Sciensus Arghhhh

[Hollyhock123]

Just a rant to offload…

So this morning Sciensus have just ‘aborted’ my delivery for the third time in a row. No reason, even they don’t know why, yet it’s the third time. Taking last injection later, then have to hope they manage to deliver before next Tuesday. These last 3 years, their service has been diabolical.

Hospital prescription team are aware, it’s been escalated Sciensus end too, although it was after aborted delivery 2, and that didn’t work. Looking forward to having my blood pressure reading done this pm!

[KittyJ]

How frustrating, I don’t know why hospitals aren’t just changing to another delivery company. I hope it gets sorted quickly.

[Lolabridge in reply to KittyJ]

My current biologic drug deliveries come from Healthnet Homecare since I started on Tocilizumab and I've not had any problems, yet! I don't know whether that's because my hospital switched to them from Sciensus, who used to deliver Adalimumab to me.

[KittyJ in reply to Lolabridge]

I have Healthnet home care too for deliveries and never had a single problem in 5 years.

[Lolabridge]

Oh dear how frustrating for you. It's just not good enough and three failed deliveries in a row is a nightmare for you!

Unfortunately I think there are so many workers off sick with colds, "nasty flu", and Covid at the moment they are probably short staffed. Of course that's no excuse at all but could be the probable cause of your aborted deliveries.

There have been many complaints about Sciensus and a consortium of patient organisations, including NRAS, have made the government aware of the problem.

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Lolabridge]

I have responded to a couple of surveys regards their service. It’s just so frustrating that it keeps happening. Apparently yesterday’s was cancelled as it wasn’t confirmed. That’s despite me having 2 emails confirming the delivery.

[Runrig01 in reply to Hollyhock123]

I have to confirm delivery at my end via the Sciensus app. I’ve been having biologics delivered for 7yrs, with only 1 failed delivery. Apparently then it wasn’t at the dispatch station area for the driver to collect. They apparently had a dispute about who should call me, so no one called. I also usually get a text promoting ne the deadline to confirm us approaching. It seems to be a bit of a postcode lottery with them. Hope you get your injections soon 🤗

[TheBoys]

sorry to hear that - I’ve been very lucky thus far and have had no issues at all.

[Hollyhock123 in reply to TheBoys]

I’m thinking being rural is not helping here. It’s good to hear for some their service works.

[Pythagorus]

I think it’s one of those post code problems. I live in the Notts area and have had no problems with Sciensus (so far)!

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Pythagorus]

I think you may be right. When we were town based and when they were health care at home I had no issues. Now I live in a rural coastal community it is so much worse.

[Mich1701]

I get this from them quite often. I get texts saying I'm next stop on delivery then one 5 mins later saying delivery failed. I work in the mornings and am not home till midday yet they constantly book my deliveries for daytime. I get in touch, they change it to evening, then fail the delivery then reschedule for morning. I used to be able to get afternoon slots but for the last couple of years, not possible for them to do this apparently. It's daytime, evening or weekend. I've never got any buffer stock. I think it must be postcode thing as some people dont seem to have half as many problems. I'm in Leicestershire.

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Mich1701]

Yes, the expectation that we will be in one place for 12 hours for a delivery slot! I eventually got a call from them at 7pm last night to reschedule. They only come to my area 3 days a week. 2 of which I work, hence the Tuesday delivery. They have no capacity to deliver today. Next available day is Friday. I’m working till 3pm, my husband till 1pm, we only have Boots pharmacy and they won’t deliver there. Yet I was made to feel it’s my issue for not accommodating their delivery availability. Kept telling me they could deliver to my office. Lost count of how many times I said I don’t work in an office! Going to see if they can deliver to, and my GP surgery will accept delivery 🤞🏼

[Jackie1947]

How frustrating! Fortunately they have never let me down and delivered on time.

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Jackie1947]

Long May tha5 continue for you!

[Seatgeorge]

I had a huge problem with them,apparently according to their rubbish software Aylesbury is in Essex, I know unbelievable , having worked in IT for 40 plus years couldn't believe it, I actually went to thd couriers depot and had a chat , he said we know it's wrong bug we cannot alter their system,what a rubbish database! anyway he found my delivery in the fridge and off I went. Now sciensus are bsi 9001 registered company and they can lose the approval by not complying, so a call to them and a rant at a senior director and hey presto it was changed,so don't give up.

