Beat this!

[SolomonQ]

just to clarify i know pack of 30 is P medicine but if sumone at poundshop buys 4 packs of 7 no one is gonna query it (query becomes a posh word in this contex)

[Pharmanaut]

Originally Posted by SolomonQ

just to clarify i know pack of 30 is P medicine but if sumone at poundshop buys 4 packs of 7 no one is gonna query it (query becomes a posh word in this contex)

Best option is to ring up your local pharmacist for advice, keep them on the phone for around 20minutes then go and buy your medicines at the "poundshop".

[SolomonQ]

yea, funny how the genral public can walk into a pharmacy and see the pharmacist more or less straight away AND get good advice, but when it comes to aknowledging us, it doesnt happen. maybe this easy access makes pharmacists look dispensable.

btw-giving advice to the public is considered part of the new pharmacy contract, so tecnically the pharmacy is being payed for giving the advice on the phone.

had an inspector round to our pharmacy recently the amount of advice and information we were supposed to provide was staggering, and we were suposed to record everythin we advised people on. all the remuneration from this apparantally comes from the practice fees and the profit on purchasin of medicines. even this is a measley sum. ive looked at a few drugs in the DT and after the discount deductions the pharmacy actualy makes no money (except the dispensing fee) or loses out, and profit on other medicines might be good percentage wise but the actual proft is less 40p per pack.

somehow the DoH has the mentality that pharmacies shouldnt make money out of providing medicines.

[Zoggite]

Yup, welcome to the real world, SolomonQ!

[SolomonQ]

proud to be here zogite, thanks

[Hello]

Patient: I was prescribed Quinapril 10mg.

Pharmacist: Yes?

Pt: I received a box marked Quinapril 10mg, the foil inside says Quinapril 10mg, the capsules say Quin 10mg, and the label says QUinapril 10mg.

Ph: Yes?

Pt: They're a different colour to my last lot, are they Quinapril 10mg? !*@"!

To people on long term medication, the medicines they are taking form a very important part of their life. The slightest of changes to any part of these medications (packaging, name, colouring, PI etc) can be very upsetting to a patient as in their mind these drugs are keeping them alive.

So, I do not think the above scenario is out of order as the patient had genuine concerns that their regular medicine's appearance had changed.

I remember when Nu-seals 300mg were the onliy form of Aspirin e/c available and they changed the tablets from red to white, there was a stream of patients returning to the pharmacy asking if they had the correct medication. The best course of action of course was to advise the patient that the appearance of their tablets had changed. This of course reduced the number of queries. Maybe this course of action would have avoided this patients irrational response.

[pharout]

We get these questions all of the time. We change contracting with different generic manufacturers, which is always guaranteed to result in patient questioning. Most recently changed manufacturers of generic omeprazole with pts saying new generic doesn't work as well. This is par for the course, however, maybe some legitimacy to it.