Rant about the chemists, be ready in 20 minutes

Myself and my wife are both ill, we have long term chronic conditions , I am her unpaid carer, we need a lot of medications.
Every month we order the prescriptions, the chemist picks them up from the doctors surgery to save us doing it, all part of the service.

Every month there are missing items, we pick up bag of medicine get to the car park, sometimes there are upto 5 items missing, the assistants don’t bother telling us, just let us walk away.

Then we have to contact the GP find out what is happening.

I went to pick up my items last week, the chemist said we have received the prescriptions but not dispensed them yet, give us 20 minutes.

The chemist is actually in a big supermarket, convenient as open 7am to 10pm rather than the standard 9-5 so you can get your shopping and your medicine at the same time.

I said I had to dash off, I will pick them up next time I am shopping, I went yesterday, the chemist had had 4 days, the chemist is open Saturday and Sunday.
Guess what, your prescriptions are not ready give us 20 minutes, I walked off there was a big notice saying any attempt to abuse staff the police will be called.

Can I report this chemist? they really aren’t acting fairly, I realise they are very busy, buts that not my fault they need more staff.

Is it possible to get your meds delivered to your home? My MIL had that for a while. And there have been adverts running recently on the TV to that purpose.

Not sure if it’s a service you have to pay for though.

My pet moan currently is that I am on permanent bp meds, and they renew every two months. It used to be the case, for years, that I never have to go near the GP surgery, the prescription renews automatically and I just collect from Boots when I am close to running out.

However, the rules have changed, and the government is concerned that too many people are collecting drugs but not using them (heavens knows why!), so now I have to go the GP surgery each time and sign a form to renew them, and then collect them from Boots.

Fine for me, I’m mobile - NOT fine for those who have transport difficulties!

The problem is I am caring nights so sleep in the day time ,so any attempt to deliver I would be in bed,

I know of delivery services, chemist delivers to one of my carees but the chemist deliver anytime it could be 2pm on Thursday or 9am on Monday, you do not get told when, you are just expected to be in.

And they CANNOT leave with a neighbour, basically for housebound people so I don’t think I fit the criteria for delivery anyway.

I have seen on the tv delivery service but again in bed daytime when post turns would you need to sign for it, is restricted medication.

It is very convenient picking up at the supermarket when you are shopping but they just don’t appreciate I am an unpaid carer, I don’t have time to go back and forth collecting medication which they forget to do.

Worth speaking to pharmacist? Have been in exactly same situ as the OP and moaned to duty pharmacist and they’ve sorted it out. They get a lot of money if you use them so play on that.

Yep, this sounds familiar. “Big shop chemist syndrome” (I’ve just named it!) I used to get this all the time when I used large branches of Boots, until I got fed up with all the extra hanging around. It may be “convenient”, but in reality, how convenient is it, actually, if you’re regularly having to go and chase them to get the prescriptions dispensed, and then find out they’re not all there, and then have to chase the missing items? Is there no smaller, independent chemist you can use? I’ve found they’re generally much better about that sort of thing - as long as they have sufficient cover that they can hand over your meds when you get there even if one pharmacist is at lunch, that is! Plus our independent pharmacies need all the support they can get, it seems.

I’d be cautious about the companies you see on TV, too. Apparently there are downsides (can’t remember what exactly at the moment) to them which of course don’t get mentioned in the adverts - stock availability might have been one of them!

The chemist should contact the doctors about the chasing up medication, some of the staff just seem untrained, they should be but come off the shopfloor.

The local independent chemist has moved into the supermarket, It’s just the convenience get everything in one place at the same time.

But Medication not ready I just haven’t had that before , too many customers not enough staff, they have probably hundreds of customers plus as it is the late night chemist deals with issues out of the 9-5.
Service just seems to be getting worse and worse.