On 05/08/2023 10:53, alan_m wrote:
> On 05/08/2023 02:08, Rod Speed wrote:
>> Brian Gaff <brian1gaff@gmail.com> wrote
>>
>>> I don't get quite why a company that used to be very well used, gets
>>> to this
>>> stage.
>>
>> They basically keep doing what used to work for them
>> and don't notice that the world keeps moving on.
>>
>> They stuck with High Street stores and didnt notice
>> or couldn't afford to move to the big malls etc.
>
> The 'high street' tried big malls and these are the ones with 50% vacant
> shops and/or are dying.

The smallish mall near here that is failing, destroyed itself through
poor management.

They had a problem with people parking there and using the tram to go to
work in the city centre. The obvious solution (and now in place) was to
charge people who parked for more than three hours, but leave it free
for less than that. However, that is not what they tried.

They tried imposed charges on everyone. I know that many times I drove
past, coming home from work, thinking I'd just drop in to pick up an
Elektor magazine or similar priced item, only to not have cash for the
machines on me or, for a cheaper item, the parking was a big chunk of
the cost so I went elsewhere.

Each of those visits would likely have lead me to visiting a couple of
other shops and spending much more than originally intended, as well as
the one I actually wanted.

The end result of this applying to so many potential shoppers for a
number of years, was a loss of trade that closed a number of stores.
That then left it in a state that the important stores were no longer
there, so even when parking became free again, there was no draw and
shoppers did not return.

It still lumbers on, helped by Aldi moving in, but WHSmith, and a host
of smaller, interesting shops are long gone. Maybe it can continue its
recovery, but it has already been a long slow progress of many years and
likely many more to come, if ever.

> What seems popular where I live is small retail parks within the town
> where people can either drive or walk to. Free parking for cars rather
> than expensive high street parking charges.

Exactly what the above mall was providing - until they made the wrong
choice on parking and lost a large chunk of their customers.

On 05 Aug 2023 at 12:11:04 BST, "SteveW" <steve@walker-family.me.uk> wrote:

> On 05/08/2023 07:37, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 04/08/2023 11:11, Andy Burns wrote:
>>> Bob Eager wrote:
>>>
>>>> Homebase [...] it's been useless for years.
>>> They do carry some HG products that B&Q don't, and Really Useful
>>> Boxes, that's all I've bought there in ages.
>> I use it because its very convenient
>> - they sell a huge range of LED bulbs
>> - they are very good on tools
>> - they sell a reasonable amount of herbicides for the garden
>> - they have a decent range of hardware, which is hard to find these days.
>> - some of their bathroom kit is useful
>> I haven't been in B & Q for year simply because i dont have an easy to
>> get to one.
>
> I'm lucky. I have a B&Q warehouse, a Screwfix, a Toolstation, a plumbers
> merchants a timber yard, a steel yard, plus a couple of local hardware
> shops, two car parts shops and two car parts wholesalers, within 2.5 miles.

Well - there it is. Nearest shop of any sort to us is 2.5 miles away. Not that
we ever go there - more convenient and better road to get to Morrisons - 6
miles.

--
"That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted" -- Bill of Rights 1689

On 05 Aug 2023 at 12:24:57 BST, "SteveW" <steve@walker-family.me.uk> wrote:

> On 05/08/2023 10:53, alan_m wrote:
>> On 05/08/2023 02:08, Rod Speed wrote:
>>> Brian Gaff <brian1gaff@gmail.com> wrote
>>>
>>>> I don't get quite why a company that used to be very well used, gets
>>>> to this
>>>> stage.
>>>
>>> They basically keep doing what used to work for them
>>> and don't notice that the world keeps moving on.
>>>
>>> They stuck with High Street stores and didnt notice
>>> or couldn't afford to move to the big malls etc.
>>
>> The 'high street' tried big malls and these are the ones with 50% vacant
>> shops and/or are dying.
>
> The smallish mall near here that is failing, destroyed itself through
> poor management.
>
> They had a problem with people parking there and using the tram to go to
> work in the city centre. The obvious solution (and now in place) was to
> charge people who parked for more than three hours, but leave it free
> for less than that. However, that is not what they tried.

