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Beware online pharmacy,s

Ettywhiskers

Ettywhiskers

Newbie
Messages
1
Location
North Yorkshire
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Although online pharmacy,s who deliver seem a very attractive prospect please beware. I was twice left with no meds & had to get my surgery to issue an emergency prescription.
I was using pharmacy2U and because I also have exocrine pancreatic insufficiency I have to take meds whenever I eat. Apparently there was a problem sourcing these meds but They did not let me know that! I also had needles & test strips on same scrip but these were not sent either. After several stressful days I contacted them, only then was I told of the problem :(
I have gone back to using my local pharmacy - it isn't as convenient but at least you can discuss any problems with an actual person & they will also try & source meds from other pharmacy,s.
Sorry this post is so long, I just felt others should be aware.
Good health & happiness to all my fellow diabetics :)
 
Ettywhiskers said:
Although online pharmacy,s who deliver seem a very attractive prospect please beware. I was twice left with no meds & had to get my surgery to issue an emergency prescription.
I was using pharmacy2U and because I also have exocrine pancreatic insufficiency I have to take meds whenever I eat. Apparently there was a problem sourcing these meds but They did not let me know that! I also had needles & test strips on same scrip but these were not sent either. After several stressful days I contacted them, only then was I told of the problem :(
I have gone back to using my local pharmacy - it isn't as convenient but at least you can discuss any problems with an actual person & they will also try & source meds from other pharmacy,s.
Sorry this post is so long, I just felt others should be aware.
Good health & happiness to all my fellow diabetics :)
Click to expand...

To be honest, I think experiences can be mixed wherever we might choose to source our meds. I don't take any diabetes meds, but do take something for my thyroid.

Unfortunately, one brand doesn't agree with me, whereas the others are fine. Last time around my chosen local pharmacy only had the ones I didn't want, and eventually I had to go elsewhere, to another pharmacy, to source it.

Between me going in to collect the filled script and going elsewhere, I had been told I had already collected my meds (I hadn't), was then told someone else had collected them (they hadn't). Only my OH knew I had a script at all, and he was playing golf. My OH playing golf has nothing more on his mind!

I was seriously questioning my own sanity. I checked my bag - twice. Or, maybe it was three times, when eventually they found the little basket, containing the packages, off t one side. The meds had been picked, and labels printed, but not bagged up and stored in the usual way, as they knew I would likely reject the dispensing. They were right.

Of course, what happened wasn't the end of the world, but had I been a bit less well, or have a dodgy memory, they'd have had me go home with no meds and eventually who knows what would have happened with my Levothyroxine.

Things go wrong sometimes. For that reason, I always order meds early, before I am in danger of running out of anything.
 
Ettywhiskers said:
I was using pharmacy2U and because I also have exocrine pancreatic insufficiency I have to take meds whenever I eat. Apparently there was a problem sourcing these meds but They did not let me know that! I also had needles & test strips on same scrip but these were not sent either. After several stressful days I contacted them, only then was I told of the problem :(
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Exactly what happened with my GP based local pharmacy. So I switched to an online one who are wonderful when you call them with questions.
 
Antje77 said:
Exactly what happened with my GP based local pharmacy. So I switched to an online one who are wonderful when you call them with questions.
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I agree, I had terrible problems with my local pharmacies, but pharmacy2u have been brilliant. If you ring them they are very helpful. Yes I have to wait for my prescriptions, but i make sure I have enough to last, if I don't then I go through the nightmare of a local pharmacy getting it wrong for the umpteenth time......
 
I could tell you some horror stories about the repeat prescription ‘service’ I didn’t get from Boots!

One pharmacist, when asked if one new drug I’d been prescribed a while ago interacted with another, pulled the patient information leaflet out the box, read it and said “I don't think so”.
 
We have had real difficulties with Lloyds and Boots for ongoing blister-packed meds for my mum. They don't answer the phone, misplace things, say they can't help etc.

One of the problems is that there are drug shortages in the UK, although we make 15% more of drugs than we need. So much so that there is now a webpage that GPs can use to see if what they are prscribing is avilable! They are already short of time!

https://www.mims.co.uk/check-curren...ent=MIMS Prescribing Update (1)::&email_hash=

I guess the message is to stockpile ones drugs, although I guess that everyone has been doing this in view of possible worse problems after Brexit.

Best wishes
 
@SimonCrox - The link you posted requires full registration to view; just for info.

Whilst I do retain a buffer with my Levothyroxine, there is no way I could justify stockpiling. I would consider that to be inconsiderate. Stockpiling is surely part of the issue in creating specific shortages.

Aside from all else medications prescribed can change.
 
I have epilepsy and once had a pharmacist from Boots turn up on my doorstep one evening telling me he had accidentally given me the lowest strength of my medication rather than the highest, which I need.

Kind of shattered my confidence in Boots and as a result I've been with my local pharmacy (attached to the surgery) for years. I'm happy with it; they go the extra mile and couldn't be more helpful.
 
WuTwo said:
I have epilepsy and once had a pharmacist from Boots turn up on my doorstep one evening telling me he had accidentally given me the lowest strength of my medication rather than the highest, which I need.

Kind of shattered my confidence in Boots and as a result I've been with my local pharmacy (attached to the surgery) for years. I'm happy with it; they go the extra mile and couldn't be more helpful.
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I wouldn't have lost too much confidence in Boots. A mistake was made but it was noticed and the pharmacist called on you personally out of hours to put matters right. I call that reasonable service.
 
There’s no way I can stockpile medication as my pharmacy checks everything carefully and have had phone calls in the past if they’ve felt i’ve tried to order too soon after my last prescription, happy to order as I go anyway. Also feel stockpiling is taking advantage of the system.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
I wouldn't have lost too much confidence in Boots. A mistake was made but it was noticed and the pharmacist called on you personally out of hours to put matters right. I call that reasonable service.
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You may well, but supposing I had been away from home for the weekend? (It was a Friday). I can guarantee that if I had taken the lower dosage I would have had a full seizure by morning.
 
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