Atrial fibrillation

[Eater]

Waiting for a new blood thinner the surgery caluated they have four days till medication was needed ,wrong I had to phone up 111 to get a perscription,chemist no Af tablet no tablets for 2 days. when I phoned up the surgery the reception did not know about it. , yesterday no problem when I was busy. Anyone have a similar problem?

[jeanjeannie50]

I used to have terrible problems getting the medication I used from the pharmacy I was with.

Then honestly, I changed to Boots and have never looked back. I think that with it being a large company they are probably prioritised with stock when there is a drug shortage.

Don't forget that if your pharmacy cant get what you want, then they can print out the prescription and give it to you to go try somewhere else.

Jean

[Eater in reply to jeanjeannie50]

I was hoping to change meds,Dr suddenly they weren’t going to do it which was the reason I had no meds ,as small boots had one of them but not the other.

[Bagrat]

Our surgery system means you can order a week before prescription due, the repeat date is taken from then for next order. During lock down I gradually accumulated about 5 months of meds. Now I've got back down to being just a month in hand. This is only economically viable if your meds are stable and your GP uses this system on line.

[Desanthony]

With small pharmacies its often harder for them to get supplies when things are short for whatever reason. I have spoken to the manager of our little pharmacy and basically they have two suppliers they use. They order from one and it may take 1 to 2 days for them to say they have no supplies of say 5mg apixaban and can't get any so then they have to contact their other supplier and again it may take 1 or 2 days before they get an answer to say whether they have or haven't got supplies. They then have to try any other suppliers they can. Once I put my repeat in I should get the medication within 4 to 5 days - sometimes I collect the repeat in 2 days, but as you can see the 4 days can easily get eaten away if there is trouble getting one of the medications so now and again they have to owe me one item or a few dozen tablets because they cannot obtain enough in that time and usually I get the rest within another 2 days. When this happens I have often thought about changing to Boots but they are either 9 miles or 15 miles away - a long way to go to find they don't have all your prescription ready! Our little pharmacy is right next door to the surgery and are actually very good normally. In fact so long as I get my repeat in on time I can pick up my prescription in 2 to 4 days except where I have explained above. A couple of months ago the surgery wouldn't release the repeat prescription as they said I had put it in too early (I hadn't) so I waited over 5 days for the surgery to release the repeat prescription and then another 4 days for it to be made up. I have about 14 days of most of my tablets left (not all of them and I don't know why this happens when I am on a monthly repeat prescription) when I put my monthly repeat prescription in so that time I went down to my lowest ever. We write on our calendar the date we put our repeats in so I know it was exactly a month since I had put my previous repeat in so the surgery must have been looking at the wrong month or something!

[Eater in reply to Desanthony]

Interesting, I went to small Boots and they were short of of AF drug and.not blood thinners which are yuk…I wonder what the ratio where Blood thinners all right and who feels not so well?

[opal11uk]

not will anti-coags but with heart meds, had to change to an alternative

[Speed]

Use internet pharmacy. They notify me 2 weeks before last batch of repeats due to run out. I order and normally land on my door mat within 5 working days. Rarely one med might be on back order but I can request they send the rest if I needed. In addition, I’ve built up a buffer of > 1 month for all my tabs - though it helps to do this if you are on stable medication.

[JOY2THEWORLD49]

Hi

Well, my clinic in NZ did not send the script because I had not paid the $10 for the script outside seeing a Dr.

It was my usual Diltiazem, I'd seen a Dr 3 weeks prior and was really to see my Dr 1 week later, actually today.

No warning.

I asked chemist when last date and she said 22 July. I even decided I had a month's supply somewhere.

I had had a ring from a Dr in Auckland part of the clinic's group.

I calculated I needed 3 capsules till the Dr.

But hunted around and found 1 month's supply with my luggage for my Japan visit.

Meantime I asked Chemist for emergency medication if I needed it $9.

Well, I would have gone that track first.

After finding some more cancelled the lot.

But got a script today of the lot.

Really I depend on Diltiazem for Heart Rate.

Remember 30 days x 3 is NOT 3 months as some months have 31 days.

And 2 you can get emergency 3 days through your Chemist.

cherio JOY. 75. (NZ)

[Morges]

I go on the NHS app and re order my apixapan. I get a text telling me when it's ready at the chemist - usually the next day. It's a small village chemist - very efficient.