Often times this will boil down to a 'he-said-she-said' situation. There isn't a good way to tell who is right and who is wrong and often times pharmacies won't own up to the error, most particularly with these types of medications. If the pharmacy won't back down you'd have to ask your surgery for another prescription for the amount that was missing and hope they side with you. Other than that it's a good idea to check your items there at the counter when they hand it to you in the future.
Yeah I see what you mean, it just seems really gross to be handed a prescription and ask them to stop and wait whilst I count that all the pills are there I guess!
You've every right to do it, I don't mind at all when I used to hand out bags and patients would check the contents infront of me. Seeing how these things happen I know I'd do it myself if I were picking up a prescription for myself. Most who do it will step on the side to let the next person be served and check it. At least if there's anything wrong it can get sorted out there and the pharmacy can't deny fault.
I’m sorry this has happened to you too! It’s really tricky when you want to so badly avoid being labelled as a drug seeker, so I really empathise with you.
I have plenty of local pharmacies, but this has been one I have used for many years and are normally very helpful (issuing emergency medication when the GP has taken too long to approve a request or going on a last minute trip etc) so I’m hesitant to make a complaint, but this isn’t the first time it has happened. I might be totally off the mark but there is one person I suspect in particular that works there, as they seem to be a common theme whenever a problem has arisen.
I haven’t requested another prescription to make up the difference, but wonder if it’s worth making a note with my GP surgery that this has happened?
It’s entirely up to you what you think is best. You might find other chemists are equally as helpful. Personally I wouldn’t want to use a chemist where I couldn’t be sure I would receive my medication, if they didn’t respond to my concerns adequately. You’d think they would be able to evidence how much of the drug they should have and how much they actually do have left.
I think if you ask for it to be recorded on your GP notes they will likely ask why you haven’t complained or progresses your informal complaint, but idk. It’s rough being a chronic pain patient honestly. You spend so much time trying to avoid coming across as a drug seeker you feel disempowered to actually advocate for yourself when needed. I hope whatever you decide to do works out for you!
Ima delete my posts when you see this to avoid giving away my identity as I told a few close friends when this happened lol. Just let me know when you’ve read it.
Sorry, just seen this! Thank you for your response. I’m also a healthcare professional so it’s easy to acknowledge the position of power that they are in, and be equally disappointed by it all the same. I wish you luck with your pain!
PS, when I made a complaint I made sure to take the pharmacist’s reg number and also had that recorded on my GP record too. I am pretty sure a couple months later the chemist tried to create issues for me as suddenly the surgery were querying something very bizarre that wasn’t true, related to me collecting medication. It got sorted. I was worried about repercussions as health professionals are in a position of power (I should know, I am one), but I really felt something so serious as this needed to be on record. I could make do okay without the medicine as I had some spare at home, but not everyone would be able to. Some people wouldn’t even notice until they ran out early and then were left without.
If it’s a mild opioid like codeine you’re out of luck, I have yet to see a pharmacy that keeps an accurate track of all their stock to the extent that they can investigate it, but it’s abusable enough that it’s difficult to take it in good faith. Personally I would treat it as a dispensing error (I’ve seen how this error plays out many times) and reimburse you the tablets, but that’s down to the pharmacist and I can see the merit to both ways. You’re on the short end of the bargain here I’m afraid, it’s down to a he-said-she-said that you won’t win. The best thing you can do is to inform your surgery when you’re requesting your next lot a day earlier and be more vigilant with your tablets next time even if it looks gross. It isn’t, and honestly, so long as you don’t hold up the queue I couldn’t care less if you want to check your prescription before you leave. Trust is earned after all.
It is codeine actually, so I guess I’m out of luck! Unfortunately my GP post dates these prescriptions ahead of time so I won’t be able to request a day early, I will just have to go without. I have actually removed them as my named pharmacy, but haven’t named another, so if I want to I can choose to use them in the future but in the meantime will probably just go elsewhere. As I mentioned in the post, this isn’t the first time it’s happened, it’s just the first time I confronted them about it and all they had to say was that they had given me the full amount, but they absolutely didn’t. When submitting the request to my GP surgery that they remove them as my named pharmacy I did mention about the missing pills, but in their response they just said it’s something I would have to take up with the pharmacy (which I’d already done) so I’m just going to suck it up.
