Pharmacy cannot fulfil whole prescription.
Discussion
My local pharmacy only had a quarter of a prescription I needed but assured me they would have the balance today. In fact they were only able to give me another quarter.
I gather there are problems with the wholesaler.
I believe that another pharmacy may have the balance.
Does anyone know what the protocol is here please?
Pharmacy A are generally arsey so I doubt they will do anything they don’t have to.
I take a lot of drugs and this happens a fair bit.
It is a pain having to go back but as long as you have enough of what you need to be getting on with I wouldn't worry. A different matter of course if something is missing altogether.
As I'm on a lot of drugs long term, I use my GP's online renewal service and get the renewal in in good time, usually two weeks before the current prescription runs out, and this usually minimises the anything missing issue but it still happens.
What is really annoying is that I have to go through the whole process every two months.
It is a pain having to go back but as long as you have enough of what you need to be getting on with I wouldn't worry. A different matter of course if something is missing altogether.
As I'm on a lot of drugs long term, I use my GP's online renewal service and get the renewal in in good time, usually two weeks before the current prescription runs out, and this usually minimises the anything missing issue but it still happens.
What is really annoying is that I have to go through the whole process every two months.
Had the same problem with a local pharmacy after surgery a couple of years back. Changed to a different one a few miles away, but is on the wife’s route home from work and haven’t had an issue since. In fact the new pharmacy would go out of their way to help, whereas the local one, part of a chain, didn’t seem too bothered and were a lot more expensive.
You can take your partially filled prescription to another pharmacy.
You can take your partially filled prescription to another pharmacy.
There have been on-going problems with generic drug shortages for a few years now because of two reasons: the government has sucked out so much money so that generic manfacturing and hence supply is on a knife-edge - if a plant fails an inspection, then as they are often the only one making a particular item, then there's a shortage.
The other factor is that wholesalers owned by the multiples are manipulating stock levels to try and push up drug tariff prices.
The other factor is that wholesalers owned by the multiples are manipulating stock levels to try and push up drug tariff prices.
Edited by Paul Dishman on Saturday 10th August 14:03
The reason for drug shortages is simple, it's money and wholesalers putting profit ahead of their duty to supply patient demand.
Drug prices vary in different countries. Wholesalers buy there stock from pharma companies and they are supposed to supply the pharmacy chains on which they make a typical 10% margin. However, they can easily obtain an export license and ship the product to other European countries which have higher drug prices and therefore make more money.
Pharma companies know this happens and cannot prevent it happening as it would go against free trade rules across the EU. Instead they restrict the amounts they supply to wholesalers to the level of UK demand from patient numbers. Wholesalers are supposed to supply pharmacies with this demand, but they just tell them they can't source the product from the pharma companies, when in reality they get as much as they can and export as much as they can get away with for extra profit.
It's a poor situation and everybody blames everybody else, meanwhile its patients that suffer and pharmacists have to spend a lot of time sourcing stock from various sources
Drug prices vary in different countries. Wholesalers buy there stock from pharma companies and they are supposed to supply the pharmacy chains on which they make a typical 10% margin. However, they can easily obtain an export license and ship the product to other European countries which have higher drug prices and therefore make more money.
Pharma companies know this happens and cannot prevent it happening as it would go against free trade rules across the EU. Instead they restrict the amounts they supply to wholesalers to the level of UK demand from patient numbers. Wholesalers are supposed to supply pharmacies with this demand, but they just tell them they can't source the product from the pharma companies, when in reality they get as much as they can and export as much as they can get away with for extra profit.
It's a poor situation and everybody blames everybody else, meanwhile its patients that suffer and pharmacists have to spend a lot of time sourcing stock from various sources
Driver101 said:
I regularly collect a prescription for someone that requires a lot of medication.
Even though their prescription is identical and frequently collected the pharmacy is often short of stock and sometimes missing some items.
It's too risky not to keep spares and depend on the pharmacy.
