Eletronic Prescriptions

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Stuart,

The sticking point for me was when during the setup phase, they asked for a password of up to 16(?) characters to contain all the usual rubbish and so I gave them one – 16 characters long. Then they asked for character 17 so obviously something, may well have been me that did it – probably put in a space somewhere, had gone wrong. Then to reset the password, they needed to send a code to my mobile 'phone – for which I hadn't supplied a number. I asked about them sending the code to my landline – no can do, yet HMRC do it quite successfully. So I tried to enter my mobile 'phone number – can't be accepted, something to do with them not having my email address which was wrong because they DO send emails to me. So I tried to reset my email address to something else – but I've already got an email address!

So, can't correct my password because of no mobile ' phone no. Can't enter my mobile 'phone number because they haven't got my email address. Can't change my email address because they've already got one.

At which point, after finding out that I needed to go into the surgery to obtain a letter to reset and start again, I said "Sod it, I'll use the old fashioned land line and leave a message". At least that works ok.

This, by the way, was a little over 12 months ago. Then, to cap it all, the dental surgery sets up a system for patients to directly input their medical history. No problems with that, but what, for example, does Stent inserts count as? Heart? Or Chest? And what, in heaven's name, is antibiotic protection. And why, when inserting the date, eg 25 Nov 2021, does it reject it and require Nov 25, 2021. (Don't bother answering, I know the answer- it's American s/w.) And that's just three of the queries. So having got over some of those hurdles, and it being bedtime, I saved the work so far, and went to bed. The following day I could not access my data. The surgery did something at their end, sent me a new code so I could start again, and guess what, all my data from last night is still there, but what a bloomin mess. But at least I got there.

Now I know that the dentist and the doctor are two totally separate organisations. But doesn't it show the abysmal state of both sets of software when things like the above can occur. One would think, or perhaps I'm being hopelessly naive, that the NHS with its £billions could at least get easy to use English s/w.

Peter G. Shaw

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

It seems more and more that a 13 month year would be a good idea, Tesco salaries and state pension pay every 4 weeks which would be great if bills came every 4 weeks. If suppose it would have to be a government initiative to to press salaries and bills to be on a 4 week cycle. My salary used to paid on the 15th of the month or on the previous Friday if it fell on a weekend, this threw up the 5 week month nonsense. Fortunately I am not on a regular prescription for anything yet but dealing with my mothers prescriptions highlighted the waste and inefficiency of the system. Any alteration to her regime generated surplus tablets that could not be returned other than for disposal. After she passed away I collected a carrier bag full of unused tablets and that was after recycling the cartons. It always staggered me how busy the village pharmacy was, as least a couple of girls always busy assembling prescriptions and unpacking crates of drugs etc. delivered daily it seemed. A delivery van and driver seemed to be kept busy for people unable to collect. Since 1996 my NHS app informs me I have had 5 prescriptions and two of them were covid jabs. I expect the doctor would find something to prescribe for me. My mothers neighbour who was 96 told me that being old is not much fun and over the last 5 years or so and having to deal with my mother and mother in law in their 90s through a long decline I rather feel that it would be lovely to reach a grand age with everything working passably well and get taken out suddenly by something quick and catastrophic. Got to book up my Aortic aneurysm check now as all lucky 65 year olds are offered one, a friend had to have a surgical repair for his, apparently women are not screened but it took my aunty out in a matter of minutes, she was not a blood relative so no inherited problem’s likely. I am sure people are happier if they keep away from doctors, ignorance is bliss but the AA is unlikely to be survived if it blows dramatically.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 25/11/2021 13:36:19

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

My older sister died suddenly of an Aortic aneurysm, as you say 'over in minutes', my check showed no problem.

Tony

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Was in my doctors today for an injection so I had had chat with the Practise Manager she blamed the pharmacy for the problem which is always the case and i will not bore you with the details but suggested in use Patientaccess which I told her I did but stiil had problems she suggested I give it another go to which I replied the were two items which couldn't be ordered through Patientaccess yes she said you need to phone your pharmacy for those well if I need to phone the pharmacy for two items I may as well order the lot ! At this point I decided banging my head against the wall would be more productive

H

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Posted by Tony Pratt 1 on 25/11/2021 14:06:32:

My older sister died suddenly of an Aortic aneurysm, as you say 'over in minutes', my check showed no problem.

Tony

Checks for the size of any aortic aneurism can be hit and miss, I was under annual checks for increase in size of an AA at my local hospital, it took around 1 minute with most of the radiographers, they just took 1 size reading at the top of the aorta, this went on for 10 years with a slight increase in size every year.
I was then referred to a Specialist Centre at Addenbrookes in Cambridge, on my first appointment a radiographer named Rob did a check on the aorta, I asked if what he was doing was an annual check to which he replied it was.

