Victory with scrip mess

[Mayadill]

I trust. Been told the scrip has been issued. With my luck the chemist's will mislay it. No, I didn't say that. I took on board Body_bonkers' point about their receiving many letters and at the weekend opened a second front, sending the following through their messaging system

I shall run out of Prednisolone entirely on the 25th. I have no wish to end up in A+E with adrenal crisis. Please would you prescribe the next issue due 22nd by this coming Thursday, 18th, so that there is a good margin.

Please let me know the prescription has been issued.

To be exact I have a total of 112 x 1 mg tab. I am now on 9 mg. That will last 12 days.

This situation has arisen because of hiccups with the last two scrips. I have written a long letter to Dr xxxxxxxxx detailing what has happened. If the letter has not been received, please let me know how I can email it to you.

Briefly, in March when I was flaring badly and on 15 mg I was prescribed a repeat weaning dose, which averages out at 11 mg/day. Clearly on 15, 14, 13, 12 mg I have been getting through that with at best a very narrow margin for running out. The situation was made critical by April’s prescription, which should have covered 10 April to 8 May, with a further scrip on 8 May. Instead I got issue date 24 April, next issue 22 May.

Thank you for your help with this matter.

I gather the scrip was issued Monday morning, though of course they didn't let me know and I had to ring to find out. I am the last person in the world to create more work for receptionists but really an automated message could be sent. But the effect on my poor little mental elf of all this. What's an acceptable expostulation, jumping juniper beans! How about that? Stress straight to my legs, headache, tearful. I am lucky in leading a possibly rather boring but calm life and I really did not realize disquiet would affect me that badly.

Huge thank yous to all for support in the original thread.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

9mg is plenty low enough to make such a worry a major concern. I can even have a wobbly after a stroppy phone call!

[Rachmaninov2 in reply to PMRpro]

Health related phone calls are becoming a pet hate of mine, they often leave me feeling stressed and shaky. 😩

[Mayadill in reply to Rachmaninov2]

"You are held in a queue. You are 745th in line to be answered." That bit's bad enough.

[Rachmaninov2 in reply to Mayadill]

Add ”Your call is important to us, please continue to hold until an agent is free.”😤

[Omanain in reply to Rachmaninov2]

Then after hanging on for ages, get a message telling you there is no-one available to take your call, please try later,,,,,,,,,,

[Rachmaninov2 in reply to Omanain]

Yes! Going round in circles and back to square one. Or ‘Snakes and ladders ‘ also springs to mind.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Rachmaninov2]

This afternoon I rang a surveyors office in Scotland - as far as I can see the only company in the area to do the sort of survey I need - for the FOURTH time at least. The surveyor says it is the first he has heard of it! I was stalled by the "administrator" every time. One of them is lying ...

It isn't as if I can drop by the office and stage a sit-in is it!!!!! But every single thing to do with admin in the UK is a nightmare. And those "Press 1 for ... etc" induce steam from my ears - since they don't work on a foreign phone. In the immediate aftermath of OH's death they reduced me to tears until I realised that if you ignore it long enough it USUALLY hands you to a person but rarely the right one.

[Rachmaninov2 in reply to PMRpro]

Beyond frustrating.

Yes, if you appear to be unable to cope with the system it can help you by putting you through to a human being who might then find the person you need. Extremely convoluted, I can remember when life in general was simple in comparison. The press1 etc. options don’t always cater for every situation. 🙃🤪

[Bridge31 in reply to PMRpro]

Then the transfer from one human to the correct one results in cut off completely and you have to start again.

What a waste of our precious time.

Oh and what about 30 mins reading terms and conditions to you ? A simple renewal of holiday insurance took 50 minutes the other week.

Good to moan isn’t it ? 😉

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bridge31]

Especially on an international phone call!!!!