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Seatgeorge]

Oh my! Will be ranting..l

[Green230461]

My team switched to Lloyds at home and they are great. Hope you get sorted soon.

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Green230461]

Thanks 🙏

[Haz58]

Here's the CEO's contact info. Go straight to the top. Usually works for me with other things. Good luck!

CEO contact email

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Haz58]

Thank you. I shall definitely make contact about the service, but will write after tomorrow when hopefully the emergency delivery will arrive.

[Luna20]

Is it benepali? I got a message from Sciensus recently saying that due to the manufacturer having low stock they were changing my delivery schedule from every 3 months to monthly. I've never had any problems with deliveries.

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Luna20]

Yes, I’ve had that email too. First missed delivery was the first month of the 4 weeks, so now have no buffer. It’s nothing to do with availability, it’s their system cancelling the delivery the night before.

[cyberbarn]

I hope everyone is giving their feedback to the CQC every time they screw up? cqc.org.uk/give-feedback-on...

[Hollyhock123 in reply to cyberbarn]

Thanks for the link. Didn’t occur to me to respond on this site. Will be doing.

[Gnarli]

We have had problems with every delivery company there is despite being in the middle of the village. All the properties have names, not numbers, so we end up answering desperate calls saying "where are you?" Sciensus has been better for me recently, and I'm very grateful. Time for a stinging call to the top brass, perhaps

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Gnarli]

Where my mum lives is like that! If they don’t turn up tomorrow, definitely a letter.

[zen4]

I must be lucky in my area. So far so good. They have only cancelled once and that was for a late eve delivery and they ran out of time. They have always been very efficient and helpful to me so far. I did have one problem in the 3 years I have had them but that was due to blood test results. My bloods are taken in the 'wrong area' and so the prescribing team cannot see them. They have to phone every 3 months to check! They need to be oked before they send the prescription to Sciensus and they cannot arrange a delivery without the prescription. You would think that in this digital age you could see test results centrally in the NHS instea d of letters and phone calls! Would it help if you had a different time?

[Hollyhock123 in reply to zen4]

Good to hear you aren’t experiencing issues. I had a blip when I moved areas, that was understandable but nearly every delivery here has issues. I don’t have an option to choose a time slot so that’s not it! Anyway, they should be delivering them to the pharmacy tomorrow 🤞🏼

[Jo30]

I have had nothing but trouble since the day I unfortunately had to start receiving medication from them. They were healthcare at home then. Had a name change, no change to their absolutely diabolical service. I am now going to be without medication after telling them for about the hundredth time that I can only have a weekend or evening delivery because I work full time! They put it on my notes and I also put it in the drivers instructions. Never take any notice and just decide to deliver when they like. I asked the rheumy team if there was any other way to get my medication but they have a contract with Sciensus, so it can’t be changed. I have honestly thought of asking to change meds to anything that this company doesn’t deliver but that would just be crazy because what I have is working well for me. I’ve reviewed them on the nhs website and my next stop is reporting to the cqc. They cause me so much stress everytime I have to have a delivery because it’s just a constant battle.

[Hollyhock123 in reply to Jo30]

That’s awful treatment. Further up this post cyberbarn has posted the link to the ccq. I’m waiting till Friday to see if my ‘next day’ delivery arrives. Yep, apparently Friday follows Tuesday in Sciensus world. Anyway, I’ll log it with them then. Last night, when rescheduling the person I was speaking with made me feel that I was being difficult with them when trying to reschedule a delivery. Hopefully they will deliver to the GP pharmacy as I’m at work. Then on Tuesday the next 4 week delivery is due.

[Lifesforliving]

Up to about a year ago I was continually writing to complain about Sciensus, and there was also an article about their poor service in the media. Suddenly everything changed last spring: when I rang I got a proper customer service response and deliveries became efficient and regular. I was even able to order 3 months in advance without any difficulty and the online/app reminders seems to be working well. Reading other responses, I'm not sure if there are regional problems because I know my deliveries used to come from a long distance and are now local. It's worth continuing to put in written complaints and copy in your Hospital: it simply isn't good enough that we who are dependent on these deliveries should be unable to secure a reliable service across the country.