my drs are a joke!!: ok, so my drs know... - Asthma Community ...

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my drs are a joke!!

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ok, so my drs know my situation..

i generally use 1 ventolin inhaler a week.. a lot i know but its what happens.. the 2 hospitals, north tees and freemans and spoken to the dr and told him to prescribe 1 a week as its what i need..

I went to collect my prescriptions yesterday and yet again had an argument with the receptionist, who told me in no uncertain terms 'your using far too much, your only allowed 2 a year, the guidlines say so, your obviously doing it wrong with them, i didnt put your request forward because your using too much'...since when do receptionsits have a medical degree which gives them free regin to pick and choose what prescription requests go through!!!

rant over lol!!!

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14 Replies

That does sound sooo annoying. Hope you vet the vento soo..

I think drs receptionists do study medicine though only the basics so they are obviously in no way qualified to question what a specialist centre such as freemans has said.

Rose xx

Thomass_mum profile image
Thomass_mum

Sounds like some of the receptionists at my GP surgery who like to make everything difficult! I can't believe they think people can make 2 ventolin inhalers last a year! I couldn't tel you the amount Thomas gets through but must be at least 1-2 a month! What more can you do if you have difficult to control asthma like he does your are never going to fit in generalised guidelines.

Hope you can sort something soon x

sassyj, are you getting the 200 puffs out of your inhaler?

when I had salamol it needed cleaning every week as it clogged up easily which was a pain washing out the holder then having to wait for it to dry

I then kept an old holder so that I had one to use while the other one dried

but when I switched to ventolin that lasts a lot longer because the squirt is a lot more powerful

grrr how annoying - a real stupid 'computer says no' moment. I also hate it when people who are in no way qualified to comment stick their oar in.

I once had a lung function tech tell me off for using too much reliever and that 'they're drugs, not sweets, you know' (oh really, Atrovent tastes so good I thought it was a sweet). I wasn't at the level you're taking them, but it was certainly more than ideal. When I pointed out that was currently the amount I seemed to be needing, she said 'well you should see a doctor about that'. Umm yes, this is a hospital lung function lab in a chest clinic. Three guesses what I might be doing here...

I agree cleaning them can help a little (I've discovered my Ventolin does last longer) but obviously is not going to cut down that much! What has your GP said, as opposed to his/her annoying receptionist? I hope they were a bit more helpful and told the receptionist off.

Receptionists studying medicine? Certainly not the ones I know! (who are fab incidentally). Sassy I would be absolutely furious - have you considered making a formal complaint to the practice manager? It is NOT a receptionists job to make decisions about your prescriptions, its the job of your GP. Grrrr! x

Sounds like she just made up that ""2 a year"" rule!

I know I've certainly had more than that....lol

I have two every other month.... on repeat

That's really off of the receptionist to not put that through, surely it's up to the GP to decide wether or not to prescribe repeat requests. I'd consider talking/complaining to the practice manager.

I think it's normal to be able to get a four week supply of repeat meds, so I wonder if you could ask GP for four ventolins to save doing it every week. I get 2 seretides in my prescription as I'm on a double dose, which the pharmacist was a bit weird about, but they talked to my doctor, so are actually fine with it.

I hope you can get better control soon, so that you don't have to be using a whole ventolin every week. Sympathy and hugs.

thats stupid! its good to have a system where lots of ventolin is noticed by someone, so that people cant deteriorate and just up their ventolin without anyone noticing, but they cant just not give you your medication, receptionists arent medically trained and so no way can they make a call as to what you need - thats a doctors job!!! sigh! it annoys me when pharmacists question it, but at least they usually have a reasonable excuse!

2 a year?! Insane!!!

Seriously, i'd have a word with the practice manager as its really not up to the receptionist to question this as others have said.....

Wonder what 'guidelines' they are quoting there in regards to 2 inhalers a year? Perhaps local policy? Not something I've ever heard before either. I agree, it is not the receptionists place to make such a decision. Perhaps best to ask your GP to prescribe several at a time for the length of your usual repeats.

Can anyone advise, my pharmacist has changed my seretide to Generic which I find is not helping as much as the Brand name. When a friend collected my repeat prescription today

he was refused the brand name and told they cannot take it back unless another prescription was ordered.

My GP never discussed this change with me and its not mentioned on my prescription.

Can anyone please help.

I don't think there is a generic version of seretide. With evohalers (not the accuhaler) I sometimes get foriegn ones that have been relabelled, but they're always seretide, even if the box is in Italian or something (and has a sticker on with everything in English).

i think i have generic seretide - interestingly since i switched to it things have been going downhill, but i have a cold so as much as i would like to blame that i dont think i can. Speak to your GP, pharmacists cant give a specific brand unless it was ordered but GPs can prescribe a specific brand. Give them a call, i doubt you'd need a full appt for it as its a fairly simple request!

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