As I said, the supply situation is on a knife-edgeEven though their prescription is identical and frequently collected the pharmacy is often short of stock and sometimes missing some items.
It's too risky not to keep spares and depend on the pharmacy.
DE1975 said:
The reason for drug shortages is simple, it's money and wholesalers putting profit ahead of their duty to supply patient demand.
Drug prices vary in different countries. Wholesalers buy there stock from pharma companies and they are supposed to supply the pharmacy chains on which they make a typical 10% margin. However, they can easily obtain an export license and ship the product to other European countries which have higher drug prices and therefore make more money.
Pharma companies know this happens and cannot prevent it happening as it would go against free trade rules across the EU.
Yes they can prevent it. All they need to do is have the same pricing across the EU.Drug prices vary in different countries. Wholesalers buy there stock from pharma companies and they are supposed to supply the pharmacy chains on which they make a typical 10% margin. However, they can easily obtain an export license and ship the product to other European countries which have higher drug prices and therefore make more money.
Pharma companies know this happens and cannot prevent it happening as it would go against free trade rules across the EU.
Engelberger said:
Realise that you are a drain on the NHS and a massive cost to the taxpayer and wait patiently for the remainder of the prescription to arrive.
I am in the small percentage of people who pay for prescriptions. And most of my medical care it seems. So I am only a little bit of a drain, if at all. I should probably try to get ill and not go private, just so that I can get a return on my investment.
Paying for a prescription is very different to paying for a medicine. We all get free medicine thanks to the good old NHS. The prescription fee covers what pharmacists get paid to fulfill a prescription. It's essentially a service charge.
The cost of the drugs can be pennies for older generics, but can run to several hundred pounds per pack for some branded patent protected products. This is the cost borne by the NHS. They reimburse pharmacies at a fixed cost dependent on the product. Pharmacies are therefore incentivised to source their stock at the cheapest possible price. As well as the export problem, there is a lot of importing into the UK from countries that have lower prices than the UK. Its a total merry-go-round
The cost of the drugs can be pennies for older generics, but can run to several hundred pounds per pack for some branded patent protected products. This is the cost borne by the NHS. They reimburse pharmacies at a fixed cost dependent on the product. Pharmacies are therefore incentivised to source their stock at the cheapest possible price. As well as the export problem, there is a lot of importing into the UK from countries that have lower prices than the UK. Its a total merry-go-round
DE1975 said:
Paying for a prescription is very different to paying for a medicine. We all get free medicine thanks to the good old NHS. The prescription fee covers what pharmacists get paid to fulfill a prescription. It's essentially a service charge.
In the last couple of months I've paid for most of my medicine. Properly paid for it, because it wasn't purchased in the UK. So I know what things can cost.I am not sure I get "free" drugs from the NHS either. I seem to pay a lot of tax, some of which I presume goes towards my "free" drugs.
So said:
In the last couple of months I've paid for most of my medicine. Properly paid for it, because it wasn't purchased in the UK. So I know what things can cost.
I am not sure I get "free" drugs from the NHS either. I seem to pay a lot of tax, some of which I presume goes towards my "free" drugs.
Good point, it's not exactly "free". Just be glad you're not in the US where they really get their pants pulled down for medicinesI am not sure I get "free" drugs from the NHS either. I seem to pay a lot of tax, some of which I presume goes towards my "free" drugs.
DE1975 said:
So said:
In the last couple of months I've paid for most of my medicine. Properly paid for it, because it wasn't purchased in the UK. So I know what things can cost.
I am not sure I get "free" drugs from the NHS either. I seem to pay a lot of tax, some of which I presume goes towards my "free" drugs.
Good point, it's not exactly "free". Just be glad you're not in the US where they really get their pants pulled down for medicinesI am not sure I get "free" drugs from the NHS either. I seem to pay a lot of tax, some of which I presume goes towards my "free" drugs.
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