You'd have thought that would be bleeding obvious. Anyone have any idea why it
is not?

--
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."

James Nicoll, rasfw

On 05/08/2023 13:14, Tim Streater wrote:
> On 05 Aug 2023 at 12:24:57 BST, "SteveW" <steve@walker-family.me.uk> wrote:
>
>> On 05/08/2023 10:53, alan_m wrote:
>>> On 05/08/2023 02:08, Rod Speed wrote:
>>>> Brian Gaff <brian1gaff@gmail.com> wrote
>>>>
>>>>> I don't get quite why a company that used to be very well used, gets
>>>>> to this
>>>>> stage.
>>>>
>>>> They basically keep doing what used to work for them
>>>> and don't notice that the world keeps moving on.
>>>>
>>>> They stuck with High Street stores and didnt notice
>>>> or couldn't afford to move to the big malls etc.
>>>
>>> The 'high street' tried big malls and these are the ones with 50% vacant
>>> shops and/or are dying.
>>
>> The smallish mall near here that is failing, destroyed itself through
>> poor management.
>>
>> They had a problem with people parking there and using the tram to go to
>> work in the city centre. The obvious solution (and now in place) was to
>> charge people who parked for more than three hours, but leave it free
>> for less than that. However, that is not what they tried.
>
> You'd have thought that would be bleeding obvious. Anyone have any idea why it
> is not?
>
Because anyone with intelligence can make more money than working for
any city
council

--
“But what a weak barrier is truth when it stands in the way of an
hypothesis!”

Mary Wollstonecraft

SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk> wrote:
> Yes. We still have four within a radius of two miles though. One in the
> local town centre, another a mile away on a small retail park, another
> 1/2 a mile from that in a massive shopping centre and a fourth, 2 miles
> from the first, in a smaller shopping centre.
>
> Pharmacies are needed local to people, but I'm not sure that four full
> retail stores are.

Boots has always been miles of retail tat with a pharmacy counter in the
corner. My last two pharmacies have either been dispensing only (so you
couldn't buy a packet of paracetamol even if you wanted to) or dispensing
plus a few shelves of over the counter medicines.

It seems like the market for toothpaste, cosmetics and similar has partially
moved to supermarkets, shrinking the retail tat side of things.
I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these locations (or a replacement
operator nearby) become pharmacy-only.

Also, Lloyds Pharmacy seems to be in a tailspin of late too - shutting
stores, including Sainsbury's concessions. Not sure of the reasons.

Theo

On 05/08/2023 13:14, Tim Streater wrote:

> You'd have thought that would be bleeding obvious. Anyone have any idea why it
> is not?

Head office staff make such decisions rather than local management?

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 05/08/2023 11:50, Bob Eager wrote:
> On Sat, 05 Aug 2023 11:36:29 +0100, Bob Henson wrote:
>
>> P.S. Just saw this one. Whilst the drivers are being a tad cheeky
>> admittedly, fining them £100 for parking in the "two hours" free park
>> and walking across the road to another shopping centre is one of the
>> worst example of the unmitigated greed of big business that I have ever
>> seen. No wonder shoppers avoid them and head out of town.
>>
>> https://tinyurl.com/2dxz7orh
>
> The silly thing is that both shopping centres are run by the same
> organisation.
>
>
Same owner but different tenants and it's the tenants who lose out if
there's no parking for their potential customers. That affects the rent
the owner can get for the retail space. So it's just business.

Same approach taken recently by the nearest Tesco with a car park which
is also the only "free" parking within range of other shops - M&S,
Primark et al.
--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

Am 05/08/2023 um 09:38 schrieb jim.gm4dhj:
> loved their bike tyres and nuts and bolts by weight

Did you pay for those?

