My pharmacist requested that I get my prescription altered to state Vencamil now that Aristo has been dropped by Alliance to stave of future confusion ( it currently mentions both)... I did say that I had tried in the past to get it named but they say that they can't...
So I spoke with the Surgery and yet again they are adamant that they can only request Levothyroxine with requested brand in brackets
Levothyroxine sodium 100microgram tablets
56 tablet - take one each morning ( Vencamil)
Has anyone actually been able to get it successfully named? I'd love to show them a picture of a correctly filled out prescription if such a thing exists 🙏
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Yep!... I've tried several times but always get the same response... I thought if I said the pharmacist had requested it that might work but apparently not... am I OK to use this as evidence that it is possible?
Yes of course you can use that image as evidence. I didn't even need to explain to the GP who changed my Levo brand. She just hit a button and it all got filled in.
They just need to look for Vencamil, forget about the fact that its Levo because that doesnt even come into it anymore.
Brilliant thanks 🤗.... yes she just kept banging on about Levo 🙄I've sent another message with the wordy bit which will get her back up 😆I shall say I can provide a photo if that helps 😉
After another call with yet another person from the surgery, who tell me it is there policy to not specify branded medicines, I've just received this text message...
We are able to dispense your prescriptions for you. Dispensary are able to order in the brands you require.
Thanks, Clinical Pharmacy Team
Yet no change to the prescription wording 🙄 so we shall see how that goes next month 🤨... If I didn't have a few months worth in stock I'd be really stressed but I'm going to keep at them 😁
Yes, my prescription states Eltroxin...... the pharmacy who delivers my meds have sometimes sent other brands...and I sent them straight back Recent deliveries have been Eltroxin. As Jaydee1507 shows, it is possible for it to be done.
I did say that I had tried in the past to get it named but they say that they can't...
When I was discussing brands and prescriptions with the practice pharmacist recently….he implied it was a drop down menu on computer to select brand to add to computer written prescription for levothyroxine
In particular he was saying……There’s currently no drop down menu option for selecting T3 brand
I have read that a GP can get a medicine added to their system.
For example, several (actually, many) years ago there was a shortage of liothyronine - back when the only product was Tertroxin. The MHRA issued a notice that "foreign" products could be dispensed. That situation would likely require the foreign product to be added manually within the surgery. I don't see the product being made part of the basic system for every GP surgery in the country on a temporary basis.
Wasn't there some advice issued by the UK government on how to make sure that pharmacists prescribe a specific brand of Levo after the riots in France over changes to the excipients in Levo made by Merck?
Levothyroxine: new prescribing advice for patients who experience symptoms on switching between different levothyroxine products
If a patient reports persistent symptoms when switching between different levothyroxine tablet formulations, consider consistently prescribing a specific product known to be well tolerated by the patient. If symptoms or poor control of thyroid function persist (despite adhering to a specific product), consider prescribing levothyroxine in an oral solution formulation.
The pharmacy being able to get hold of it through their supplier(s);
Good faith all through because adding a brand name does not guarantee that being dispensed.
And there are so many other issues. Like, would you accept Almus rather than Accord (or vice versa) - seeing as they are the tame tablets? But strict interpretation might mean a pharmacy couldn't dispense the 'other' version.
My dispensing pharmacy refused to have an option. It was either leave it saying MercuryPharma.....and cross your fingers and hope! or change the wording to Eltroxin.
Yes, agreed. But they wouldn't agree to substituting Eltroxin if they couldn't access MercuryPharma......even tho they felt it was OK to send me a different brand other than MercuryPharma if it suited them......yet that " any other brand" was not named on my prescription, and MercuryPharma was. Alice in Wonderland World.
@Eeyore ...it was named...MercuryPharma. Since MP was so difficult to regularly obtain after covid, it's now Eltroxin that's named on my prescription....and if the pharmacy sends me any other brand, I return it. Seems to have got the message through as recent deliveries have been the named Eltroxin.
Ah, with you, I thought you just had it in brackets as an after thought... now they have said they WILL supply me even without it written properly I shall be doing the same 😁🤗
Yes my GP named Wockhardt on my prescription and I got given Teva. The lady on the till wouldn’t even let me speak to the pharmacist - she said that’s clearly all they can get hold of right now, so that’s what you’re given.
