Medication supplies

When you are on drugs for any length of time it is important that your general health be monitored for any side effects. I find it concerning that a 6 month supply of drugs can be issued at once and that repeat prescriptions such as my dh has monthly are just doled out year on year without the doctor seeing the patient. These drugs are very strong and taking them over a long period of time can eventually be detrimental. Plus drugs are very expensive and do have a limited shelf life.
There must be someone else at your friend's practice that he can see and get a full explanation of what is happening.

Our surgery only issue repeats a maximum of 8 times before you have to see a Doctor so that would be a maximum of 8 months and certainly not year after year.

But patients are supposed to have regular medication reviews and GP systems should be set up to achieve this

Yes agree FF that’s what should happen

I used to get my prescriptions every 2 months then new rules say I can only have 1 months supply at a time . I pointed out to the surgery that I had purchased a pre payment certificate so it doesn’t matter how often I have it the cost remains the same. Might be worth your friend doing the same , the cost is about £100 per year

Sorry should also have said I can ask for extra if I’m going away. Twice a year have to have blood test to make sure everything is ok , hope this helps x

I am on medication for several life limiting illnesses and only prescribed one month supply at a time. If I am going on holiday U out in repeat prescription and more the reason it is earlt. I have not had a problem so far. GPs are asked to ensure patients don't stockpile medication as if the worst happens they cannot be used. Morbid I know, but the cost to the NHS is huge.

If this would be a life limiting condition without the medication prescribed, therefore essential I would probably contact either a consultant who may have originally prescribed or maybe there is a hospital clinic for said illness. Otherwise write to the local clinical commissioning body and request larger scripts.

Just occurred to me! Is your friend overdue for a check up? If patients ignored requests to see the doctor or nurse they would limit the amount of medication until they complied.

I've just received my monthly prescription of fragmin which is usually 1 injection per day but due to shortages with the supply my dose is unavailable so I've now got 3 injections of a smaller dose every day. I'll be like a pin cushion but hey it's better than being dead.

I get a month's supply; but we have a problem every month with the surgery's pharmacy not being able to get soluble Madopar (for PD) and sometimes they can only get tablets with a smaller dose in, so he finishes up having to take four of them four times a day - on top of many other tablets - but then they suddenly get the right ones and he just has to take 2 four times a day. You have no idea how this confuses him, and I have to use up a lot of time reminding him the dose has changed - and indeed trying to convince him that I am telling the truth!

Most GPs only issue repeat prescriptions for about 4 months and that will depend on what the drug is eg for depression, kidney disease. Then they will want a review visit. They are also encouraged to limit the amount on each prescription to prevent waste and patients stockpiling. Drugs/suppliers are always being reviewed for cost and effectiveness so there may well be hiccups now and again in obtaining usual prescriptions. Sometimes something like that enforces a full review of condition and treatment which can be a good thing.

Someone else has probably said it but all GPs now can only prescribe one month's medication at a time. DH used to get 6 months worth but now can only get one as can I. It's to do with so much going to waste if either not needed any more or if the patient dies. Even if unopened and in its original packaging all medicine returned must be destroyed!

We’ve only been able to get 1 months supply at a time....and of course a month in surgery speak is just 28 days. My husband has 7 pills to pop every day....half of them unecessary if he’d only get some exercise...and I have to sort his prescription out...no wonder I pop only one pill a day , and that’s for an ulcer! No change so far at our surgery.

For the past two months my pharmacist has not been able to get hold of enough Ropinerole. I have several conditions, I can only ever have a month at a time but this month in addition to not enough Ropinerole my Lidocaine patches have been stopped which gave me enough pain relief to walk. A combination I think of hoarding in other areas and cost cutting by our HA. A sign of things we are going to have to live with.

If I understand it, your friend still lives in the UK? With the move to electronic prescriptions, I would've thought he could have his 'sent' from his GP practice to any dispensing chemist.