[Flivoless in reply to PMRpro]

I can echo your frustration. Recently I have had to deal with three major companies and two government agencies and all of them have been a pain in the proverbial. 3-4-5 weeks to respond to emails - if I got any response first time - and then only getting half of the required information resulting in me sending more emails and waiting a further few weeks. Phone calls? Forget them, not once did I receive a, promised, call back. I'm not surprised that when "experts" review a new mobile phone whilst rapturing about the camera and the that it can download a film in a matter of seconds, never do they mention whether said new phone is any good at making phone calls. I can only deduce from that the last couple of generations don't know how to actually make a phone call so there's no point, hence I never receive call-backs. Rant over. 📞📞

[Mayadill in reply to Flivoless]

Nothing that can't be infused with a sort of crazed incompetence! I just got a text to say my delivery would be made between 11 and 1. so of course I'd be sure to be in. The text was sent at 11.59.

[sidra1968 in reply to Flivoless]

Right on! Even worse, many are actually AFRAID to make a phone call and actually have to talk to a human..I have been told this straight from young people..SAD. SO glad I am "older" and wish I was even born sooner, as to have missed most of this. I still have a flip phone and people (of all ages) think I am nuts. I don't care, I prefer to live my life looking UP at the screen of real life.

[Flivoless in reply to sidra1968]

Just like fashions, they repeat themselves. Both Samsung and Google have recently released new Flip phones. So you are bang up to date really.

[sidra1968 in reply to Flivoless]

ha! Maybe my 80's Flashdance style shirts will come back.

[Flivoless in reply to sidra1968]

I wouldn't push your luck.

[sidra1968 in reply to Flivoless]

I actually see him on the 25th..we'll see what he says. A few of my Drs are over retirement age and only work 3 days per week..I feel like they are kind of "mailing it in" at this point maybe. I have been feeling much better, thank goodness he let me "trial" the pred after ruling everything else out and listened to me about possible PMR. I will give him that! Gotta run, have a great day!

[Mayadill in reply to PMRpro]

With me I think being put in the position ‘patient’! As in one who cannot take control of the situation, solve the problem, feeling intensely vulnerable. Coupled with the double-bind of the responsibility. That does irk me as a matter of principle. I’m responsible for making sure I have enough medication? Fine, then I can order it as readily as when I see I’m running out of washing-powder. Not. I felt my Pred had been treated like a scrip for tetracycline or something, one capsule tds for 14 days, end of story. That didn’’t make me feel trusting. Quite a lot of that, actually. Ordinarily my mobility issues mean I’m not about to turn up on anyone’s doorstep but I’m perfectly capable of getting into a cab and I cannot see that I should have let this reach crisis, it’s very much the having to do things and possibly having to do yet more things to make sure it didn’t, all the effort plonked on me.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Mayadill]

See my comment above - all the things it had to be me after OH died was awful. No-one at all to help since the girls weren't here and anyway didn't speak good enough German - plus each things happened in umpteen steps weeks apart, I finally got my widow's pension from Germany 3 weeks ago - he died in October 2021 and they were notified in early November.

[Bcol in reply to PMRpro]

I hope it was backdated.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bcol]

It was and, as the lady in Berlin said, it was worth waiting for! Enforced savings! But had I been a widow who was on the breadline, it would have been a very different thing wouldn't it?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to PMRpro]

PS, forgot to say - WITH INTEREST!

[Bcol in reply to PMRpro]

Even better and rightly so, but yes, as you said would have been very different for someone who was desperate for it.

[HeronNS in reply to PMRpro]

Good!

[Mayadill in reply to PMRpro]

Appalled about the pension: my father was working in The Netherlands up to retirement. Pension was automatic and after he died in 1994 my mum was paid a widow's pension. I'd have expected better of Germany. Yes, after my mum died and I had a three-floor house to clear with already diminished mobility and full-time job, all the ghastly things you have to do after someone dies, while pretending not to be a soggy wreck.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Mayadill]

It apparently was the UK's fault! It took them a long time to send the info about other state pension income and even then it wasn't correct - the figure they gave as widow's pension from the UK wasn't purely widow's pension, it was MY pension in my own name plus about £15 which is what the UK so generously gives the widow. Italy and Germany pay 60% of HIS pension entitlement. Mind you - Germany kept sending ME letters directly instead of to the charity office that advises everyone who needs it about official "Stuff" and who had a POA. And to add insult to injury, in Italian! Even the office was struggling with some of the requests which didn't exist on the system and Germany couldn't say what they were either.

