Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

We now take our prescriptions ourselves up to the surgery, who very promptly send it to the pharmacy, for us to pick up next day. It's all very quick. We did use online services, which were good, but both were ceased by the companies. Our surgery, as I understand, now only accepts Patient Access as a provider. We have not joined this as it also lets you look at your medical records, which we do not want to do (best not to know what doc really thinks!).I think the identification process is lengthy too and may require a video of yourself - does this link in with NHS log ons? Just got so fed up of the changes and complexity that we gave up. Any way we have to go up the shops to buy our daily paper as we cannot get a paper boy or girl here, despite living in surburbia. So popping into the surgery and chemist is no problem.

 

The staff in our local pharmacy (a branch of Welldricks) are lovely, always polite and helpful, but even when I order a prescription in plenty of time and then leave it several days after the message from the doctor's says it'll be ready to collect, it is never ever actually ready. Last time it had been got out and put into one of their plastic trays but they said the pharmacist needed to check it before they could label it and give it to me - "it'll be half an hour". Sometimes they haven't got that far - they have to go and find the prescription and then "it'll be half an hour". Sometimes they haven't enough, or any, in stock and have to order more, then it'll be another day or two. This is all when they've had the prescription for about a week or more.
It seems to me that the system is to wait until the patient comes in to collect it. Maybe it saves on waste if there are people who order prescriptions but don't turn up to collect them, but it is very irritating. These days I try to make sure I've some other errands to do nearby so I'm not twiddling my thumbs waiting.

 

This is exactly why I stopped wasting my time using the local chemist, Lloyds.

 

Mine went up a fair bit but not 100%, I tried confused dot com and ended up confused.
After filling in lots of insurance details of what I wanted, they quoted me cheap insurance, but by the time I included the extras that I had said I wanted they come out about the same price as my renewal.

 

A moan about my local railway station today.
I arrived in the rain, only to find the door to the ticket office, firmly locked.
I dislike using the ticket machine, but resolved that I would have to on this occasion.
But, . . . . .



I boarded the train to my destination, at the end of the line. No guard available to pay on the train.
At my destination I spoke to their ticket office employee, who told me that the person who mans my local station was on holiday for a week. Southeastern Rail don't consider it is worthwhile providing a stand-in.
I purchased a return ticket from my destination, and on my return journey, had no-one check my ticket.
What's the point, if the company doesn't care enough to provide the necessary service? I could have gone both ways free of charge!!
And then I read about how so many people are fare dodging, and how it means prices have to rise!!
Sigh. Rant over.

 

We get our prescription medications from the local Boots. I can order them through the surgery website, and they will send the prescription electronically to the Boots branch I’ve requested. I’ve also set up an arrangement with Boots to text me when the tablets are ready to collect, which is much better than going into the store when they were supposed to be ready, as I too have had to hang around for the pharmacist to sign them out.

It all works well, but it’s always interesting to see what brand I’m being given this month, hardly ever the same twice! I also find I need to reorder about two weeks before I run out. Sometimes the prescription is filled at another branch, and sent over, and that can add a couple of days. I rarely visit the local town, so I usually make a trip of it, and pick up anything interesting in the local Sainsbury’s there.

 

Not been on a train for years, hope I never have to.
Can't stand the clickedy clack and the sound of all those doors being slammed.

 

The soot must have been really annoying too @pete

 

Agree, I'd forgotten about that.

 

Err, they don't have slam doors anymore. I miss those - being able to leap off the train returning from London in the evening, just at the right point, and being halfway up the exit stairs before the train stopped.

They still clickety clack though.
Good ol' BR - I mean Southeastern Rail!

 

British Rail is coming back, hopefully.

 

We must be lucky with your surgery/pharmacy, it's all done automatically online. I saw my GP late Wed afternoon, he suggested trying a new inhaler, sent an email direct to the pharmacy whilst I was still there and I collected it this morning. When we want to re-order repeat prescriptions, we do so on the NHS app - easy-peasy. Our pharmacy is a small independent who took over our village Boots when they closed last year. They now have two outlets and the staff in ours are delightful.
I agree with @Debs64 though, on Wednesday I tried to buy a dosset box for pills for my OH to take on his canal trip and had difficulty finding pharmacies in other districts that were still open. None of them had the boxes in stock anyway.

 

That's what you get when you travel Third Class