Emergency supply during weekdays?

[morerightsneeded]

I'm just curious..is there an unspoken rule that a pharmacist is prohibited from making an emergency supply during the working hours of local GP practice? most pharmacists seem to only make emergency supplies at weekend. I happened to be doing a locum in an area where the local GP is overwhelmed beyond belief such that it takes them 2-3 weeks to process a repeat Rx. They don't answer calls when you try to call them. At the same time there are patients who need their medications? so no matter how i looked at it i just couldn't get out of it so i ended up making one emergency supply after the next (well ok not that bad, only 3 or 4 on my first day but that is still quite a lot)....what is your say on this? is that justified?

Also the term emergency supply surely doesn't mean 'emergency' because in the MEP it uses contraceptives as an example.it mentions that a full course should be supplied when meeting such a request. However, abstaining from sex surely doesn't constitute an emergency. Someone please shed some light on the definition of 'emergency supply'. Also should I use this law to help patients wherever necessary because at the moment I am afraid because I feel that more senior pharmacist would rather let a patient die than issue an emergency supply. Has anybody been prosecuted before for making an emergency supply?


please comment !

[Defblade]

In my book, there's a difference between "emergency" and "inconvienient".

It's inconvienient to have to go over the road, explain yourself to the desk dragon (I suspect avoiding this part makes up 75% of weekday requests), and hang around while the script is printed and signed. Tough.

I think your pill example is a bit of a red herring; contraception is defined as a medicine whether you agree or not; you could just as easily extended to, say, blood pressure medicine - take a couple of days in bed and don't do any exercise until you've got a new script. A lot of the time, the patient turns "not to have taken them for 3 days now" and that's why it's suddenly an "emergency" (on a Friday, which means they've had most of the week to get it sorted already...).

Yes, you should be using this law whenever necessary to avoid patients dying.... however, you shouldn't be using it to keep patients "happy" when they've run out and simply can't be bothered with the hassle at the surgery. The surgery also has a Duty of Care in law to provide medical services in a timely fashion - and that includes a quick break in routine to issue a script ASAP.

[johnep]

Many of our ES pts turning up on a weekday have told us that the surgery were too busy to issue a script and that the receptionist told them to ask the chemist for a loan.
johnep

[Pharmanaut]

... and if you try to say no, you get told that the receptionist said that you had to.
So we end up looking like a jobsworth for the umpteenth time that day.

[Sir_Dispensalot]

had situations like that before - when something like that happens i normally let the practice manager know that the reception team shouldn't think that the pharmacy is there as a library loan service / sweetshop and that the emergency supply system is there for just that - emergencies. Them not being bothered to sort out a script for a patient waiting for one when there are doctors around the place does not and never will constitute an emergency. The provision in the medicines act doesn't cover someone being a lazy bugger.
That and if they still insist, then i tell them i'll levy a dispensing fee + drug cost to the patient. This is normally met with astonishment and a promptly faxed script.