[Mayadill in reply to PMRpro]

Know from personal experience that the wondrous DWP can err but so far as the SP goes I get a clear statement each April of what I shall be paid for the coming tax year. At least the letters were addressed to you not your husband. The classic after my mother died was from BT: 'Dear Mrs .....We were sorry to hear of your loss and here is cheque refunding overpayment on your account..' Duly made out to her. So Germany sent letters in Italian about the finances of a British woman, the nub of which is her time working in the UK. You could not make it up!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Mayadill]

Especially as I live in a German-speaking autonomous region!!!!!

[Mayadill in reply to PMRpro]

Soprabolzano/Oberbozen never was sure what it meant legally/politically

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Mayadill]

Oberbozen is actually just the higher levels of the regional capital, the bit that is cooler in the summer so the rich people live there.

[Mayadill in reply to PMRpro]

Tourists too. Stayed there once im Gastehaus Wagner or some other impeccably German name, everyone saying Gruss Gott as they passed you on the footpaths.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Mayadill]

Probably tourists then!!! Here most people say Gruess Gott as well over 90% of the population in this valley are of Autrian heritage but Bozen has become VERY Italian. The Roman government deliberately sent southern Italians there in the 1920s-30s and sent locals down to the south as well as making the use of German illegal. I feel uncomfortable in the hospital there as although legally staff in public service must speak both languages, what actually happens is that locals must speak both, Italians don't! The receptionist in cardiology was a nasty piece of stuff. And the so-called family meeting in palliative care for my husband was with a doctor who only spoke Italian, not a word of English either, The staff in the PO here in the village at present both only speak Italian, they speak better English than Italian which isn't saying much. Awful for the elderly.

[Mayadill in reply to PMRpro]

Oh dear, that is so awful. For the rest of us here, at least we don't have a language barrier to add to our problems.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Mayadill]

But my point is that locals have similar problems, a lot of older ones just don't speak Italian because of the history. I don't have a problem here - I speak fluent German and it is my legal right to have German spoken to me. I have even explained something to an elderly local lady who hadn't a clue what the Italian phlebotomist was saying!

[Mayadill in reply to PMRpro]

So the phlebotomy department was in breach of the lady's right to be spoken to in German? it does seem extremely off that a bilingual area does not automatically employ translators, find a member of staff to translate. I remember once a patient from I think Rumania and we found a native-speaker in one of the labs.

[sidra1968 in reply to Mayadill]

I feel like I am doing everyone else's job sometimes, cannot tell you how many ties I have had to keep bothering "them" for answers..my guy didn't even address my questions on my tapering this week..guess he'll leave it all to me, which honestly probably will go better with advice on this site anyway.

[Bcol]

At least, even given all the mess it seems to be sorted, for the moment anyway!!

[Mike364]

I used to have problems with scrips, pharmacists and GP practice. I don't want to advertise but 2 years ago I signed up with Pharmacy 2 You. Wonderful. All struggles gone. All done online and no contact with surgery. Email reminders every 8 weeks. Can't recommend them enough.

[borednow in reply to Mike364]

What I'm looking for is GP 2 You. They could make a fortune here in West Yorkshire and the GP's should be happy 'cos they'd never have to have anything to do with their patients again. Result!!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to borednow]

We did always say the NHS would work perfectly if it weren't for the patients - maybe they are achieving that step by step ...

[Missus835]

It is impossible to get past the Rheumatology Nursing Station, who say I am "disrespectful". After 4X in the ER last week my voicemail said my name, health card number, phone number, etc. and then I asked "please do not refer me to the ER again". That was construed as disrespectful. The person who called me back would not get past this. I apologized profusely. She did not "want an apology". I had mentioned "impingement" to which she replied, "impingement is not Rhematology". So I apologized again. She hung up on me. So I tried the Rheumatology Clinic. Had to leave a voicemail and they forwarded back to this same woman, who would not assist me. I asked what should my next steps should be. She said, "you've been disrespectful. This is bullying at it's worst. I ended up telling her what an excellent job they were doing (all they do is answer the phone) and then I hung up.

[Mayadill in reply to Missus835]

Oh poor you. The modern demand for 'respect' can of course often be twisted into deterring criticism. But is your care being compromised by this woman? Is it possible to go over her head?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Mayadill]

Amazing when you see an appallingly behaved, drunk young female screaming at a paramedic or policeperson demanding they respect her!