--
Ottavio Caruso

On 5.8.23 1:30 pm, Theo wrote:
> SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk> wrote:
>> Yes. We still have four within a radius of two miles though. One in the
>> local town centre, another a mile away on a small retail park, another
>> 1/2 a mile from that in a massive shopping centre and a fourth, 2 miles
>> from the first, in a smaller shopping centre.
>>
>> Pharmacies are needed local to people, but I'm not sure that four full
>> retail stores are.
>
> Boots has always been miles of retail tat with a pharmacy counter in the
> corner. My last two pharmacies have either been dispensing only (so you
> couldn't buy a packet of paracetamol even if you wanted to) or dispensing
> plus a few shelves of over the counter medicines.
>
> It seems like the market for toothpaste, cosmetics and similar has partially
> moved to supermarkets, shrinking the retail tat side of things.
> I wouldn't be surprised to see some of these locations (or a replacement
> operator nearby) become pharmacy-only.
>
> Also, Lloyds Pharmacy seems to be in a tailspin of late too - shutting
> stores, including Sainsbury's concessions. Not sure of the reasons.

When they were first growing they grew by the unprofessional trick of
leapfrogging the local pharmacy (getting between them and the surgery)
using funds (I know not from where) that were not available to normal
proprietor pharmacies. Having damaged the competition to closing point,
they could then buy them for next to nothing or just let them go down
the pan, which is what happened to me. They did it with such enthusiasm
that they eventually finished up with more than they needed, rather than
let anyone else buy them and get into the system.

Now the NHS has cut the payments to pharmacy to the point where only the
very large shops can survive using economies of scale and the big groups
are losing too much money on the smaller ones. Unlike the old proprietor
pharmacists, they make no concessions to the public's needs and just
shut them down as a purely cash consideration. As Lloyd's and Boots are
not longer British owned and no longer run by pharmacists, they are
managed with regard for nothing but profit.

There is a lesser factor at the moment in that there is an acute
shortage of pharmacists, caused in part by them now being able to make
more money in hospitals than in community pharmacy (never the case in
the past) and even more working in GP practices behind the scenes
helping to reduce the drugs bill for the NHS by "censoring" what the GPs
prescribe to the patients.

--
Tetbury, Gloucestershire , UK

Licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocabant - Tacitus

On 05/08/2023 13:49, Robin wrote:
> On 05/08/2023 11:50, Bob Eager wrote:
>> On Sat, 05 Aug 2023 11:36:29 +0100, Bob Henson wrote:
>>
>>> P.S. Just saw this one. Whilst the drivers are being a tad cheeky
>>> admittedly, fining them £100 for parking in the "two hours" free park
>>> and walking across the road to another shopping centre is one of the
>>> worst example of the unmitigated greed of big business that I have ever
>>> seen. No wonder shoppers avoid them and head out of town.
>>>
>>> https://tinyurl.com/2dxz7orh
>>
>> The silly thing is that both shopping centres are run by the same
>> organisation.
>>
>>
> Same owner but different tenants and it's the tenants who lose out if
> there's no parking for their potential customers.  That affects the rent
> the owner can get for the retail space. So it's just business.
>
> Same approach taken recently by the nearest Tesco with a car park which
> is also the only "free" parking within range of other shops - M&S,
> Primark et al.
All the 'out of town' retail parks near me have free parking. Its the
'in town' car parks that demand money, with menaces. And they wonder why
the high streets are dying.