Yes, the pharmacist seem to do what they want. Mine keeps saying there is a shortage, but I wrote to the companies to ask and took the reply in. They will lie to your face.
I'm on Armour, NDT. My prescription says levothyroxine and Liothyronine!! Luckily pharmacist knows better but really it should say Armour Thyroid. It confused the doctors when I was in hospital because they couldn't understand the daily dosage and wanted me to produce the levo and Liothyronine tabs! Took some explaining. Am guessing Armour isn't listed in the computer prescribing options though it is listed in NHS Formulary. 🙄🙄
I can only imagine how awkward that was in hospital. Recently I did a hospital overnight and pre admission I had to fill out a computer form of what meds I take. Unfortunately there were limited options to tick and no space to put in what your actual medicine was so for Liothyronine I had to tick box that didn't really fit what I take.
So when the nurse comes around to dispense my meds from my locked bedside cabinet she refused to dispense the T3, called the hospital pharmacists who agreed that the form options were limited but they still wouldn't dispense the T3. Honestly made me feel like I was trying to scam them, was horrible.
I'll be taking a private stash of meds next hosptial stay!
Sorry to hear this Jaydee. I normally take my own and insist on administering myself my neds and sign their disclaimer form. Namely because they plonk it all together with breakfast. Eg calcium and NDT together. Really?This time being a heart op didn't feel I should/could. Nurses refused to let me have my NDT and hour before breakfast despite my request explanations. And served up my calcium and all the meds together. Isn't it time they woke up to instructions on medications???? My choices were limited and I regretted not taking extra NDT in with me so could take it early and palm theirs when it came round at breakfast time. Luckily was only in four days. Woe betide me though if I'm ever in and not on the ball.
Have tried for years to get my Surgery to name the brand, had strange conversation once with receptionist who was adamant that Levothyroxine is all exactly the same, it didn't end well
Ahhh noooo.... poor you. Honestly with all due respect what would a receptionist know? She should've passed this on to one of the doctors to sort. Lol...
Unfortunately it is also all about cost. If the pharmacy can get Levo cheaply from a supplier then thats what they will buy in. The NHS have a set price list of the amount they refund to the pharmacy for medicines they have purchased. For instance, if the pharmacy can buy Levo for 50p a box of 28 and get reimbursed £3 from the NHS then they are reluctant to pay £1 for a brand of levo and still only get reimbursed £3. Some pharmacies are better than others. Funny how we can tell the pharmacy what we don't want when it comes to Levo but not what we do want?.
I hear you, I can understand if people show no preference but when they know you are limited for choice due to the excipients added you would think they could just add a name rather than waste endless hours dealing with this every time.... box of Vencamil is around £1.70 I would happily pay for it if it meant I didn't have to make several trips to the pharmacy each month ( they have been great for the last year but staff changes 😳) when it all goes wrong again, which is a 15 mile round trip when my Surgery is a 5 minute walk but until now have always just given me whatever they have... always with lactose and just rolled their eyes at me 😕
It's a fight we could all do without isn't it. It is easy to just click on the drop down menu when issuing a script and pick the item that has been requested by the patient. I do despair of the treatment( or rather non treatment) we are receiving from our GP surgeries. I hope you get sorted out and this fiasco stops. Good Luck.
At least it is all on my record now, along with them saying "they can dispense" the right stuff, so I don't have to go between them and the independent pharmacy 😅
Non treatment indeed. I had an exceptionally rare face to face with a GP due to a possible post surgical wound infection. I had put a fresh dressing on as it keeps bleeding a month later..... Yes expected to change dressings myself in an awkward spot . The GP looked and said oh yes you are healing fine. I said it's a fresh dressing don't you want to remove it to look. No need she said, I don't want to meddle! . Then reported to the surgeon that it was healing great and no infection. I was gobsmacked....
Sorry to hear about your non treatment from your GP but sadly its a story I hear and have experience of. My husband had a particularly bad experience with our surgery and the lies written on his notes had to be seen to be believe. Notes saying he had been seen ftf when he had infact ended up in A & E as he couldn't see the Doctor, he had pneumonia and was in hospital for a week. Appointments that had never happened, calls never made etc... I don't have any trust that our GP practice are there to look after me or anybody else. The crazy thing is they now have a sign up saying they are taking on new patients !!. They can't give an appointment to the patients they already have. God help us all.
