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[juliaC]

Hi there, I'm interested how much hrt do ladies get from the GP at any one time?

I get a month's worth but the month goes by so quick I'm ordering again.  Does anyone ask for more?  I think I have before but only got sent one month's supply.  Just wondering if GP's generally supply more in view of the fact we are going to be on it a while and it saves keep ordering.

[Dotty]

Hi I get 3 months.

[sheila99]

There doesn't seem to be a general rule, it's up to the individual surgery. I get 3 months, the other local surgery will only give you 1 month.

[chopsuey]

Since the HRT shortages started a few years back, I only get a month at a time via Patient Access. So far they have refused to put estriol 0.01% on repeat and I have to request it on paper every couple of months and hope they give it to me. There's probably different policies in different areas. 

[Ayesha]

It seems all down to each individual surgery. I have recently had my medications put on a three monthly repeat, apart from Vagifem. This has made me suspicious because as far as I know there is no shortage and although I have written a note to the surgery pharmacist, my message is being ignored, picking up yet again a single box.
There seems to me to be too many obstacles with Vagifem dosage, if you don’t use two pessaries a week as the leaflet suggests then you have a fight on your hands, she/he has a habit of sending me a message saying my prescription should last longer and to request a repeat when necessary, all this when my GP has agreed that Vagifem should be on a three monthly repeat and my prescription reads daily use.

 

[CLKD]

I get 2 boxes of estriol - other meds are prescribed on a monthly basis even though they R on repeat.  Saves wastage.

[jillydoll]

I get 3 months supply of utrogestan but only one bottle gel every month.
Luckily I’ve got a couple bottles of gel for back up ‘ just incase’.

[bombsh3ll]

This really highlights the disparity between the care of fertile women and that of post-reproductive women.

The contraceptive pill is typically provided in 12 months instalments by the NHS, yet menopause hormone therapy is grudgingly supplied in dribs and drabs that women constantly have to keep on top of chasing prescriptions.

I suspect this is deliberate in the hope that you will either give up taking it, since it is so difficult to get a timely and reliable supply, or fund it privately.

I wish there could be some kind of campaign about this to compel practices to provide frictionless access to repeat prescriptions and supply a reasonable quantity so that users are not constantly at risk of running out.

[DottyD68]

Any HRT I have had has been prescribed on a monthly basis which is really frustrating. However because I have chopped and changed several times and the pharmacy wont take back unused prescriptions I have had a drawer full of unused HRT on several occasions. I'm sure I am not alone and lots of ladies have unwanted/unused HRT for this very reason. This all adds up to a lot of wastage so I can understand a financial reason for limited prescriptions to avoid wastage. Annoying as it is. I tend to redistribute any unused HRT amongst friends who are on that particular prescription.

[juliaC]

Thanks for all the replies.  I will ask next time if they will supply for 3 months as I do constantly seem to be chasing the prescription and god help me if I have a patch come off and have to put another on early.

[bombsh3ll]

I don't buy the idea that it's about avoiding waste because a prescription can be dispensed in installments.

For example my dad takes oxycodone which is a controlled drug and the surgery refuse to let anyone have more that 4 weeks at a time.

It was very stressful and he was constantly running out, so I asked them if they would send a prescription for 8 weeks to the pharmacy, with instructions to "dispense 4 weekly".

Now, I only have to chase up the prescription at the surgery every 8 weeks which is massively time saving for all concerned, and the pharmacy deliver the second 4 week installment when it's due without me even having to phone them.

Additionally the biggest cost to the NHS is clinician time, not a pack of medication that costs a couple of pounds or even pennies in some instances.

Think what the GP, pharmacist and administrative staff involved in processing your request are all being paid hourly - turning over prescriptions on a large scale every 4 weeks is a colossal waste of the NHS's most precious resource.

The health board next to mine where my in-laws live have a policy of GP's sending 12 MONTHS of long term prescriptions to the pharmacy, and the patient collects a month at a time. It's brilliant and very little medication is wasted.

[DottyD68]

I think the instalment approach is a good one and manages the supply issues but unfortunately not used by any pharmacy I've ever dealt with. Our pharmacy is brilliant but overrun with the continuous repeat prescriptions so the instalment approach would help them. I still can't believe that we still use a physical paper-signed system which is highly inefficient from a process and timing perspective.

There was a huge amount of waste after my FIL died. Boxes and boxes of high nutrition milkshakes that had on repeat for months that he rarely drank and the same with my Mum's Ensure drinks. She was prescribed 4 a day and never drank the prescribed amount. I don't believe they cost pennies as we has originally tried to source them ourselves.

I appreciate that Clinician's time is expensive but it's not just the £ cost. If you tot all the unused prescriptions up there is a bit of landfill being used up there. The pharmacies refused to take it back for reuse/disposal so it went in the bin.

[bombsh3ll]

I think there's also a responsibility on the patient's side not to keep ordering something you don't use, and if it keeps being dispensed unsolicited, tell the pharmacist.

It's also very wasteful that unwanted prescriptions can't be restocked by pharmacies - if it is in pristine unopened packaging, in date and doesn't need to be kept in the fridge, there's no need for it to be binned.

This policy doesn't even stop at medication, they won't even take back things like compression stockings returned unopened due to wrong size!