--
“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the
urge to rule it.”
– H. L. Mencken

On 05/08/2023 17:36, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 05/08/2023 13:49, Robin wrote:
>> On 05/08/2023 11:50, Bob Eager wrote:
>>> On Sat, 05 Aug 2023 11:36:29 +0100, Bob Henson wrote:
>>>
>>>> P.S. Just saw this one. Whilst the drivers are being a tad cheeky
>>>> admittedly, fining them £100 for parking in the "two hours" free park
>>>> and walking across the road to another shopping centre is one of the
>>>> worst example of the unmitigated greed of big business that I have ever
>>>> seen. No wonder shoppers avoid them and head out of town.
>>>>
>>>> https://tinyurl.com/2dxz7orh
>>>
>>> The silly thing is that both shopping centres are run by the same
>>> organisation.
>>>
>>>
>> Same owner but different tenants and it's the tenants who lose out if
>> there's no parking for their potential customers.  That affects the
>> rent the owner can get for the retail space. So it's just business.
>>
>> Same approach taken recently by the nearest Tesco with a car park
>> which is also the only "free" parking within range of other shops -
>> M&S, Primark et al.
> All the 'out of town' retail parks near me have free parking. Its the
> 'in town' car parks that demand money, with menaces. And they wonder why
> the high streets are dying.
>

There is a nasty parking lot near where I live. 1/3 of the free (for 3
hours) car parking is for a (entertainment) business and the other 2/3
for the shops. Both have terms and condition sign displayed. The signs
look identical from a distance but one actually says that if the
entertainment business is shut then it is no parking.
99 in 100 times you will get away with parking in either side but
occasionally the 'parking company' will come around when the
entertainment business is closed in the morning and issue parking fines
for anyone parked in that side of the car park.
--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 05/08/2023 15:29, Bob Henson wrote:

> There is a lesser factor at the moment in that there is an acute
> shortage of pharmacists, caused in part by them now being able to make
> more money in hospitals than in community pharmacy (never the case in
> the past) and even more working in GP practices behind the scenes
> helping to reduce the drugs bill for the NHS by "censoring" what the GPs
> prescribe to the patients.
>

My GP surgery has had a pharmacists on the pay role for very many years.
He seems to look after annual checks for people that have been on long
term repeat prescriptions and checking test results. He also
'specialises' in high blood pressure cases for which you can get an
appointment rather than an appointment to the GP.

In the GP surgery where my mother attends they appointed a full time
pharmacists early this year and it seems he is looking after aftercare
following a hospital admission with regards changes in prescriptions and
test following hospital consultant's advice. This seems to improved the
left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing with GPs not just
looking at previous prescriptions and putting the patient back on the
same whereas a hospital visit had determined some of the medication was
inappropriate or no longer necessary.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

alan_m <junk@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> My GP surgery has had a pharmacists on the pay role for very many years.
> He seems to look after annual checks for people that have been on long
> term repeat prescriptions and checking test results. He also
> 'specialises' in high blood pressure cases for which you can get an
> appointment rather than an appointment to the GP.
>
> In the GP surgery where my mother attends they appointed a full time
> pharmacists early this year and it seems he is looking after aftercare
> following a hospital admission with regards changes in prescriptions and
> test following hospital consultant's advice. This seems to improved the
> left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing with GPs not just
> looking at previous prescriptions and putting the patient back on the
> same whereas a hospital visit had determined some of the medication was
> inappropriate or no longer necessary.

I think a good bit of workload of late has been pinging back between
pharmacist and GP: 'you prescribed X mg of Y, but it's out of stock
nationally', 'ok then, I'll prescribe Z instead', 'sorry that's now out of
stock too'. I imagine you want as short a feedback loop as possible in this
situation.

Does anyone use the online pharmacies, where they claim to deliver your
prescriptions by post? They sound like a really bad idea when there are
shortages or complex prescriptions liable to mistakes, because it sounds
like this kind of feedback loop would now involve a call script droid with a
script.

(or worse, a chatbot)

Theo

In article <G9j*Sw6mz@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, Theo
<theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> alan_m <junk@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
> > My GP surgery has had a pharmacists on the pay role for very many
> > years. He seems to look after annual checks for people that have been
> > on long term repeat prescriptions and checking test results. He also
> > 'specialises' in high blood pressure cases for which you can get an
> > appointment rather than an appointment to the GP.
> >
> > In the GP surgery where my mother attends they appointed a full time
> > pharmacists early this year and it seems he is looking after aftercare
> > following a hospital admission with regards changes in prescriptions
> > and test following hospital consultant's advice. This seems to
> > improved the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing with
> > GPs not just looking at previous prescriptions and putting the patient
> > back on the same whereas a hospital visit had determined some of the
> > medication was inappropriate or no longer necessary.