This was a totally different experience to what I had been receiving during annual checks.
Rob scanned from the top to bottom and both femoral branches, measuring at many points along the way which revealed I needed a fairly urgent repair as the aneurism extended from the femoral branches up to and past the renal branches, this area had never been scanned by my local hospital.

After having a full MRI scan the consultant surgeon said he would check the stent manufacturers to see if a tailor made stent could be made to accommodate the renal branches. I was contacted after 4 weeks to inform me the stent had been received so went in and had an EVAR (endo vascular aortic repair), access to the arterial system was from the groin and upper arm. Discharged after 3 days in hospital.

Emgee

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Every 4 weeks I have to go on the surgery website and re-order both my wife's and my own pills. It's always the same, we don't have any 'as required'. Someone then has to endorse it on behalf of the doctor and send it to the pharmacy, who then use trained people to pick the boxes of pills off a shelf and put them in a bag. What a waste of everyone's time. The surgery would know if they prescription had changed, and in that case would update the computer records, similarly if I've died the NHS would know via the death registration. It could all happen automatically, every 4 weeks the computer sends a message to a robot in the pharmacy, which picks the pills and sends them to a second check robot, and sends me an email to remind me to pick them up. There are 3 pharmacies within 50m of our surgery, so there must be plenty of money in it, but even tho I've pre-ordered most times I have to wait, outside in the cold and rain.

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Feeling really lucky (privileged). I live in a rural area several miles from the nearest pharmacy.

So the doctor's surgery can dispense. The village is four miles or so from the surgery, and there is a community system in place for repeat prescriptions.

I order repeats online at the surgery website. The surgery dispenses and on the next delivery day (Mon, Wed or Fri) a (carefully vetted) volunteer delivers the prescription to my door.

Before Covid prescriptions were transported to the local agricultural repair place in the centre of the village and we collected them. Covid closed them down and the volunteer system was instituted by the parish council. For those who don't have internet, prescription request forms can be dropped at the volunteer's house and they will be taken to the surgery for dispensing a couple of days later.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Because getting prescriptions after they have been sent in electronically is so chaotic at our doctors/pharmacy, yes they are in the same building, I ask for them to be delivered, it costs nothing and saves countless wasted journeys to the pharmacy when the prescriptions are not ready. Currently we have to allow two weeks from when we submit our internet request to actually receiving the items. Telephone calls to the doctors are a marathon event, the number is continually engaged, when you finally get through you get an answer such as “you are number 25 in the queue” very frustrating, I thought technology was supposed to enhance our life experiences. Dave W

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

I have had a problem with getting my prescriptions since we have had a new practice.

I have to adjust my Steroids at short notice, so there is no chance for a standard repeat prescription set-up. In the past I have requested my needs via Boots Pharmacy with no problems. A few months back I requested some Gastric coated 1mg tablets.

Went to collect, and no tablets. Calling the Surgery they were telling me I had enough Steroids to go on with, (all 5mg's), also that the 1mg were not manufactured in Gastric coated. Boots were also telling me that they did not make them. On the NICE site it said they did supply them. One of the suppliers was Alliance, who are owned by Boots, so an email to the CEO resulted in the tablets being available at the Pharmacy within two days.

However the prescription did not get through to Boots for another week, and that was only after I raised the matter as a compliant with the surgery. A problem on the "Smart Card" was duly held responsible by the surgery, along with profuse apologies, but it also transpired following a complaint to the Care Commission that they had stopped the supply of the 1mg Gastric coated in Gloucestershire.

Again this week we had the same scenario as the opening post. Request to the Pharmacy never made it to the surgery, apparently. An email to the Practice manager did, and my tablets were picked up yesterday.

Personally I would trust my Pharmacy 100%, my Surgery, well that is a different matter. After 10 years working for the NHS, I only converse with the Surgery after this fiasco via email, they are not so keen to handle the truth unwisely, when it has to be written down.

Regards

Gray,

[Anonymous]

I'm curious …. do pharmacies in the UK do compounding any more? That is can they mix medicines from scratch or are they only licensed to supply "ready-made".

Here in Ontario, the latter is almost universally true. There are a very few "Compounding Pharmacists" around but you can go miles to find one. Pharmacists are simply not trained to do it any more. They just take stuff off the shelf and stick on a label.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

About the closest I have seen recently is Simple Linctus sold in pharmacies ready made, years ago chemists, they weren’t known as pharmacies then, would mix up the remedy in their premises, a lot to be said for the old fashioned remedies that Chemists use to mix and supply. Progress 👎. Dave W

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

I might be slightly biased here, I work for a local Pharmacy on a part time basis, twenty hrs every two weeks, I share the job with another gentleman. I use the doctors web site which I log into every couple of weeks for my wife and I and its random as well, I'm presented with my medication, fifteen items, which have a box to tick if I can order them, no box if I cant, at the bottom of the page there is a comments box if I require items that don't at that time have a tick box. I start by writing good morning I have run out of the following/or soon to and end with thank you. I print a copy so that I know what I've ordered and click send, If I send on the Friday I can walk into the chemist for work on the following Monday and I'm sometimes given my drugs etc or its waiting to be prepared. In all the time I've been diabetic I've only once, a few months ago, not received anything and that was for the needles for my injections and this was because of supply issues by the manufacturer, there are many other manufacturers so with the doctors permission I had another make.

