Why do NHS prescriptions take so long to dispense?

Diddums

Diddums

Diddums

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Walk in to the pharmacy in a hospital, hand over prescription, answer a few questions, wait.

Been 45 mins so far, loads of people waiting. I see this as nothing more than incompetence, is there a valid reason this takes so long?
 
So not completely sure if it's the same in normal pharmacies, but from my experiences going into Boots every few weeks for mine..

- Person A collects medicine, counts it.
- Person B looks at medicine person A counts, then signs off on it (Can't give away too many drugs)
- Person A or C will then make you pay (If it's pay on collection)

So with 10-20 people at a time, waiting can be painful. If they need to count each person's individually, get it signed off by their manager and then go to the next one.. It can be a bit hellish.

I like your reason though. I don't understand how it takes 20 minutes to give me a pack of 60 painkillers..
 
Would you prefer they rush and give you too many/too few/the wrong medication?

Any decent pharmacist will also be checking that the medication prescribed is appropriate for the person and condition it's being prescribed for, and will check your medical history (if it's available) for any other medication you are taking to make sure there aren't any potential interactions.

45 mins is a bit excessive, but then it's a hospital pharmacy - it's likely they won't just be dispensing medication for the people you can see waiting, but also dealing with doctors/nurses requesting medication for their patients as well.
 
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Diddums said:
Walk in to the pharmacy in a hospital, hand over prescription, answer a few questions, wait.

Been 45 mins so far, loads of people waiting. I see this as nothing more than incompetence, is there a valid reason this takes so long?
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You are in a hospital. If someone on a ward needs a non-standard item quickly where do you think they get it from? Who do you think ensures the wards have the requisite stock?

You may see incompetence - they may see an emergency in a department you aren't even aware exists, the manager may see staffing levels reduced as a result of pay freezes and budget reductions, someone may be off sick, they may not give a stuff, they may be incompetent.

How can we know unless we know the particulars of that hospital at this time. :confused:

If you think 45 mins is a long wait try getting TTOs for a ward ...
 
What bugs me is that if you are given a hospital prescription as an out patient you "Must" get it fulfilled at the Hospital pharmacy! You cannot take it home and get it from you local Boots/whatever at your own convenience.

Not only is this a massive waste of time (And increases the delays for the in-house dispensing!)

It also costs since you have to pay for an hour or twos extra car parking!

:mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Boots in particular seem terrible at this. On a simlar subject, why, when I order my repeat prescriptions from Boots online pharmacy does it take 3 weeks for them to actually arrive? It's not usually a problem as they are repeats I can plan accordingly, but it just seems bizarre - especially as they're sent first class recorded so it's not the Royal Mail holding things up.
 
Orionaut said:
What bugs me is that if you are given a hospital prescription as an out patient you "Must" get it fulfilled at the Hospital pharmacy! You cannot take it home and get it from you local Boots/whatever at your own convenience.

Not only is this a massive waste of time (And increases the delays for the in-house dispensing!)

It also costs since you have to pay for an hour or twos extra car parking!

:mad: :mad: :mad:
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This is decided on a per hospital basis, if you are issued an FP10 you should be able to be get it prescribed anywhere, but the hospital are able to limit that to their own dispensary (although it's usually financially detrimental to do so, so there is a trend away from this behaviour)
 
It's so that they can keep up the illusion that they are actual "chemists" by pretending to go round the back to their lab and concoct the medicine up in beakers for you.

In reality they are just shop keepers in white coats who go to the stock room, read the paper for a bit, then come back with a box of pills they got off the shelf.
 
estebanrey said:
In reality they are just shop keepers in white coats who go to the stock room, read the paper for a bit, then come back with a box of pills they got off the shelf.
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Based on what?

The "shop keeper" giving you your "box of pills they got off the shelf" will most likely know more about how the medication works and the various factors which affect it's efficacy than the computer operator who types your symptoms into a search engine and writes down the recommended medicine on a piece of paper... er... sorry, I meant "doctor" ;)
 
estebanrey said:
It's so that they can keep up the illusion that they are actual "chemists" by pretending to go round the back to their lab and concoct the medicine up in beakers for you.

In reality they are just shop keepers in white coats who go to the stock room, read the paper for a bit, then come back with a box of pills they got off the shelf.
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Yes Este, they just go and pick up the box from the shelf.

They don't have any education in things like negative interactions between different medications, the side affects of the medications, the appropriate doses for different ages, their contents so that they can tell if you've got an allergy that it might cause an issue.

:rolleyes:
 
estebanrey said:
It's so that they can keep up the illusion that they are actual "chemists" by pretending to go round the back to their lab and concoct the medicine up in beakers for you.

In reality they are just shop keepers in white coats who go to the stock room, read the paper for a bit, then come back with a box of pills they got off the shelf.
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You clearly do not know what you are talking about :rolleyes:
 
scorza said:
Boots in particular seem terrible at this. On a simlar subject, why, when I order my repeat prescriptions from Boots online pharmacy does it take 3 weeks for them to actually arrive? It's not usually a problem as they are repeats I can plan accordingly, but it just seems bizarre - especially as they're sent first class recorded so it's not the Royal Mail holding things up.
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If you are ordering online, it may well be this is being sent as an electronic prescription from your doctors. If that is the case then the chemists themselves only get it on the date your script is dated from the doctors. It may well be going as a post dated script from your doctors, because otherwise it looks like you had requested 3 weeks early and might have been flagged up at the surgery side
 
estebanrey said:
It's so that they can keep up the illusion that they are actual "chemists" by pretending to go round the back to their lab and concoct the medicine up in beakers for you.

In reality they are just shop keepers in white coats who go to the stock room, read the paper for a bit, then come back with a box of pills they got off the shelf.
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Pharmacists are more qualified before entering practice than physicians. Their job aside from just fulfilling your prescription is to be the second check that prevents you being given medicines that have bad interactions, or that cause a problem with existing medical conditions you have.
 
Abraham said:
Pharmacists are more qualified before entering practice than physicians.
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That's quite misleading - practitioners have differing levels of interaction with patients. Pharmacists have little face to face time and medical staff have more. Therefore, it is far more important for medical staff to gain that experience - that is part of their education. Likewise most nurses will be directly interacting with patients and therefore it makes sense for them to initiate patient contact straight away. If you are talking about qualified to practice independently then the figures are again meaningless and it is arguable what independently actually may mean. For example, I would class a nurse as being able to act independently until they are an experienced band 6 and a doctor the equivalent of a SpR.
 
Xordium said:
That's quite misleading - practitioners have differing levels of interaction with patients. Pharmacists have little face to face time and medical staff have more. Therefore, it is far more important for medical staff to gain that experience - that is part of their education. Likewise most nurses will be directly interacting with patients and therefore it makes sense for them to initiate patient contact straight away. If you are talking about qualified to practice independently then the figures are again meaningless and it is arguable what independently actually may mean. For example, I would class a nurse as being able to act independently until they are an experienced band 6 and a doctor the equivalent of a SpR.
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I understand the reasoning for it, and I'm not suggesting it means they are better/worse, just clarifying the level of their qualification in response to it being suggested they are just shop keepers.
 
At the pharmacy in Coventry hospital they give you a bleeper that goes off when the prescription is ready. I think my record was two hours.
At the local pharmacy in the village they usually tell you to come back the next day...
 
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