Friday night Hubby opened a new bottle of very strong pain killers he is prescribed by his Doc. Picked up the bottle from the chemist earlier this week. Only 5 tablets were inside, instead of 30 so a considerable number short.
I called the pharmacy yesterday hoping to speak to the head pharmacist (who was away) to report the shortage. I assumed they would be able to see they still had 25 extra sitting on their shelves, however was told ''as they drop tablets all the time'' no reconciliation of stock is undertaken, they simply do not know what they have on the shelf, and they would have to take my word that the bottle was short...:ohmy:
Does this come as a surprise to anyone else not in the industry? I would have thought this would be something strictly monitored and recorded, and subject to surprise audit from the relevant Govt Dept.
sounds dodgy to me, somebody at the chemist may be on the make?
5 acres, Ferguson 35X and implements, Hanmay pto shredder, BMW Z3, Countax ride on mower, chooks, Dorper and Wiltshire sheep. Bosky wood burning central heating stove and radiators. Retro caravan. Growing our own food and preserving it. Small vineyard, crap wine.
Lots of medicines are very hard to get. we normally get our prescriptions for 3 months at a time, as it means we don't have to trek into town frequently, but now they are all on repeats which is a right pain as it has scrambled our routine and now we don't know when to expect to have to renew our prescriptions. Anything in the panadol/paracetamol or pana codeine types of medicines are in short supply worldwide due to crovid, and now with the Canadian company pulling out of NZ it's going to have a profound effect on me as two of my regular meds that I'm nice and stable on, are no longer going to be available.
Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant :S
Yes all my meds are usually on 3 month scripts and now I get only a month at a time. However it is still a 3 month script and each container tells me how many repeats I have left on the sticker. But its a pain to have to keep going back. OH has a medi pack with each a.m and p.m meds in sealed bags. This is on a different date to mine so we are negotiating to get them together.
But the problem of only 5 tabs at a time is something worth following up. Can you go direct to source and call or email your doc and ask if this is the correct amount? The doctor is the one who ordered it after all.
[quote="jeannielea" post=552...
But the problem of only 5 tabs at a time is something worth following up. Can you go direct to source and call or email your doc and ask if this is the correct amount? The doctor is the one who ordered it after all.[/quote]
The label clearly states 30 of the tablets, the chemist short changed the tablets by 25 and they have no way of reconciling if the 25 are still on their shelves or not, so have to take my word there was only 5 in the bottle...
you owe it to the chemist to report the missing pills, but it seems to be a too large discrepancy to be malicious, druggies are usually more clever and would only take a few, unless they were desperate..
5 acres, Ferguson 35X and implements, Hanmay pto shredder, BMW Z3, Countax ride on mower, chooks, Dorper and Wiltshire sheep. Bosky wood burning central heating stove and radiators. Retro caravan. Growing our own food and preserving it. Small vineyard, crap wine.
OK that does sound weird. But if you are a regular customer and the records show no previous complaints but that you usually get 30 tabs, I still think its worth talking to the actual pharmacist or complain to the doc or as a last resort threaten to go to Fair Go because what you describe isn't a fair go - especially since in theory anyway, the customer is always right!!
Thanks All. The person answering the telephone on behalf of the absent Pharmacist assured me they would put another 25 in a bottle for Hubby for pickup, so no worries there.
I'm just gobsmacked that there is no auditing system for prescribed medication, bearing in mind (and those of you Franklin based will know who I mean) a Pharmacist spent a fair bit of time in jail for supplying.