My chemist is ordering and receiving stock on a daily basis, every order is next day deliver but occasionally there is a shortage, this is sometimes topped up by generic items, the items are delivered by me and I have to face verbal annoyance because the generic tablet doesn't "work" even though under law it has to be manufactured exactly the same as the licenced manufacturer created it. The next issue is the verbal abuse the staff in the shop get from customers because the chemist hasn't done their prescription because they haven't received it from the doctors or the ten minute wait for the drugs because the staff and chemist are knee deep in paperwork from the doctors.

Martin P

[Cyril BonnettParticipant @cyrilbonnett24790]

If I send a request for a repeat prescription and it takes 5 working days exluding weekends, to get to the surgery, we don't have the pleasure of it being posted directly to us.

So I put in a request for medication first thing in the morning, write at the bottom " paper prescription please" pick it up in the afternoon, jump on a bus to town, Lloyds takes less than 10 minutes to process, walk off down the high street to my favourite cafe' and have a decafe coffee and a giant slice of chocolate cake, yummy, time taken 2.5 hours, free bus pass only costs are a fiver for cake and coffee, What a wonderful world we live in.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

To qualify my post above about waiting two weeks for prescriptions to be actioned the bottleneck in our system always appears to be the Doctors Surgery, it seems to take them forever to authorise electronic prescriptions. Dave W

[Anthony KendallParticipant @anthonykendall53479]

Posted by Cyril Bonnett on 27/11/2021 22:50:32:

If I send a request for a repeat prescription and it takes 5 working days exluding weekends, to get to the surgery, we don't have the pleasure of it being posted directly to us.

So I put in a request for medication first thing in the morning, write at the bottom " paper prescription please" pick it up in the afternoon, jump on a bus to town, Lloyds takes less than 10 minutes to process, walk off down the high street to my favourite cafe' and have a decafe coffee and a giant slice of chocolate cake, yummy, time taken 2.5 hours, free bus pass only costs are a fiver for cake and coffee, What a wonderful world we live in.

Good for you mate. Like it!

[Anthony KendallParticipant @anthonykendall53479]

Posted by Harry Wilkes on 25/11/2021 15:35:12:

Was in my doctors today for an injection so I had had chat with the Practise Manager she blamed the pharmacy for the problem which is always the case and i will not bore you with the details but suggested in use Patientaccess which I told her I did but stiil had problems she suggested I give it another go to which I replied the were two items which couldn't be ordered through Patientaccess yes she said you need to phone your pharmacy for those well if I need to phone the pharmacy for two items I may as well order the lot ! At this point I decided banging my head against the wall would be more productive. H

Yes Harry, give up. I have similar problems, always the doctors, not the pharmacy.
When it goes wrong, I ask why, then, is anyone fixing it for next time else it will keep happening – greeted with strange looks and no desire to sort it. A simple admin process – such a shame admin people have no skills in one particular area – admin.!

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Despite what I said in my two previous messages, our system does work, and reasonably well at that. Obviously I can't comment on the electronic ordering procedure, but using the "leave a message" procedure, it works thus:

Ring the "Repeat Presciption line" which is separate from the general appointments line.

Listen to the messages, one of which advises to allow 3 days/72 hours for processing, then press a key depending on the destination of the prescription. We have three pharmacies, two in the town centre and the third on site. As the surgery is out of town, I always select "Boots" as it is easier for us.

Then speak, name, date of birth, and the medications required. Job done.

As it happens, my wife accidently gave my mobile 'phone number to Boots pharmacy who then send a text message advising when ready for collection, but usually we collect during the week following the request. Normally, I resist all requests for my mobile 'phone number, but thought that this could be of use so left it as is. I'm not too sure about Boot's efficiency in using it as we have often collected the items without receiving a message.

On a personal basis, I always place my request well in advance of actual requirement date. This is to cover for times when surgery/pharmacy may be closed, or if we are going away, or if something goes wrong. Never had a problem with this, in fact I doubt if the surgery realises as I'm usually careful with the actual request dates.

As I have implied in the earlier messages, all of my problems have been with the convoluted software used for electronic ordering of items. I have never had a problem with either getting the items or having them authorised by the surgery.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

My local surgery has swapped its telephones for ouija boards, at least that's what it feels like if you try to ring them up

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

My local group of surgeries uses the "my surgery" website which could be difficult for some, seems to work for me, and the prescription is relayed to the pharmacy of my choice for me to pick up about 4 working days after I make the request.

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