> I think a good bit of workload of late has been pinging back between
> pharmacist and GP: 'you prescribed X mg of Y, but it's out of stock
> nationally', 'ok then, I'll prescribe Z instead', 'sorry that's now out
> of stock too'. I imagine you want as short a feedback loop as possible
> in this situation.

> Does anyone use the online pharmacies, where they claim to deliver your
> prescriptions by post?

I did for a Covid test kit. "Order by 6pm and it will be delivered
tomorrow". So I did and received an email at 5.50pm telling me it would be
sent "tomorrow - next day delivery" The delivery company texted me that
they couldn't manage that day so it arrived on the following day. So 2
days later than needed. But it was Lloyds pharmacist and Evry/Hermes the
delivery firm. Probably a different combination would have worked.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England - sent from my RISC OS 4té
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

On 05/08/2023 19:36, Theo wrote:

>
> I think a good bit of workload of late has been pinging back between
> pharmacist and GP: 'you prescribed X mg of Y, but it's out of stock
> nationally', 'ok then, I'll prescribe Z instead', 'sorry that's now out of
> stock too'. I imagine you want as short a feedback loop as possible in this
> situation.

I found it strange that when picking up my lat prescriptions that a
20mg/tablet wasn't available but the Pharmacist said he could get the
10mg/tablet. He wasn't allowed to change the prescription from one 20mg
tablet a day to 2x10mg tablets a day. He had to go back to the GP for a
new prescription that detailed 2x10mg. So much for HM Gov suggesting
going to a Pharmacist rather than a GP an also reducing the bureaucracy
in the NHS.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 05/08/2023 20:32, alan_m wrote:
> On 05/08/2023 19:36, Theo wrote:
>
>>
>> I think a good bit of workload of late has been pinging back between
>> pharmacist and GP: 'you prescribed X mg of Y, but it's out of stock
>> nationally', 'ok then, I'll prescribe Z instead', 'sorry that's now
>> out of
>> stock too'.  I imagine you want as short a feedback loop as possible
>> in this
>> situation.
>
> I found it strange that when picking up my lat prescriptions that a
> 20mg/tablet wasn't available but the Pharmacist said he could get the
> 10mg/tablet. He wasn't allowed to change the prescription from one 20mg
> tablet a day to 2x10mg tablets a day. He had to go back to the GP for a
> new prescription that detailed 2x10mg.  So much for HM Gov suggesting
> going to a Pharmacist rather than a GP an also reducing the bureaucracy
> in the NHS.
>
My GP put me on 90mg of a tablet only available in 60 or 120mg.

The prescription was fulfilled by the surgeries own pharmacy and said
'one and a half tablets, once a day'

Frankly thank Clapton we have one - the nearest chemist is ten miles away

--
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit
atrocities.”

― Voltaire, Questions sur les Miracles à M. Claparede, Professeur de
Théologie à Genève, par un Proposant: Ou Extrait de Diverses Lettres de
M. de Voltaire

On Fri, 04 Aug 2023 23:03:05 +1000, Max Demian <max_demian@bigfoot.com>
wrote:

