 1 April 2013 (thanks to the government) you MUST ask the solicitor how they are running it as in no win no fee NO success fee or are they taking 25% of your damages (if successful) to pay for uplifts.
Sorry just thought I'd put my legal input in

 

[Northerner]

I think the problem is that NICE guidelines are viewed as that - guidelines, and not compulsory Although a GP needs a darned good explanation for going against them which they can't possibly have in most cases

 

[mcdonagh47]

I think the problem is that NICE guidelines are viewed as that - guidelines, and not compulsory Although a GP needs a darned good explanation for going against them which they can't possibly have in most cases

This is the ruling ..."Where NICE has approved a treatment, the NHS must fund it."

 

[Northerner]

This is the ruling ..."Where NICE has approved a treatment, the NHS must fund it."

Thanks for clarifying, and it makes sense since NICE guidelines are founded on affordability and efficacy 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Hurrah! Just been to collect my prescription for test strips and it has been put back up to 300 again 🙂

 

[delb t]

yeyy-result!

 

[PattiEvans]

Phew! A good result!

 

[AJLang]

I'm really pleased🙂

 

[Lauras87]

Hurrah! Just been to collect my prescription for test strips and it has been put back up to 300 again 🙂

Wohoooo, that's good news

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Hurrah! Just been to collect my prescription for test strips and it has been put back up to 300 again 🙂

Really pleased for you 🙂

 

[JontyW]

I've been following this thread with interest, and am only replying now since I had my annual review with the GP earlier in the week, and thought I would ask a few questions about repeat prescription amounts/frequency.

Anyway, before attending the appointment I did a detailed check on every medication on my repeat prescription (18 in total to treat: diabetes, asthma, atrial fibrillation [warfarin], hypertension and Addison's Disease) and calculated how many weeks each one would last based on my current usage rate. The average duration was 7 weeks, but both Humalog and Test Strips were less than 4 weeks due to increased usage during the past year.

My extremely nice and helpful lady doctor said their policy has been historically to prescribe no more than 4 weeks supply, but they were now planning on increasing this to 8 weeks in order to reduce the work load. She said the reason for any limit is to reduce wastage since there are still many patients who don't 'manage' their repeat prescription properly resulting in high wastage levels. She mentioned that many elderly and poorly educated patients continue to order even though they have reduced or stopped taking them. Some even tick every box every time! Clearly the doctors need to check/review such issues but often don't have the time other than at annual reviews.

Anyway she readily agreed to increase my One Touch Ultra test strips to 5 weeks supply, and commented that they are one of the cheaper ones and the doctors get annoyed when T2s buy their own meters that then require prescriptions for really expensive test strips .. so they plan to get that changed in the future. Regarding medication for long-term conditions like diabetes, she agreed that obviously the wastage argument does not apply, and they try to match the frequency with the other medications taken .. in order to minimise the work load .. made sense to me!

Our medical centre is really well organised and I order my repeats online and can either collect the script myself or collect medication directly from a pharmacy of my choice.

BTW: TODAY ... I have achieved 3 score years plus 10 ... plus 1. Happy 71st Birthday Jonty 🙂

My Dad made it to 95 (and never took a pill other than occasional aspirin) ... so that is still my target!!!

Jonty

 

[Redkite]

Happy birthday Jonty! 🙂

 

[bev]

Happy Birthday JontyBev

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Happy Birthday Jonty 🙂

 

[Northerner]

Happy birthday Jonty! 🙂 You are taking good care or yourself, so I think you should aim for five score years minimum 🙂

Good to hear that you have a doctor who listens 🙂 I can see that it is a huge problem with waste in the system if people are just ordering things but not using them. I guess also that the more senior members of our society who do this are all on free prescriptions whatever they are being treated for, so it comes without a financial penalty for the patient.

 

[JontyW]

Many thanks for all the birthday wishes .. much appreciated 🙂

When I was in the medical centre just now I read a leaflet on the wall called "Repeat Prescriptions", where it stated that Hampshire PCT and Portsmouth City spend (waste) ?10 million per year on wasted medication which has to be thrown away. It then followed with about 5 bullet points on what patients need to do to prevent this happening .... those points already mentioned plus asking patients to review their needs regularly with pharmacy or doctor, check how many you have before ticking etc .. so quite rightly putting the responsibility on them to manage them correctly.

Such wastage reminds me of the enormous number of "no-shows" for outpatients appointments. Once again it is often the disrespectful and ignorant that don't turn up whereas the older age group are very good. This analysis done in 2007/8 shows a waste of ?600m :-( Just think how that money could be usefully spent ....

http://www.drfosterhealth.co.uk/features/outpatient-appointment-no-shows.aspx

 

[PhilT]

Happy Birthday Jonty 🙂.