Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Pennyfarthing]

Called to collect prescription at our surgery today.  It says on the form allow 3 working days.  It wasn’t ready and she says it is now SEVEN DAYS!  I told her it says 3 days on the repeat prescription form and she directed me to a notice saying it is now 7 days because they cannot get them done in that timeframe. 

I think that’s far too long and wondered how long others have to wait.

[Postmeno3]

So, yeah, it seems to take longer than we'd like! My prescriptions arrive at the surgery the day after I've consulted with the specialist, but it then gets passed to the attached pharmacist who, either before or after, runs it past the gp who then takes a while to okay it before it goes to the chemist who can't seem to process anything very quickly at all. From specialist to prescription in my hands can take anything up to ten days. It's not ideal, especially if up to the wire with supplies running out or, like me, Estring on a time frame.

[Flossieteacake]

7 days seems a long time to me. I have to order any prescriptions online and they are sent to my local chemist to be collected. It usually takes 2 or 3 days. My GP surgery will only accept prescriptions online now.

[Gracie]

2 days as everything is ordered online.
I requested via E-Consult a prescription for Ovestin last Friday (first time using it). Following Monday it was forwarded to my nominated pharmacy and I picked it up on Tuesday.

We only ever have to wait 2 to 3 days for our repeat prescriptions. 
Service is amazing thanks to technology and a very efficient surgery.

[Ju Ju]

That’s really poor. I do my prescriptions digitally. Last time I put mine in first thing in the morning and it was done within a couple of hours. I have learnt to ring the pharmacy to let them know I am collecting otherwise I have to queue up twice for ages as it unlikely to have been dispensed. As the pharmacy is quite a distance, this isn’t much fun. I go to this particular pharmacy as they do answer the phone if they are not rushed off their feet.

[Taz2]

Ours says to allow 48 hours but we get a text message when it's ready which is often within 24 hours.

[Pennyfarthing]

Thanks everyone.

I will contact the Practice Manager and tell her that our service seems a lot slower than other  parts of the country!

I ordered it online on Thursday night so I expected it to be ready today. 

[getting_old]

As they're not seeing patients in person it makes you wonder what they're doing 

[C.C.]

If I bring in a new prescription to our pharmacy, I just have to wait maybe 10-15 minutes for it to be filled. If I refill a prescription by phone, I can pick it up within an hour.  For a prescription renewal, we have to book a phone appointment with our doctor.  Or, we can have the pharmacy fax the renewal request to the doctor's office, which could take a day or two to get. Our provincial health insurance won't cover faxed prescription renewals, so our doctor charges $25.

[Pennyfarthing]

I emailed the surgery last week to ask about this and my GP rang me back today. She says there are acute prescriptions and repeat prescriptions and I am talking about repeat ones.  An acute prescription is when you see the GP and they prescribe something and you get it straight away.

She says she doesn’t believe many places can do repeat prescriptions quicker than 3 days.  I said I was told 7 days and then she said they would never make anybody wait more than 3 days if they needed the medication urgently.  She also said there is a nationwide shortage of some drugs and that’s why they can’t turn them around in 3 days.  She says they are hoping patients could be considerate enough to allow 7 working days and suggested I get my repeat prescription order in a few days earlier. I said she needs to tell her staff to explain it better then because they told me to allow 7 days on several occasions.

[Flossieteacake]

I emailed the surgery last week to ask about this and my GP rang me back today. She says there are acute prescriptions and repeat prescriptions and I am talking about repeat ones.  An acute prescription is when you see the GP and they prescribe something and you get it straight away.

She says she doesn’t believe many places can do repeat prescriptions quicker than 3 days.  I said I was told 7 days and then she said they would never make anybody wait more than 3 days if they needed the medication urgently.  She also said there is a nationwide shortage of some drugs and that’s why they can’t turn them around in 3 days.  She says they are hoping patients could be considerate enough to allow 7 working days and suggested I get my repeat prescription order in a few days earlier. I said she needs to tell her staff to explain it better then because they told me to allow 7 days on several occasions.

That is strange because the prescriptions I get in 2 days are the repeat ones. I have heard there are a shortage of drugs but I thought if that were the case then there would be a hold up in the pharmacy and not at the dr surgery were they are just issuing the prescription.

[getting_old]

There is definitely a shortage of drugs, but that's something I've only discovered at the pharmacies. It would help if the doctors did know about shortages of certain drugs, but they don't always know which pharmacy you'll be using. The three times it's happened to me the doctors have provided the prescription then the pharmacies have told me they don't have the drug in stock so in one case I found the medication at another pharmacy, the second time had to get an alternative prescription and third time the pharmacist suggested an over the counter medication.

[Kathleen]

Hello ladies.

As we know GP surgeries have a lot of autonomy in how they organise themselves and it doesn't matter what you  think of the service if that is all that is available to you. It's not like you can take your custom to another part of the country that is performing better lol.

Pennyfarthing - I assume your surgery thought their notice about a 7 day  turnaround was a good way to tell patients that they could no longer manage the 3 days as per the form. Perhaps your surgery is struggling with staff shortages?

Take care ladies.

K.

[Pennyfarthing]

There is definitely a shortage of drugs, but that's something I've only discovered at the pharmacies. It would help if the doctors did know about shortages of certain drugs, but they don't always know which pharmacy you'll be using. The three times it's happened to me the doctors have provided the prescription then the pharmacies have told me they don't have the drug in stock so in one case I found the medication at another pharmacy, the second time had to get an alternative prescription and third time the pharmacist suggested an over the counter medication.

There is a pharmacy at our surgery and patients use that.