> On 04/08/2023 12:00, Scott wrote:
>> On Fri, 4 Aug 2023 03:09:31 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
>> <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>> On 03/08/2023 21:03, Colin Bignell wrote:
>>>> On 03/08/2023 20:13, Scott wrote:
>>>>> On Thu, 3 Aug 2023 19:51:40 +0100, Mark Carver
>>>>> <mark.carver@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>>>> On 03/08/2023 17:06, Scott wrote:
>>>>>>> On Thu, 3 Aug 2023 16:56:09 +0100, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk>
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Likely into administration at least
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66395824>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It's funny, none of their shops are amazingly convenient for me,
>>>>>>>> but
>>>>>>>> they often turn out to be the one place you can buy slightly
>>>>>>>> off-beat
>>>>>>>> items without waiting for internet delivery ...
>>>>>>> I like them too. When I wanted electrical cable by the metre, they
>>>>>>> were about the only place that sold it.
>>>>>> I ended up at Wilkos to buy a 5 metre length of 0.75mm^2 mains
>>>>>> flex. I'd
>>>>>> ordered 5 metres from CPC (as part of another order)
>>>>>> What turned up in the box were Qty 5 , one metre lengths of the
>>>>>> flex !
>>>>>> I phoned to complain, the bloke in customer services just didn't get
>>>>>> what the problem was, saying it was supplied per metre !
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm a fan too of Wilkos. I've always regarded them as the 21st
>>>>>> Century's
>>>>>> version of Woolies.
>>>>>> Sad to see them go, though my local branch has had very bare
>>>>>> shelves
>>>>>> since Covid.
>>>>>
>>>>> The guy I heard on the radio seemed fairly confident they can keep
>>>>> negotiating while in administration and that there are interested
>>>>> buyers out there.
>>>>
>>>> It seems to be a cash flow problem. By going into administration, they
>>>> get a bit more time to sort out investors or a buyer.
>>>>
>>> I would say that they are not a business that has a market any more.
>>> The
>>> internet has destroyed most of the high street, and if the gummint had
>>> any sense they would start changing the shops into cheap accommodation
>> I still think there is a lot to be said for walking through the
>> entrance, buying what you need and leaving through the exit - compared
>> with ordering online and guessing when it might arrive, where it is
>> likely to be left, whether it gets stolen, whether it is damaged in
>> transit, whether it fits and whether it is what you wanted in the
>> first place.
>
> +1

The contrary argument is the choice online is VASTLY better.

All you really have to do is organise a decent secure place for it to be
delivered too.

Ottavio Caruso <ottavio2006-usenet2012@yahoo.com> wrote
> Brian Gaff wrote

>> Is this the same company we knew as Wilkinson's?

> Where have you been the last 10 years? Prison or Costa del Crime?

Blind, quite literally.

On 06/08/2023 00:29, Rod Speed wrote:

> All you really  have to do is organise a decent secure place for it to
> be delivered too.

Where I live a small independent supermarket (very large corner shop)
that is open to 10pm is a collection point for a few delivery companies.
The problem with security is that the delivery drivers just dump all
the packages just inside the door of the shop and they seem to be left
there for a considerable time if the one/two staff members are busy
serving customers. The few recent times I've been in the shop I could
have helped myself to any of these packages on the way out and I doubt
if anyone will have noticed.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 5.8.23 6:47 pm, alan_m wrote:
> On 05/08/2023 15:29, Bob Henson wrote:
>
>> There is a lesser factor at the moment in that there is an acute
>> shortage of pharmacists, caused in part by them now being able to make
>> more money in hospitals than in community pharmacy (never the case in
>> the past) and even more working in GP practices behind the scenes
>> helping to reduce the drugs bill for the NHS by "censoring" what the GPs
>> prescribe to the patients.
>>
>
> My GP surgery has had a pharmacists on the pay role for very many years.
> He seems to look after annual checks for people that have been on long
> term repeat prescriptions and checking test results. He also
> 'specialises' in high blood pressure cases for which you can get an
> appointment rather than an appointment to the GP.
>
> In the GP surgery where my mother attends they appointed a full time
> pharmacists early this year and it seems he is looking after aftercare
> following a hospital admission with regards changes in prescriptions and
> test following hospital consultant's advice. This seems to improved the
> left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing with GPs not just
> looking at previous prescriptions and putting the patient back on the
> same whereas a hospital visit had determined some of the medication was
> inappropriate or no longer necessary.
>

There are advantages to having someone in the building who knows a lot
about drugs. We (community pharmacists) used to do that role, but it was
frequently hard to get the ear of the GPs many of whom considered it
offensive to be told how to do something by a inferior beings such as
us. When I joined them in a surgery pharmacy in which they had a
financial interest they suddenly discovered that the peasant down the
road was very useful. In the end, they realised our value were quite
kind and appreciative to me when I retired."