The odd bit is that I'd given up on the Surgery dispensing as they ignored the instruction so had to go to an independent who have been happily supplying for a year and just wanted the script changed to make ordering mistakes less of an issue... I shan't be holding my breath that the Surgery are now going to get it right 🙃
Oh yes, you would be surprised at the reimbursement list from NHS. I understand that pharmacies have overheads but trust me. It's a disgrace. I worked in an independent pharmacy for quite a few years, I was a dispenser and also did counter work. The mark up on medicines over the counter is a joke, the invoice comes in with the delivery and tells you what to price it up at?? A bottle of Benylin cough medecine was sold to us at £2.95 and prices up at £5:95 as per the instructions on the invoice?? Don't tell me me aren't getting ripped off. A profit needs to be made but it's funny isn't it that when people want paying more for their labour they are called greedy !!. Rant over, I apologise.
I suppose if you look at it from the other angle, while medicines were cheap then pharmacies have been getting very well reimbursed for their costs. Medicines may have increased in price but the pharmacy is still reimbursed much more than they have paid out. We have recently had 2 independent pharmacies go up for sale near me, one of them that I worked in. The cost of each was a million pounds plus !!. One has been bought by another independent family run pharmacy group and the other by Asda. I am not against pharmacies making a living, they are so important in the community especially now with the way GP surgeries are conducting themselves. I would go to the pharmacy for advice before going to the GP and save myself the fiasco of trying to speak to the Doctor. I just feel that the whole NHS way of doing things needs a severe overhaul.
To be honest, I would always go to a good pharmacist before going to the GP anyway. As I understand it, it’s what we are expected to do these days anyway.
And, true. Pharmacies have been generously reimbursed throughout the years for the actual cost price of the item. I’m sure like supermarkets they’d argue that everything else comes with a cost too. Like heating and lighting which incidentally is less in some supermarkets since the cost of living. Profiteeering has gone mad.
Profiteering by all businesses is out of hand and I would be very surprised if once inflation starts reducing the prices won't go down to what they were beforehand? Don't need an appointment to see the pharmacist, thats a good start anyway. I know that they will eventually be able to supply antibiotics for common ailments such as sinus infection tions and tonsillitis but I have no idea where they are getting the time from to see patients, our local pharmacist already works 8:30 to 6pm, much longer than any of the GP's.
They won’t be reducing their prices especially any business that is incentivised by UK Gov. But, who knows?!
Nonetheless, all medication should be free for all. It’s ridiculous that money ever comes into it. Globally, we’d all be better off if people were well enough. But, that’s a whole other conversation which this is becoming 🙂
This is probably not helpful, but reading this so often on the forum makes me so mad!😡
To some degree, I can understand if it was an expensive medicine and only to some degree. This is as, for example, lots of branded Quetiapine is quite expensive but I have yet to meet someone who has experienced issues with GP prescribing this (though that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen of course). Same with epilepsy drugs etc.
I have never experienced this problem with any of my branded medications that are available for dispensing in quite some time. It really is as simple as picking it from a drop down box and the GP usually picks it.
It can be trickier if it’s something that needs to be imported and NICE or BNF do not recommend, or local CCG/ICB restraints (incidentally, if anyone can point me in the right direction on how to GP to agree to import a particular medication please private message).
Thankfully, when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism one of GP asked me which brand I wanted. Since then with each dose change I have stuck with the same brand to reduce the variables, which has also been respected.
I guess it might help that have been on this rodeo before. It should not be like this, and I can’t help but wonder why is so for thyroid patients when it’s not this difficult to have named brands for other health difficulties.
Sorry, I know it’s not help but it does make me so mad seeing this!
Nope! They have a No Brand Policy apparently though the HRT I'm on is all branded?? But they have said they will dispense it.... last time they just gave me whatever they had including lactose 🙄 we shall see...
Listened to a recent Zoe Podcast today about Health Span as apposed to Lifespan which suggested if the NHS spend half of the money they spend on people in their last years of life much earlier giving people blood sugar monitors and advice etc and trained Dr's properly in nutrition, exercise etc... it would save a fortune and people would be far less likely to live out their lives with chronic illnesses...
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Recent deliveries have been Eltroxin. As Jaydee1507 shows, it is possible for it to be done.
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