[Mayadill in reply to PMRpro]

Other words besides amazing.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Missus835]

Bullying????? I'd say she was the one doing the bullying - it is her job to help distressed patients. There must be a way to make a constructive complaint.

[Missus835 in reply to PMRpro]

She is definitely the bully here Pro. It was so horrible. She just kept talking me in a circle and saying "because you're disrespectful". I apologized profusely to her but that's not what she wanted. Gawd knows what she wanted. I said, "Ma'am is there no way we can get past this, because I would like to know what my next steps are" and she reverted back to the "disrespectful" and "impingement is not Rheumatology". I did hang up on her in the end after telling her what an amazing job they were doing. All they do is answer the phone and tell you to go to ER if it's emergent or to a walk-in clinic and that is all. IF they are nurses, they need a crash course in empathy.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Missus835]

Never mind empathy - she needs to learn her job! It sounds like SHE is the person with a problem and if so, she should not be the interface between the patient and the doctor. I think you have to go over or around her ...

[Missus835 in reply to PMRpro]

I went around her to my former Neurologist, and now I'm booked to see the Rheumy next week. Don't worry, I'm about to bulldoze right over her. LOL.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Missus835]

But she needs sorting out - does she behave like this with everyone?

[Missus835 in reply to PMRpro]

Truly, I don't know how she is with everyone else but she definitely has be flagged as disrespectful. I have to go in on Tuesday, and I'm going right to ground floor nursing station to find out. I'd know that voice anywhere. Devoid of humanity...and very robotic. Maybe she's A.I.

[Mayadill in reply to Missus835]

Rooting for you!

[Mayadill in reply to Missus835]

Ah, you failed to stand when she entered the room, bob a curtsey? What on earth - who on earth does this person think she is. Er, no-one who knows what impingement means would think it means Rheumatology.

[Hidden]

I've been there ! So, the answer to the problem was to over order every time and now I have plenty if anyone wants to buy some! (only joking)

[Missus835]

Yes my care is being thwarted at The Nursing Line. There is no one to go to. I will be letting my Rheumatologist know what is going on. Nurse Ratchett. I have a couple of links to make a complaint. On the second go round I did remind her that sometimes respect must be earned. At any rate I went thru my former neurologist who has always been so helpful. Whatever he did...I have an appointment with my rheumy next Tuesday. So yes...sad to have to resort to these measures.

[Mayadill in reply to Missus835]

I see you're in Canada so I haven't a clue about the system, can only hope the rheumatologist sorts it and even better some way of permanently bypassing the lady is found. Dear Nurse Ratchett! Met her more than once. Nurse knows best, dear. Even when about the current circumstance Nurse clearly knows nothing at all. It’s really rather wonderful how confidently she spouts nonsense. It was my last couple of days in the rehab place. A local charity had kindly cleaned my flat. I had spoken twice on the phone to the pharmacist at the GP’s about delivery of my meds. The lovely boss lady was arranging an ambulance to take me home. This woman appeared and proceeded to inform me I couldn’t go home yet because nothing had been arranged.

[Hunter134]

Iam happy it all got sorted out.This should never have happened.We don't need an unnecessary stress that could have easily been avoided.Hugs

[Mayadill in reply to Hunter134]

Thank you. Last stage of the mission now accomplished. Just ring the pharmacy to check it's ready for collection. What can be hard about that? Only five attempts in the last couple of hours when it was either engaged or just unanswered. Do any of us have time in our lives for this? The hard answer is of course we don't.

[Hunter134 in reply to Mayadill]

It seems our healthcare as really gone down hill.Iam from Canada and it's disturbing.We have to keep on them too.Sad!

[Missus835 in reply to Hunter134]

We have to keep on them all the time, otherwise we get absolutely nowhere. Self advocacy even hits walls. BUT I did get around Nurse Ratchett this time, sadly this is what we have to resort to. One thing we can do is complain through College of Physicians and Surgeons.

[Hunter134]

So glad you got it all sorted.We re lucky we still have our minds!At least now you can relax.

[Mayadill in reply to Hunter134]

Thank you. Despite the best attempts of PMR and Pred to steal our minds!