Van-Nan Our GP surgery has just issued DH with a year's prescription for the medication he now has to take. However, this is held at the local pharmacy and he can only pick up 1 month's supply at a time; however, they have assured him that if we are away for longer then he can have extra supplies.

GrandmainOz - has your friend got a new consultant or does he not have to have regular hospital check-ups? He must have had to register with a new GP practice and the local Health Board would surely find him one nearer than having to travel right across the county? That does not seem right.
A sympathetic GP should issue a prescription for longer than one month in exceptional circumstances.

I have been told by a lot of my patients that their Doctor has told them there is no budget for them. It could be his age. He just needs to be a bit more demanding or ask for a consultant appointment
It makes me so cross

Most medications for chronic illness are on repeat prescription so trips to Dr's are only usually necessary for a review (which the pharmacy can often do). If you use a pharmacy such as Pilltime you can have the prescriptions delivered to your door and some local pharmacies will offer the same service. I am hopelessly scatty so Pilltime put every morning, lunch and evening dose in separate sachets so I can see at a glance what medication I need to take.

I don't understand, Hollydoilly10 - are you a practice nurse or are you talking about a specific patient who cannot obtain medication because of age?
That is, in fact, something I have never encountered.

It could be that the drug the man is taking is in very short supply so in order for everyone who takes this drug to continue taking it he has been restricted to two weeks at a time. I would suggest he goes across county to see the new specialist and see what he has to say.

We dont live in the UK but there have recently been drugs that are unavailable due to problems at the manufacturers. I went to the pharmacy to get my prescription based glucosamine tablets to be told that there aren't any at the wholesalers and its not known when it will be available. So I have ordered some from my vitamin supplier in England. Also some brands of blood pressure medication have been withdrawn making that in short supply.

Hello all. Thankyou for your many and varied responses. Much food for thought. Wishing everyone with health conditions all the very best

There are people who want to remain and will say and do anything that they think might stop it happening. They are stupid and wrong to interfere with a democratic vote and all they succeed in doing is fill people with worry. I do not think any of the scare tactics will happen. Some surgeries do not want to dispense large amounts of drugs in advance. I have only ever had a month supply at a time. Some medicines can deteriorate if not kept in the same temperature and there is a real risk of someone breaking in and stealing drugs in the homes of people who pick up large quantities at a time.

My prescriptions are written by a hospital specialists and their team arrange for equipment and the blood products I need to be delivered to my home for me to self administer on a regular basis. I am monitored and have to keep careful records which I email to the team looking after me on a monthly basis. These products are incredibly expensive but, without them, I am likely to end up in intensive care, which my nurses assure me would cost a great deal more than my current regime.

I still haven't heard when I will get these products again after I run out tomorrow. After a year of relative stability, I'm pretty depressed, but I'm obviously one of the stupid remainers carrying out scare tactics and trying to stop the democratic process by telling you how I am being affected.

nanamacgeek I sympathize. My friend fears a similar situation. It seems a great coincidence that a successful treatment regime of a decade has been thrown out of the window at this precise time. And it is definitely not for medical or safety reasons. My friend is a very confident and articulate person. He asked all the hard questions of his specialist consultant and his GP's both the old one and his new one.
No point me posting the answers he received as I'll be pounced on for scare mongering.
But I know what he was told. And he IS scared as a result. Furious too. And I don't bloody blame him.
We watched dear friends die horribly of his condition in the 80's and 90's and the sweet relief of these new drugs given in monitored, lengthy prescriptions to sensible, compliant patients was manna from heaven. Normal life became an achievable goal. And now he, and others, are plunged back into fear and uncertainty.

My DH is type 1 diabetic and is very concerned about medicine supplies being restricted, or for there to be a shortage.

He first rang the chemist to ask whether they expect supplies to be disrupted and, although they couldn't be sure, they said they are expecting disruption and possible rationing (his supplies come from Germany in the main). Quite how rationing will work when you rely on medicine to stay alive is disturbing to say the least.

He then rang the GP surgery asking the same, and the practice manager said DH was the first person to have asked this question. They are to have a meeting and get back to him...we shall see if they do.