Difficult to believe this really happened
Difficult to believe
Its difficult to believe what I’m going to tell you. It happened at my doctors surgery. Its all about obtaining items on a medical prescription. Right below are the rules, the last two are specific to my surgery.
- If I want anything medical that cannot be bought over the counter then I need a prescription.
- I use the NHS App for repeat requests of symptom management drugs such as gabapentin.
- Prescriptions are always issued electronically.
- When I need consumables, from a third party, such as catheters, then I must send an email to the surgery saying exactly what I want and who supplies it.
- My surgery can only accept prescription requests from me.
This is an excellent system until something goes wrong and sometimes it does.
I sent this email to my GP surgery a few weeks ago
Can you please raise a repeat prescription for 4 boxes of Peristeen plus system accessory product number 29143
The prescription is to be sent to COLOPLAST CHARTER and it is urgent that you issue the prescription as soon as possible.
In other words
I need 4 boxes of the product 29143 soon, it sounds easy and straight forward. Coloplast always acknowledge receipt of the prescription and they are delivered to me within 3 or 4 days.
A couple of days later I receive a text from Coloplast to say they could not process the prescription, so they were going to ask my doctor to issue a new one. Sounds easy but the only way my doctor’s surgery will issue a prescription is for me to ask for one. I thought the easiest thing is to resend the email to my surgery and ask for the original prescription to be reissued.
A few days later I receive another text from Coloplast saying that they were unable to process the new prescription. It is now all getting very silly. All I want is 4 boxes of product 29143, what could be easier.
You will not believe this
No one will tell me any details about the problem, very frustrating. The only solution is to go to my GP surgery, phone up Coloplast then ask the person issuing the prescriptions to talk to the person on the phone.
I asked for 4 boxes of a product with a code of 29143, each box contains 10 catheters. The person at the surgery issuing the first script raised a request for 4 catheters. The second request for 4 boxes of 29143 was amended to a request for 36 catheters. Yup this makes a total of 40 catheters but I asked for 4 boxes of product 29143. Also where in my request do I mention catheters?
Difficult to believe
All I wanted was 4 boxes of ten catheters, product code 29143, what could be easier. Someone somehow made a very stupid mistake and it could have been much more serious. Coloplast could not fulfil either request. Also how did the person issuing the script know it was for Peristeen catheters, I never mentioned them in my emails? The surgery fixed the problem, I listened to the apologies and I did not shout. Instead I rolled just my eyes and quietly left the surgery
Coloplast Charter just needed an order for 4 boxes of product 29143. I was lost for words at the incompetence of the surgery.
Not the first time
On another previous occasion I had made the same request, 4 boxes of 29143, and the GP issued a prescription for different Peristeen items. I did need them and the delivery included some catheters. No need to complain this time. None the less it is difficult to believe this could happen at a GP surgery.
Have you ever suffered problems like these? Please tell me via the reply box at the bottom of this blog post.
February 2025
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I’ve been having the same problem for a good few months. Also my meds mysteriously disappearing of my meds list. Then having to chase them and same as you having to see a doctor to re prescribe it. All this after spending 19 hours on a Hospital trolly in a packed corridoor.
Hello John,
Its the time that is wasted chasing everything up, keeping tabs on what is where and the inefficiency that gets my goat. There have been other problems that I have not mentioned and its down to carelessness.
I do sympathise or as a friend says, I feel your pain.
Talk soon