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Does anyone use an online pharmacy?

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LornaFarrell

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I’m getting very fed up with the pharmacy attached to my GP. Three times out of four they miss things off my repeat requests and I have to go back a few days later, dragging two children under three on a one hour round trip every time. An online pharmacy where I can order on a website and have things turn up via post sounds like the perfect solution!

Having said that, I’ve seen posters up at the local pharmacy advising against online ones (but then they would, wouldn’t they?!) and suggesting people are left without medication for weeks on end and that once you’ve signed up you can’t use the local one anymore.

On the other hand the online pharmacy do have good reviews. But who knows what’s going to happen to insulin supplies post Brexit so do I really want to add more uncertainty right now?

Argh! If anyone has used Pharmacy2U or any other online pharmacy I would love to hear your experiences. Thanks!
 
I have no experience with online pharmacy.
However, ...
Are you sure the problem with you prescription is the pharmacy?
I had problems with things missing, the wrong thing appearing and sometimes too many things ... rarely the same as I requested
The fault was at the surgery and the pharmacist was just prescribing according to the script they received.
 
Will have to agree with @helensaramay on this one. I would have thought it was the surgery messing up your repeat and not the pharmacy. All the pharmacy is doing is giving you what is on your prescription from the surgery
 
Hi Lorna
I use pharmacy2you.
Like you I had so many issues with my local pharmacy full filling my prescription. This either involved having to return two or three times to complete the prescription, usually joining a long slow moving queue only to be told that the pharmacist is on his or hers lunch so items can’t be dispensed, or is giving someone a vaccination or is reviewing someone’s prescription or giving advice on some medical query. Then despite requesting the prescription electronically the pharmacy staff have to root through a filing cabinet looking for a paper prescription and many tines I’ve been told oh we haven’t received one for you, or it’s been received but they can’t find the dispensed prescription after fighting through an enormous pile of white bags. I do have sympathy for the staff they are clearly trying to deal with huge numbers of prescriptions using a very antiquated system.
I have only been using Pharmacy2you for a short time but apart from some teething problems involving my surgery have had a prescription including insulin delivered to my home via Royal Mail. If you order insulin someone has to sign for the delivery but without fridge items your order can be posted through the letter box or left in a designated safe spot.
After setting up your items on your online account you can then request them and track your order online. The company contact your surgery to let them know to send your prescription to them.
As far as I am aware you can revert back to a local pharmacy if you change your mind and there is no charge.
Hope this helps
 
In Australia we have a online prescription service called MedAdvisor which takes the pain out picking up scripts.

I give my pharmacy all of my scripts, and when I need repeats filled, I order them through MedAdvisor and they get done and I can pick them up within a couple of hours from the pharmacy.

I ordered my scripts yesterday and and I had them delivered to my home about four hours later, we pay the pharmacy driver for the order and the delivery charge of $5.00.

It's easy to keep track on how many repeats I have left plus they send a notification when the scripts are starting to run out.
 

Yes, it’s definitely the pharmacy. I email the request direct to them and each time there’s a problem they have either not processed the email at all or processed some of the items and left others off. They have admitted the error and appologised, but that doesn’t actually help when it happens so often.
 

That’s good to know, it was them I was looking at and I wasn’t sure how it would work with insulin. Do you know which day the delivery will be so you can stay in to sign for it?
 
Hi Lorna
You should get a message from the pharmacy to say it has been dispatched and for insulin the order is sent by 24 hour delivery and you receive a message from Royal Mail to let you know it is out for delivery.
 
I have been using pharmacy 2u for 4 months I have no complaints ordered and delivered with in 5 days everything in one delivery +insulin
 
You may email your requests to the pharmacy but the surgery has to approve the requests and actually tell the pharmacist what they need to give you.
In my case, my surgery were manually copying (or not) from one electronic system to another, printing the bit of paper, signing it and sending it to the pharmacy.
This was even the case when I used to give Boots the repeat prescription request - all they did with it was to pass it on to the surgery and wait for the signed paper prescription to come back.
 
See if you can get web access to your GP to order repeat prescriptions, it advoids most of the errors. I think is a legal requirement for all GPs in England to provide it when asked.

If a pharmacy is run by a GP then they are not allowed to depence to you if you are able to use anothr pharmacy, this is because the GP is getting a much larger payment then a normal pharmacy per item. However it is possible to have a normal pharmacy, not run by the GP in the same building as the GP.
 

My parents use pharmacy 2u and are happy with the service and the prescriptions are delivered by Royal Mail, I use a local pharmacy which delivers using its own courier and I order every month using the patient access app on my iPhone, this app works well, I had the same problems as you describe using the pharmacy connected to my surgery and not having to visit 3-4 times every month due to not stocking sufficient supplies is a god send, so I would advise you to give it a go as changing pharmacies is relatively simple if it turns out not to suit your needs
 
Our GP have just gone over to patient access online system for booking appts and ordering meds. So far so good. I like that I can see my request, and when it had been processed. My local pharmacy couldn't find mine in the mountains of white bags they had, but after I showed them the confirmation, they had a much better look and found the meds!
 
You can also order a few weeks in advance and phone the pharmacy to check they have got everything in stock before going to collect it.
 

It’s the pharmacy who aren’t opening the email, or aren’t asking the surgery to approve all the requests. They have admitted as much. They have to send the request to the surgery, and they aren’t.
 
I just wonder how safe it is to send drugs through the post they could get into the wrong hands now it is advertised on the TV
 
LornaFarrell said:
It’s the pharmacy who aren’t opening the email, or aren’t asking the surgery to approve all the requests. They have admitted as much. They have to send the request to the surgery, and they aren’t.
Click to expand...

Then send the request directly to the GP.
 
ringi said:
Then send the request directly to the GP.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately you can’t, everything has to go through the pharmacy. Don’t ask me why, it’s an odd system but there it is!

To be honest, even if it worked perfectly nothing would change the fact that it takes 25 minutes to drive to the pharmacy from home, in a direction that I never go in for anything else. And I have to take two children under three with me. So it’s not exactly convenient.
 
ringi said:
Can you change GPs?
Click to expand...

No, I’m in a rural area and they’re the only one that covers this address. There are 5 surgeries that are closer, but in more densely populated areas so they won’t take us. I do like the surgery in general, it’s just getting repeat prescriptions that’s a problem.
 
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