--
Tetbury, Gloucestershire , UK

Licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocabant - Tacitus

On 5.8.23 7:36 pm, Theo wrote:
> alan_m <junk@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>> My GP surgery has had a pharmacists on the pay role for very many years.
>> He seems to look after annual checks for people that have been on long
>> term repeat prescriptions and checking test results. He also
>> 'specialises' in high blood pressure cases for which you can get an
>> appointment rather than an appointment to the GP.
>>
>> In the GP surgery where my mother attends they appointed a full time
>> pharmacists early this year and it seems he is looking after aftercare
>> following a hospital admission with regards changes in prescriptions and
>> test following hospital consultant's advice. This seems to improved the
>> left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing with GPs not just
>> looking at previous prescriptions and putting the patient back on the
>> same whereas a hospital visit had determined some of the medication was
>> inappropriate or no longer necessary.
>
> I think a good bit of workload of late has been pinging back between
> pharmacist and GP: 'you prescribed X mg of Y, but it's out of stock
> nationally', 'ok then, I'll prescribe Z instead', 'sorry that's now out of
> stock too'. I imagine you want as short a feedback loop as possible in this
> situation.
>
> Does anyone use the online pharmacies, where they claim to deliver your
> prescriptions by post? They sound like a really bad idea when there are
> shortages or complex prescriptions liable to mistakes, because it sounds
> like this kind of feedback loop would now involve a call script droid with a
> script.
>
> (or worse, a chatbot)

They never were a good idea. I can see an advantage for the elderly in
rural areas with no nearby pharmacies at all but, as you remark, they
are fine until something goes wrong. Even a distant pharmacy is easier
to deal with if there is a problem and as most deliver anyway these days
the online version is largely superfluous. They are also very difficult
to "police", and the public cannot easily tell those (very few)
officially registered from the crooks and the rubbish (often dangerous)
that online sites peddle illegally.

--
Tetbury, Gloucestershire , UK

Licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocabant - Tacitus

On 5.8.23 8:32 pm, alan_m wrote:
> On 05/08/2023 19:36, Theo wrote:
>
>>
>> I think a good bit of workload of late has been pinging back between
>> pharmacist and GP: 'you prescribed X mg of Y, but it's out of stock
>> nationally', 'ok then, I'll prescribe Z instead', 'sorry that's now out of
>> stock too'. I imagine you want as short a feedback loop as possible in this
>> situation.
>
> I found it strange that when picking up my lat prescriptions that a
> 20mg/tablet wasn't available but the Pharmacist said he could get the
> 10mg/tablet. He wasn't allowed to change the prescription from one 20mg
> tablet a day to 2x10mg tablets a day. He had to go back to the GP for a
> new prescription that detailed 2x10mg. So much for HM Gov suggesting
> going to a Pharmacist rather than a GP an also reducing the bureaucracy
> in the NHS.
>

I'm a tad out of date now (been retired 12 years) but what you describe
was always the case. There are a few changes in the pipeline that may
change that situation for drugs which are officially "not obtainable"
and a degree of substitution may be allowed, but we were always
professionally insulted by the authorities' refusal to allow us to
perform simple tasks such as you mention.

The problem, as ever with the NHS, is that the rules are made by
power-freaks who know nothing whatever about the real world of pharmacy
or medicine.