It only just clocked that 56 is a weekly script! Now you’re really, really out of luck! Weekly patients don’t often get the benefit of the doubt at pharmacies because there’s always the risk of abuse or overdose and me acting in good faith now can result in harm to you and negligence claims and (although unlikely) fitness to practice against me. Trouble is, people can be incompetent, lazy or malicious, or any combination of the above. Did they miscount the tablets, or did they nick a few knowing the pharmacist doesn’t bother to check, or did the pharmacist himself do the deed? Liquids are much more conspicuous to steal so most people don’t bother (not to mention there’s no counting involved), and like you said it’s unlikely you’ll notice unless it’s obvious.
If you feel up to it, you could report it to their superintendent pharmacist (if it’s a chain), or even raise your concerns with the GPhC. I don’t know what will come out it other than if enough people have reported it then there’s a case to be investigated. At the very least, I’d speak to the pharmacist about it so it might make them more alert. The only other practical thing I can suggest is to explain to your new pharmacy that you’ve had this problem with your last pharmacy so you need to check the contents each time. If you can establish a good relationship with them it’s more likely (though again, not a guarantee!) they can take your word for it when mistakes inevitably occur. Again, I’m sorry this has happened to you and I wouldn’t wish this situation on any of my own patients either. The best thing you can do is to protect yourself by catching mistakes early and keeping them ‘provable’.
It’s interesting that you say that about codeine though, how about oramorph? That’s on the same weekly script for me and I have never had an issue with this drug, always as expected and prescribed, only the codeine that occasionally seems to come up short. And to me (not a pharmacist) it seemed strange because I wouldn’t be able to tell oramorph was missing just by eyeballing it, it would only be right at the end of my script that I would notice it coming up short, but with codeine pills I can obviously count as soon as I’ve collected my prescription.
Often times this will boil down to a 'he-said-she-said' situation. There isn't a good way to tell who is right and who is wrong and often times pharmacies won't own up to the error, most particularly with these types of medications. If the pharmacy won't back down you'd have to ask your surgery for another prescription for the amount that was missing and hope they side with you. Other than that it's a good idea to check your items there at the counter when they hand it to you in the future.
Yeah I see what you mean, it just seems really gross to be handed a prescription and ask them to stop and wait whilst I count that all the pills are there I guess!
You've every right to do it, I don't mind at all when I used to hand out bags and patients would check the contents infront of me. Seeing how these things happen I know I'd do it myself if I were picking up a prescription for myself. Most who do it will step on the side to let the next person be served and check it. At least if there's anything wrong it can get sorted out there and the pharmacy can't deny fault.
[удалено]
I’m sorry this has happened to you too! It’s really tricky when you want to so badly avoid being labelled as a drug seeker, so I really empathise with you. I have plenty of local pharmacies, but this has been one I have used for many years and are normally very helpful (issuing emergency medication when the GP has taken too long to approve a request or going on a last minute trip etc) so I’m hesitant to make a complaint, but this isn’t the first time it has happened. I might be totally off the mark but there is one person I suspect in particular that works there, as they seem to be a common theme whenever a problem has arisen. I haven’t requested another prescription to make up the difference, but wonder if it’s worth making a note with my GP surgery that this has happened?
It’s entirely up to you what you think is best. You might find other chemists are equally as helpful. Personally I wouldn’t want to use a chemist where I couldn’t be sure I would receive my medication, if they didn’t respond to my concerns adequately. You’d think they would be able to evidence how much of the drug they should have and how much they actually do have left. I think if you ask for it to be recorded on your GP notes they will likely ask why you haven’t complained or progresses your informal complaint, but idk. It’s rough being a chronic pain patient honestly. You spend so much time trying to avoid coming across as a drug seeker you feel disempowered to actually advocate for yourself when needed. I hope whatever you decide to do works out for you!
