Legal enquiry regarding behaviour of Pharmacy staff.

quintus

Hi.
This may sound a bit odd but I felt like I have to find out where I stand with this.
My partner who suffers from an ongoing anxiety condition regularly uses a particular Pharmacy to get her medication. She has used this Pharmacy for a number of years without any problems.
This pharmacy has recently had a staff change ( whether it's because of new management is unknown) .
My partner received her prescriptions in groups of four so as to reduce the need to travel to the doctors surgery. These prescriptions are then handed into the pharmacy to be stored on file and used when ever my partner needs to use them.
Recently though when we have gone to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription she is told that the prescription is the last one even though we know they have another three on file. This has happened on a number of occasions causing undue stress and anxiety on my partner.
If this happened once we would assume it is a genuine mix up but after it happening a number if times she is beginning to wonder whether she is being victimized in some way.
As anyone who suffers from anxiety can imagine this can be a very stressful experience thinking you are not going to be able to get your medication and the doctor not providing more prescriptions because according to them, they have already supplied them.
I myself have on occasion picked up the prescription and they have tried his in with me ( note it is always with a smirk on their faces)
We have no idea what is going on here and we wee wondering should we consult a solicitor or just change pharmacies.
To be honest what they are doing is cruel and outrageous.

SusieBlue

Consult a solicitor for what? Hurt feelings?
It sounds more like a miscommunication/poor administration protocol/general incompetance than a deliberate attempt to upset your anxious wife.
Switch to a different phamacy and move on.

partyguinness

Go and ask the doctor or the manager of the pharmacy.

There is no 'legal enquiry' here or else you have a sniff of some sort of compo shakedown.

Why don't you email the pharmacy rather than posting it here?

Captain Flaps

Ask to speak to the manager, discuss/highlight the problem (leaving out any notion of staff smirking etc, focus on the mistakes around how many refills are left) and have a note made on file, if they aren't able to meet your request then switch pharmacy. Keeping several months worth of a prescription on file is completely normal and they shouldn't have any issues with this. Any suggestion that staff are smirking or victimising your wife will just affect your credibility. I used to work as an OTC assistant and medications for anxiety such as lexapro, anxicalm etc are incredibly common, your partner wouldn't stand out at all in that respect - I can't see any reason why staff would treat you or your partner differently.

I assume the medication is controlled, and therefore you can't just fill 4 at once?

I agree that there is nothing actionable here at all, it should be easily resolved with a quick chat and if not then just move to a different pharmacy.

Is the pharmacy located near one of the larger supermarkets like Dunnes or Tesco? Where some customers might be aggressive towards staff.The pharmacy customers will be affected too.
I moved away from another pharmacy myself six months ago.
. Source your partners prescription with another pharmacy first, seriously

TheBoyConor

Perhaps they don't get into being asked for and having to decline filling all 4 perscriptions at once for fear she'd try to take an overdose.

GCIREL

If you're trying to reduce anxiety avoid legal battles. Move to a new pharmacy or speak to your current one now for a resolution. Maybe it's just me but I can't understand why you're even thinking about going down the legal route. Christ the world is mad enough without bringing a tonne of **** down on yourselves and a chemist who I'm sure at the moment is already up to their necks trying to take care of people!

CaoinDory

I'd be asking why they haven't kept the scripts already sent in on file. And if they are, ask to see them. Maybe explain what this is doing to your partner.

I suffer from GAD and I can imagine how stressed out your partner is. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Jane98

Why not ask them for a copy of the prescription? Surely this would clear things up.

punisher5112

Compo culture is seriously out of control.

If you or the other half have an issue let them know, if it's not fixed then change pharmacy.

How would one need to seek legal advice for been upset???

CaoinDory

Maybe the OP lives slightly in the anxiety world themselves. Anyone who does can understand how one may feel like this is something for this particular forum.

OP I can understand you may have felt the need for legal advise but thankfully I dont think you are there yet. Maybe try some other ways of solving it before looking at a legal route.

Also hope you and your partner are ok in these trying times. I know I've been finding it very hard myself. Xxx

kilburn

What I am taking from this is you have repeat prescription and get it when you need it as you said?

Repeat prescriptions expire after 6 mths even if you have only taken one or two

seagull

Is it a single repeat prescription for 4 months of medication, or 4 separate scripts, each for a single month? If it's multiple single scripts, then it's more likely to be incompetence in that they've only looked at the current script, and haven't looked for more scripts in the file.

Fleetwoodmac

OP why would you consider pursuing a legal claim which would inevitably cause additional anxiety and stress for your partner...
Your fortunate that removing the anxiety inducing stressor is so simple... change pharmacies. Pick your battles... this does not seem to be one worthy of your energy.

kilburn

kilburn wrote: »

What I am taking from this is you have repeat prescription and get it when you need it as you said?

Repeat prescriptions expire after 6 mths even if you have only taken one or two

Possibly medical card patient. Prescriptions are for a month only, but often issued in bundles of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 months.

quintus

punisher5112 wrote: »

Compo culture is seriously out of control.

If you or the other half have an issue let them know, if it's not fixed then change pharmacy.

How would one need to seek legal advice for been upset???

Not seeking compo. I'm well aware of the compo culture. Again a say WE ARE NOT SEEKING COMPO, JUST LEGAL ADVICE.

punisher5112

quintus wrote: »

Not seeking compo. I'm well aware of the compo culture. Again a say WE ARE NOT SEEKING COMPO, JUST LEGAL ADVICE.

So what do you want then?

Legal advice for been upset?

If you feel so bad move pharmacy or as mentioned speak with them 1st and give them a chance to rectify.

quintus

partyguinness wrote: »

Go and ask the doctor or the manager of the pharmacy.

