Went to pick up a repeat prescription today for Requip XL 8mg and Requip XL 2 mg. The Requip XL 2mg was NOT available until December 14th.!!!
OH runs out of this after the weekend.
Any suggestions as to what to do please??
Hi Benji,
I'll flag this up with the team who will get back to you with some advice tomorrow.
All the best to you and your OH.
Min
Moderation Team.
Hi benji,
We would recommend speaking to the prescriber if you can, or calling our Helpline team and speaking to a nurse. Call free on 0808 800 0303, the Helpline is open Monday-Friday: 9am-7pm, Saturday: 10am-2pm.
I hope that helps.
Best wishes,
Joanne
(Digital team)
have you tried your hospital pharmacy !
Min.............sadly no advice forthcoming yet
Joanne..............the precriber is our GP with our neurologist's recommendations but I will phone the helpline to see what they suggest.Our pharmacist did not recommend cutting our 4mg into half.
Gus......I'm off tomorrow around all our local pharmacies to see if they have it, thanks for your suggestion.I thought that hospital pharmacies only dealt with in house prescribing on discharge from hospital and that you cannot just turn up with a prescription???
The best that our pharmacy could come up with today, after I went away with the date that I mentioned, was, we have a generic form of the medication, BUT, OH has to have Requip as generics don't work, they never have. I have accepted a week of the generic stuff and am just crossing my fingers now.Years ago it was stated on OH's medical records that Requip was not to be replaced with Ropinirole.
Additionally, yet another brand of Rivastigmine was the only option today, at our pharmacy,when we received the repeat prescription from the memory clinic.This will be the third brand that we have been given in the space of 6 months. How can we evaluate the efficacy of this medication when we get a different brand name every time!!!! Even the nurse at our review in the memory clinic last Monday agreed that generic forms may not be as efficient as the original.We have been there with Requip V Ropininirole years ago.I walked away with the prescription and said that I will go elsewhere.
PUK needs to intervene to ensure that PWP get the same form ANY drug that they are taking, every time, and not just what is the cheapest form, (that is what we were told at our memory clinic appointment this week, was the case).
It's just appalling that essential drugs for PWP are not avaaible at all times and those that are, are relegated to the cheapest generic offshoot, which is not always as efficient at controlling symptoms, due to what else is incorporated into it to pad it out.
benji
you can go to hospital pharmacy ,well in dorset no harm in phoning or popping in
At last...........the Requip XL 2mg was at the pharmacy today after over a week on the generic form which was not good.. Repeat prescription to be picked up on Christmas Eve to see us over the holiday period. Thankfully we have enough now, (due to the late filling of the previous prescription), 21 days to just about see us into the new year. If there is yet again a problem with the supply on the 24th it will be a worrying time again!
I reiterate what I posted on 4th December and would like to know if PUK intend to campaign for what I mentioned, particularly in my last two paragrahs? PUK awareness week 2016 maybe?? With special reference to drug companies OFF production times, GP's not defining a particular medication and pharmacies NOT keeping some stock of medication that is requested regularly by PWP. We often have to wait until meds are ordered and return to get them but being without your usual meds can and does cause problems.
try and ask your gp to see if he will give you 2 months supply ,i have this with some of my meds ,,and say your meds are due to renew on the 8th of the month put your repeat in on the 1st ..hope ok gus
That's just what I used to do Gus, a few days before BUT the pharmacy is now sticking to the date on the prescription which is exactly the day that the previous meds run out. There will be a letter to the surgery in the new year.
gettting to big for there boots ! i would change chemist hope ok
Actually, I think that it's the surgery that is causing the problem, Gus.
Previously I would ask for a repeat a couple of days before meds ran out and the pharmacy would honour it. I never looked at the date because the script was already at the chemists. I think that the surgery is tightening up on scripts because of costs and is keeping it to the 28 day deadline for issuing a new script as well as telling the pharmacist that they must not issue it, even a day sooner than it is dated, thus causing problems if the medication has to be ordered and thus a return visit to pick it up and possibly a third visit if they do not have enough to fulfill the whole prescription, as often happens here, most months.
I saw an elderly gent this week in our chemists who was refused his script, late afternoon, because it was dated the next day and was told to come back ... 'tomorrow.' It's OK for me right now, I can walk to the pharmacy, but many elderly people have to take a taxi there and back.
i must be so lucky say my meds have got date on them 8th ,i phone pharmacy on 1st then they go up to gp to put order in and there be ready norm 4 days later on the 5th so i get a little stock pile going !
also the pharmacy pop tablets out in to bottles for & well as deliver
Hi Benji,
Have added this prescription fiasco to my list of things to talk about to try to make the management of PD meds better.
I remember upsetting the Nursing Home staff when my Mum first moved in as I had asked her GP to give me a complete extra set of her meds.
There had been supply problems and I had had to go back and forth collecting meds in small amounts, Mum was moving to a new area and I had no idea about the supply there of her PD meds.
So to keep me sane and my mother (then aged 88) less worried about her move - her GP gave us the extra prescription - the nursing home then had far too many drugs that they had to log in and store!! they were not happy - but I was less stressed as I knew I had ensured that as Mum settled into a new life we didn't have to worry about Medication supplies!!
You would have thought the pharmacy's would want people to get prescriptions in early so they had an easy time of it!!
Hope things are sorted for you now and the 24th doesn't bring more stress!! Lots of bank holidays looming that don't help when things are not going smoothly!
Keld
Dear All,
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I'm so glad to hear you got hold of Requip Xl eventually Benji. Our new Health policy and Campaigns officer starts in January and she will be planning our new campaign etc. from then. I will point her towards this thread when she starts.
Kind Regards and a happy Christmas,
Eorann
Yes, Keld, holding my breath until tomorrow morning when I go to pick up the presciption.
Eorann, thanks for your response.
However, it is not that we got hold of Requip, eventually, it is that it was not available for some length of time, and this is NOT an acceptable situation for PWP who depend on any drug in their regime on a daily basis.
We are not talking about paracetamol here but an essential drug. Maybe this could be taken up quickly by the new Health & Policy officer, as a matter of urgency.I look forward to their comments in the new year on what can be done to improve matters.
Hi Benji,
Sorry if my comment came across wrong. I absolutely agree that the wait for Requip is unacceptable. We have been following the Requip problem closely and spoken numerous times to manufactures about the supply issue and will continue to.
I've spoken to my manager and the issue around generics being prescribed is one our team will be looking at this year. There may be an education side to this as well as it may be that some prescribers don't understand the importance of not switching drugs. If you would be interested talking about the problems you've had and your views on generic to inform our work that would be great.
Eorann