Saturday - August 21, 2010

MEIN KAMPF - the sequel - Peiper - -vs—the blockhead pharmacy system

Another adventure in the exciting series of Peiper vs the evil Brit pharmacy system, or, ?

Ok, I have a slight problem here. I can’t think of any proper words that apply without using very bad language, so I must ask the reader to dig into your memory and mentally play the theme music for either Lorel and Hardy or the Three Stooges.
The exception will be that “it ain’t funny McGee.” (old radio)

Our regulars at BMEWS are already familiar with my rants of last year, with regard to how a doctor’s prescription is filled in this blighted place.  For those who aren’t aware and missed it, they have a system in place here that is as screwed up as a soup sandwich.  The freekin idiots have built themselves a submarine with a screen door.

For example, you can buy aspirin here like you can anywhere else.  But … you need a doctor’s Rx for safety coated aspirin.  Ever hear anything so stupid? Tis true, every word.  I should know. I have to take them.

Our latest adventure is a repeat of a problem that’s happened before.  The pharmacy somehow lost not one, but two of my wife’s prescriptions, as we discovered today when visiting the pharmacy to pick them up.  Earlier I said three but I was mistaken.

For newbies to my humble self I will tell you I am an American married to a Brit these past 40 plus years, and have been living here since April of 2004.  It has not all been bad I confess.  But it has been maddening for the reasons that, as my very Brit wife has said many times when I tend to question the sanity of this system, “if there’s a difficult way to do a thing, and an easy logical way to do the same thing, we English seem to prefer the hard way.” Not that my wife does.  She has lived in America far too long.  She knows about screens on windows and central air cond., and most cars with auto transmissions. Not that you can’t have em here, but in our area, not too easy.  As we discovered.
She knows about getting an Rx filled right then, right there at a pharmacy without having to wait for two days to a week.  Longer if the courier delivers to the wrong pharmacy or they simply lose it.

Courier?  Right. I’d better explain that.  There might be as many as 6 pharmacies in our general area.  Could be more, I really don’t know.  I am aware of five but am also certain there has to be more.  Now then, many of those will be part of the same chain owned by a company called Boots. Very old and very well known.  There are also pharmacies in two major chain supermarkets.

Every day a courier or perhaps there’s more then one, goes to all the doctor’s offices picking up prescriptions to be delivered to all the pharmacies.  At the front desk in every doctor’s office there will be bundles of Rx’s and they will be placed in separate baskets or bags marked with the name and address of which pharmacy the Rx’s are to go to. 

The following only applies to refills.
If you reader, as a patient, hand in an Rx on a refill order to the pharmacy, your medication will (should unless lost) be ready to pick up in one week.  Now that’s on a refill already approved by your doctor.  But you see, the pharmacy sends that Rx back to the doctor to be reviewed (WHY?) and then goes back to the pharmacy and the process takes a week.  OR … you can email the doctor’s office and request a refill, and that will only take two days to get.  Unless the incompetent idiots lose it.
Well, the wife had instructions from her doc to call and report if there were any side effects on the Lipitor she was given, because the doctor wanted to increase the dosage by degrees.  She also has high blood pressure and takes medication for that. 
She spoke to her doctor on a Friday, and also requested an additional Rx for something else, and her doctor said she’d fax the Rx directly to our pharmacy downstairs. (photo) Fine.  It would be ready the next day but something happened and I’ll be darned if I remember what, and we never got to the pharmacy Sat.  Weather was miserable and wife not feeling 100%, I don’t drive and there isn’t any bus to where we’d need to go.  Just as well because the brain dead fools didn’t have them anyway.
That is, two prescriptions.  Poof.  Gone with the wind.

We finally made it in Friday morning because I had an Rx to pick up myself, and as luck would have it, the duty doctor I spoke to on the phone gave me a smaller amount then I require and there wasn’t any way to undo that.  (hey, they’re on the ball here)

So while there to get my Rx I also asked to pick up the wife’s two rx.  Blank looks as they couldn’t find them.  So this sour faced woman behind the counter says with authority, well.  It takes seven days.  Not on a new Rx it doesn’t.  Not when the doc calls or faxes it in.  Only on refills.  But even so, I informed her that the Rx was faxed from upstairs on the 13th, and this was the 20th so … lets see.  How many days is that? 

Staff looked but couldn’t find and so I went up to the top floor where the doctor’s office is and spoke to the front desk.  Who informed me that they were sent on the 13th and that the folks there should have it by now. 
So I went downstairs again but this time I took the elevator cos I was getting tired by then, and told the ppl downstairs what the ppl upstairs said.  Nope. Sorry, nothing here.  However, they would call upstairs between 1 and 2 and if I could call them back later they would have an answer and the Rx for us.  So I called about 2:30 and I tell no lie, the phone rang for a continuous 4 minutes before anyone answered.
That happens all the time with that place.  But we got the Rx although they have no idea what happened.  They usually blame the folks in the doctors office who usually shake their collective heads and shrug it off as there isn’t much they can say or do.
Well, there sure is but this being England, they do not know there is something they can do. 

Finally, and I have saved this for last.  Here’s an example of the mindset of at least one person at that pharmacy.

The wife often visits weekly, an old family friend and friend of her late mother.  The old woman has some form of leg or skin cancer, her legs are wrapped in some sort of gauze, not pretty to look at poor lady as they often leak.  She is pretty much housebound most of the time.  She is 80 years old, and has no family.  So my wife visits her for an hour or so every week and also picks up the odd bits of groceries for her. 

Because of her age and condition, she can have her prescriptions delivered to her.
My wife told her about the problem we had with her Rx and the old woman preceded to tell the following which occurred this past week.

She had asked for medication and had it called into the same pharmacy. When nothing came after a few days, she called the blockheads to find out where her Rx was as she’d expected it days ago.
Oh, it’s here and ready to be picked up she was informed.  But says she, it is supposed to be delivered.

Oh yes says the person she was speaking to.  It’s marked that way. It says deliver, but we thought you might come by for it and so held it here in case you decided to come in.

I just haven’t any more words and especially for that last. I don’t know what to say, and so I’ll say good night and … Stay Tuned

Posted by peiper     on 08/21/2010 at 01:04 PM   
Filed Under: • Personal • Stoopid-People •  
• Comments (7) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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