There is no 'legal enquiry' here or else you have a sniff of some sort of compo shakedown.

Why don't you email the pharmacy rather than posting it here?

We are talking about prescriptions that have gone missing through negligence or some other means. This is not the first time. Like I said if it happened once we would understand and yes we have rang before to clarify the situation yet it keeps happening. This is NOT about compo.
Missing prescriptions is a serious matter especially when it may result in a person having to do without necessary medication.

quintus

quintus wrote: »

We are talking about prescriptions that have gone missing through negligence or some other means. This is not the first time. Like I said if it happened once we would understand and yes we have rang before to clarify the situation yet it keeps happening. This is NOT about compo.
Missing prescriptions is a serious matter especially when it may result in a person having to do without necessary medication.

Why not keep the scripts yourself and get them filled as needed?

quintus

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Perhaps they don't get into being asked for and having to decline filling all 4 perscriptions at once for fear she'd try to take an overdose.

A can't roll my eyes high enough after reading that. Seriously.

quintus

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Why not keep the scripts yourself and get them filled as needed?

After what's happened I guess we will have to do just that. At least it will eliminate the "Human Error" factor.
Again I say this is not about compo. I'm just genuinely worried about my partner's anxiety levels, especially with everything that is going on at the moment. That's stressful enough.
Thanks for your reply.

KevRossi

I used to have this with my Dad. Doctor would give us 3 prescriptions, we would bring one in each month to the chemist. They would not keep them on file and advised against doing so*. So maybe the previous pharmacist was doing your partner a favour and the new one is sticking to rules that applied in a previous pharmacy.

Best to chat to the manager to find out first.

*Should point out that as we were looking after our Dad they wouldn't keep them on file, but they kept them on file for a very small number of elderly people who had no carers and who would be more forgetful.

_Brian

Go to a new pharmacy and never ever let anyone but you hold a script.

quintus

SusieBlue wrote: »

Consult a solicitor for what? Hurt feelings?
It sounds more like a miscommunication/poor administration protocol/general incompetance than a deliberate attempt to upset your anxious wife.
Switch to a different phamacy and move on.

I would agree with you if it happened on a single occasion. It has not. We have spoken to the manager and it is still happening. I guess we will have to hang into the prescriptions and hand them in individually. At least that will take care of the supposed negligence/ human error factor.

con747

quintus wrote: »

We are talking about prescriptions that have gone missing through negligence or some other means. This is not the first time. Like I said if it happened once we would understand and yes we have rang before to clarify the situation yet it keeps happening. This is NOT about compo.
Missing prescriptions is a serious matter especially when it may result in a person having to do without necessary medication.

OP I had the exact same problem with my pharmacy in the midlands. What i done after the third mix up saying my 3 month prescription was "the last one" after only collecting the first or second month i now take a picture on my mobile of all prescriptions and have a reminder set to order new ones 2 weeks before current prescription expires. If the pharmacy has issues i can show them on my mobile that i have prescriptions in the system. No more issues since.

quintus

Fleetwoodmac wrote: »

OP why would you consider pursuing a legal claim which would inevitably cause additional anxiety and stress for your partner...
Your fortunate that removing the anxiety inducing stressor is so simple... change pharmacies. Pick your battles... this does not seem to be one worthy of your energy.

Thanks for your reply. We will hand them in individually as needed. This will be the best avenue of approach I think.
Just worried about my partner's anxiety levels as she has suffered anxiety related seizures in he past, so as you can imagine im just looking out for her.
It's a stressfull time for all at the mo.

CaoinDory

con747 wrote: »

OP I had the exact same problem with my pharmacy in the midlands. What i done after the third mix up saying my 3 month prescription was "the last one" after only collecting the first or second month i now take a picture on my mobile of all prescriptions and have a reminder set to order new ones 2 weeks before current prescription expires. If the pharmacy has issues i can show them on my mobile that i have prescriptions in the system. No more issues since.

Fantastic idea for the OP.

I dont get why everyone is bashing the OP? They asked a question. It required an ans. Yes you should seek advice or no you shouldn't. Why is everyone being so nasty?

quintus

CaoinDory wrote: »

Fantastic idea for the OP.

I dont get why everyone is bashing the OP? They asked a question. It required an ans. Yes you should seek advice or no you shouldn't. Why is everyone being so nasty?

Con747.
Thank you for that. Great idea. 😉

quintus

con747 wrote: »

OP I had the exact same problem with my pharmacy in the midlands. What i done after the third mix up saying my 3 month prescription was "the last one" after only collecting the first or second month i now take a picture on my mobile of all prescriptions and have a reminder set to order new ones 2 weeks before current prescription expires. If the pharmacy has issues i can show them on my mobile that i have prescriptions in the system. No more issues since.

Thank you for that idea. Great help.

TheBoyConor

Because their OP gave off them impression that they were considering some sort of legal action or investigation over some perceived slight or inconvenience caused by the perhaps a misunderstanding and possibly misinterpreting a friendly smile as a malicious smirk. Gave off a vibe of sniffing after some compo when in reality it could all probably be sorted out in 5 minutes by discussing it like adults.

CaoinDory

TheBoyConor wrote: »

Because their OP gave off them impression that they were considering some sort of legal action or investigation over some perceived slight or inconvenience caused by the perhaps a misunderstanding and possibly misinterpreting a friendly smile as a malicious smirk. Gave off a vibe of sniffing after some compo when in reality it could all probably be sorted out in 5 minutes by discussing it like adults.

If you live in the world of anxiety disorders these are daily thoughts. Not compo claims or scams. Just scary daily thoughts. Simple misunderstandings can become end-of-world situations. We just need to be aware that this is sometimes the case.