Abolish The Ban On The Purchase Of Prescription Only Medication.

[david small]

Can’t get to see a GP, they are under their desk or On the golf course with Covid isolation. I know what I need, I know how to use it, but cannot acquire without prescription. I will pay, I want to pay, but can’t. Blocked seeing a GP. Blocked getting the medication. Options? Suffer, try alternatives? Done that. Can’t even buy antibiotic cream….cruel and unjustified. Things need to change.

[roopower]

I can't quite see why you are blocked from seeing your gp. I know practices are different but surely you can ring up and explain. I have spoken to, and seen, our nurse practitioners about six times so far this year trying to sort out effective pain medication. I know sevwral peoplecwho have seen a doctor, I didn't need to.

[anneasquith]

Telephone the receptionist, advise them you require this medication, . Tell them you have used it before. Ask could the gp leave a prescription at the surgery and you will pick it up . Good luck .
It’s all very frustrating , I know .

[bednobs]

https://onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com/uk/ad/brand?gclid=Cj0KCQjw29CRBhCUARIsAOboZbLiRkOTbRKg0cLUmrwnmMQ9VTR8qcbF7-FAVXDpUm18SOt3O13UbSQaAhZpEALw_wcB

[barry1010]

We've had no problems seeing the GP or getting prescriptions, either. Time to change your GP, maybe
If your desperate have you tried one of those online GP/prescription services like this one? https://www.pharmacy2u.co.uk/prescriptions/

[bednobs]

https://www.pushdoctor.co.uk/

[Cloverjo]

It’s very difficult to see a GP at my local practice. You have to hang on the phone for hours and then possibly a nurse or paramedic will ring you back at some unspecified time.

However, I’m not sure that buying prescription meds over the counter is the solution.

[Buenchico]

>>> Blocked seeing a GP

Does your local surgery use eConsult? If so, go down that route.

I needed some anti-fungal cream for jock itch but, as I'm over 60, it's not available to me without a prescription. I simply messaged my GP via eConsult one evening, explaining my problem. The following morning his receptionist phoned me to say that there was a prescription waiting for me to collect at the on-site pharmacy. What could be simpler than that?

[Mozz71]

I have all my meds available as online repeat prescriptions. Have you enquired into that possibility?

[pat2604]

I have multiple problems and have had no problems at all with our practice right through the pandemic.

[ladybirder]

I just go on my practice's website, log on to my prescription and tick which items I want and lo and behold job done. Has your surgery got a website where you can do the same?

[THECORBYLOON]

How would a system removing the need for a prescription be policed?

Would pharmacists and pharmacies not need access to everyone's medical records?

[New Judge]

//I can't quite see why you are blocked from seeing your gp.//

If you lived where I do, you'd see clearly. GPs in my area have all but abandoned their practices to their receptionists. I have a neighbour who has a serious heart problem. She spent five days in hospital recently after collapsing in the street (for a second time). The consultant at the hospital e-mailed specific details of the care she needed (whilst waiting for surgery) to her GP. This related to getting her medication correct. She cannot get to see a GP; she has been waiting for eight days for a telephone consultation; she cannot speak to the practice pharmacist. She visited the surgery pleading to see a GP but there were neither any other patients or a doctor on the premises.

//Time to change your GP, maybe//

There are three practices within striking distance of my house. Stories of the problems patients of the other two are having are broadly similar.

//Does your local surgery use eConsult? //

Mine does. Completing an online "triage" form results in a call from a receptionist some two to three days later and, if you're lucky, a chat with a practice nurse (for a second "triage") a week or so after that. By then most patients are either dead or better.

It's no wonder that A&E units are overwhelmed. Before her recent spell in hospital my neighbour had to use ours a few weeks ago following serious problems resulting from her being unable to access her GP for advice on her medication. Mrs NJ and I took her there on a Friday evening and spent a pleasant five hours amongst the drunks before the medics decided she should be admitted. The GP service where I live serves no useful purpose and is a disgrace. It serves only to prevent people accessing the help they need. It should be wound up and patients provided with a different method of getting access to the medics who are prepared to attend to their needs.

[sanmac]

After reading many of the "horror" stories on AB regarding your much lauded NHS I would have to say that it is sadly lacking in many respects.

[Khandro]

If I need a repeat prescription & nothing else, rather than travel the 10 mile return journey, then park, wait, & waste maybe a couple of hours of my day; about a week before I know will run out, I write a short note to the practice, saying what I need, & include a stamped self-addressed envelope, and the prescription comes to ME - no problem!

[New Judge]

The NHS seems to be lauded mainly by people who don't have to use it. Anybody needing it for anything other than a packet of Aspirin (and even that would be difficult where I live if you couldn't buy them over the counter) knows that it is completely inadequate. It is not the envy of the world - it never has been. No other developed country runs a State health service on the NHS model and there's a very good reason for that - it doesn't work.

[sanmac]

Khandro, I just phone the GP"s office and tell the secretary that I'd like to get refills. She asks me if I would like an in-person visit or a phone call from the the doctor. I always choose the phone call. He phone the next day, asks me a number of questions, and then sends the prescription to the pharmacy which delivers the next day...Very simple and efficient.

[david small]

After an extremely long wait on the phone. I have an appointment with the practice nurse seven days from now. Or, wait for it I can book an viewing with a God like GP three weeks from now. But that appointment could get cancelled at short notice. Going to a pharmacy and ordering what I need is not rocket science. There is something sinister in the control and restrictions of medical necessities. Especially the more basic/common ones.

[jno]

like Mozz, I order my repeat prescriptions online (on PatientAccess); the GP passes them on to the chemist, where I pick them up. Is it possible to see if other practices in your area use this system?

Alternatively, have you tried buying them online? I've occasionally found US versions of the same thing (which you can buy off the shelf in the likes of Walgreens) that nobody in the NHS has thought to block.

[naomi24]

I think the NHS should stop
providing medication that can be bought cheaply over the counter - ibuprofen for example….. and we should consider selling antibiotics over the counter as they do in some countries in Europe. So often people don’t really need a doctor to cure their ills but are obliged to see one to obtain the necessary medication.

[sanmac]

Naomi, the NHS actually gives people prescriptions for items readily available over the counter?