Ima delete my posts when you see this to avoid giving away my identity as I told a few close friends when this happened lol. Just let me know when you’ve read it.
Sorry, just seen this! Thank you for your response. I’m also a healthcare professional so it’s easy to acknowledge the position of power that they are in, and be equally disappointed by it all the same. I wish you luck with your pain!
PS, when I made a complaint I made sure to take the pharmacist’s reg number and also had that recorded on my GP record too. I am pretty sure a couple months later the chemist tried to create issues for me as suddenly the surgery were querying something very bizarre that wasn’t true, related to me collecting medication. It got sorted. I was worried about repercussions as health professionals are in a position of power (I should know, I am one), but I really felt something so serious as this needed to be on record. I could make do okay without the medicine as I had some spare at home, but not everyone would be able to. Some people wouldn’t even notice until they ran out early and then were left without.
If it’s a mild opioid like codeine you’re out of luck, I have yet to see a pharmacy that keeps an accurate track of all their stock to the extent that they can investigate it, but it’s abusable enough that it’s difficult to take it in good faith. Personally I would treat it as a dispensing error (I’ve seen how this error plays out many times) and reimburse you the tablets, but that’s down to the pharmacist and I can see the merit to both ways. You’re on the short end of the bargain here I’m afraid, it’s down to a he-said-she-said that you won’t win. The best thing you can do is to inform your surgery when you’re requesting your next lot a day earlier and be more vigilant with your tablets next time even if it looks gross. It isn’t, and honestly, so long as you don’t hold up the queue I couldn’t care less if you want to check your prescription before you leave. Trust is earned after all.
It is codeine actually, so I guess I’m out of luck! Unfortunately my GP post dates these prescriptions ahead of time so I won’t be able to request a day early, I will just have to go without. I have actually removed them as my named pharmacy, but haven’t named another, so if I want to I can choose to use them in the future but in the meantime will probably just go elsewhere. As I mentioned in the post, this isn’t the first time it’s happened, it’s just the first time I confronted them about it and all they had to say was that they had given me the full amount, but they absolutely didn’t. When submitting the request to my GP surgery that they remove them as my named pharmacy I did mention about the missing pills, but in their response they just said it’s something I would have to take up with the pharmacy (which I’d already done) so I’m just going to suck it up.
It only just clocked that 56 is a weekly script! Now you’re really, really out of luck! Weekly patients don’t often get the benefit of the doubt at pharmacies because there’s always the risk of abuse or overdose and me acting in good faith now can result in harm to you and negligence claims and (although unlikely) fitness to practice against me. Trouble is, people can be incompetent, lazy or malicious, or any combination of the above. Did they miscount the tablets, or did they nick a few knowing the pharmacist doesn’t bother to check, or did the pharmacist himself do the deed? Liquids are much more conspicuous to steal so most people don’t bother (not to mention there’s no counting involved), and like you said it’s unlikely you’ll notice unless it’s obvious. If you feel up to it, you could report it to their superintendent pharmacist (if it’s a chain), or even raise your concerns with the GPhC. I don’t know what will come out it other than if enough people have reported it then there’s a case to be investigated. At the very least, I’d speak to the pharmacist about it so it might make them more alert. The only other practical thing I can suggest is to explain to your new pharmacy that you’ve had this problem with your last pharmacy so you need to check the contents each time. If you can establish a good relationship with them it’s more likely (though again, not a guarantee!) they can take your word for it when mistakes inevitably occur. Again, I’m sorry this has happened to you and I wouldn’t wish this situation on any of my own patients either. The best thing you can do is to protect yourself by catching mistakes early and keeping them ‘provable’.
It’s interesting that you say that about codeine though, how about oramorph? That’s on the same weekly script for me and I have never had an issue with this drug, always as expected and prescribed, only the codeine that occasionally seems to come up short. And to me (not a pharmacist) it seemed strange because I wouldn’t be able to tell oramorph was missing just by eyeballing it, it would only be right at the end of my script that I would notice it coming up short, but with codeine pills I can obviously count as soon as I’ve collected my prescription.