On 04/06/2021 12:19, Theo wrote:
T i m wrote:
Assuming I don't have the full login to the medical system (I think
I'm supposed to present my photo ID at my doctors to get 'signed up'
and as I don't have any I didn't take that any further ...) I may have
only been able to 'request' Boots online fulfil my prescription by
requesting authority from my doctor?

I believe the pharmacy only do what the GP tells them to do.

Yes, but pharmacies can request repeat prescriptions for you, which the
GP can then issue back to them. Our local pharmacy not only does this,
but requests further repeats without us having to ask them and we just
drop in while visiting the shop next-door and see if there are any
prescriptions waiting for us (it's easier than trying to keep track, as
I have prescriptions supplied at two different times, my wife has
asthma, osteo-arthritis, rheumatoid-arthritis, high blood pressure and
tachycardia and has things arriving at all sorts of times!)

So it's up to
the GP to push repeat prescriptions at them. It's down to the GP's system
as to how you request this - via an app, or stuffing a bit of paper in the
letter box, or whatever. The GP surgery have to approve the requests so
it's not 'push button for a year', at least IMX. They may employ someone
who can do short-term repeats without having to defer to a doctor (eg if the
GP says 'review every 3 months' they can push the repeats for months 1 and
2 but month 3 needs the GP to confirm)

Just ask the pharmacist if they can arrange ongoing repeats for you - we
didn't even ask, we just popped in for something and found that meds
were waiting!

It gets messy when you have eg prescription #1 which is renewed every 28
days and #2 every month, and they gradually get out of sync.

Even more so when the 28 day supply consists of one or more foils, plus
a part foil - just make it a calendar month at a time, so prescriptions
are always due on the same date.

So, can anyone confirm if I should be able to get at least say 1 years
worth of prescriptions delivered (monthly presumably) *without* having
to keep requesting them please?

Boots Online customer service seem worse than useless. ;-(

This is the problem. When it goes wrong (and it will) you want somebody you
can talk to who can sort it there and then and hand out the right thing,
rather than having to call-centre and then wait 3 days for the post - not
fun when you've run out of something important.

Our local pharmacy is open 8:30 to 23:00, 7 days a week, so there is
always someone to talk to.

p.s. And why the fcuk do they have to put the box of tablets, in a
plastic bag, in a box ... so big that won't go though the fairly large
letter box. And her Paracetamols must be dispatched by Amazon in boxes
big enough for a pair of shoes! ;-(

One of the online pharmacies (can't remember which) sends tablets like
paracetamol in letterbox sized packages, by dint of removing the tablets
from the box and putting the tablet foils and flattened box in a thinner
package. Truly thinking outside the box

The local hospital supplies rheumatoid-arthritis related tablets, that
can only be prescribed by a consultant and issued by a hospital, in
child-proof containers that no RA sufferer can possible open!


Theo
(who is getting very fed up with the amount of cardboard Amazon generates
and having to take trips to the tip purely for that)

I have on occasion resorted to burning excess cardboard in the
incinerator that I bought for burning confidential work paperwork during
lockdown.