--
Tetbury, Gloucestershire , UK

Licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocabant - Tacitus

On 5.8.23 8:30 pm, charles wrote:
> In article <G9j*Sw6mz@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, Theo
> <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>> alan_m <junk@admac.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>> > My GP surgery has had a pharmacists on the pay role for very many
>> > years. He seems to look after annual checks for people that have been
>> > on long term repeat prescriptions and checking test results. He also
>> > 'specialises' in high blood pressure cases for which you can get an
>> > appointment rather than an appointment to the GP.
>> >
>> > In the GP surgery where my mother attends they appointed a full time
>> > pharmacists early this year and it seems he is looking after aftercare
>> > following a hospital admission with regards changes in prescriptions
>> > and test following hospital consultant's advice. This seems to
>> > improved the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing with
>> > GPs not just looking at previous prescriptions and putting the patient
>> > back on the same whereas a hospital visit had determined some of the
>> > medication was inappropriate or no longer necessary.
>
>> I think a good bit of workload of late has been pinging back between
>> pharmacist and GP: 'you prescribed X mg of Y, but it's out of stock
>> nationally', 'ok then, I'll prescribe Z instead', 'sorry that's now out
>> of stock too'. I imagine you want as short a feedback loop as possible
>> in this situation.
>
>> Does anyone use the online pharmacies, where they claim to deliver your
>> prescriptions by post?
>
> I did for a Covid test kit. "Order by 6pm and it will be delivered
> tomorrow". So I did and received an email at 5.50pm telling me it would be
> sent "tomorrow - next day delivery" The delivery company texted me that
> they couldn't manage that day so it arrived on the following day. So 2
> days later than needed. But it was Lloyds pharmacist and Evry/Hermes the
> delivery firm. Probably a different combination would have worked.
>

In desperation and as the local Lloyds hadn't got any left and I
couldn't get out anyway, I ordered a Covid test from Tesco on my weekly
order. They sent an influenza test. 'Nuff said!

--
Tetbury, Gloucestershire , UK

Licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocabant - Tacitus

On 5.8.23 8:44 pm, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 05/08/2023 20:32, alan_m wrote:
>> On 05/08/2023 19:36, Theo wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I think a good bit of workload of late has been pinging back between
>>> pharmacist and GP: 'you prescribed X mg of Y, but it's out of stock
>>> nationally', 'ok then, I'll prescribe Z instead', 'sorry that's now
>>> out of
>>> stock too'.  I imagine you want as short a feedback loop as possible
>>> in this
>>> situation.
>>
>> I found it strange that when picking up my lat prescriptions that a
>> 20mg/tablet wasn't available but the Pharmacist said he could get the
>> 10mg/tablet. He wasn't allowed to change the prescription from one 20mg
>> tablet a day to 2x10mg tablets a day. He had to go back to the GP for a
>> new prescription that detailed 2x10mg.  So much for HM Gov suggesting
>> going to a Pharmacist rather than a GP an also reducing the bureaucracy
>> in the NHS.
>>
> My GP put me on 90mg of a tablet only available in 60 or 120mg.
>
> The prescription was fulfilled by the surgeries own pharmacy and said
> 'one and a half tablets, once a day'
>
> Frankly thank Clapton we have one - the nearest chemist is ten miles away
>

In situations where there is no pharmacy I suppose surgery dispensing is
a good idea, but I always had reservations where the same people wrote
prescriptions, dispensed them and wrote death certificates. Back in the
days when they hand-wrote prescriptions particularly we saved their
bacon more times than I can remember. I don't know what the situation is
today, but as far as I know it is unchanged from the situation when I
was working where the dispensing at the surgery could be legally done by
a schoolkid on a YTS course, after about two days paperwork training.

--
Tetbury, Gloucestershire , UK

Licentiae, quam stulti libertatem vocabant - Tacitus

Theo wrote:

> Does anyone use the online pharmacies, where they claim to deliver your
> prescriptions by post?

By post, or by their own local van/car?

Neighbours use the latter, and if they're not at home, they (probably
correctly) refuse to leave the package with me.