Process Problem with Forest Hill Road Group Practice

[Penguin68]

This is really a heads-up.

I, and at least one other patient of the practice, have hit a strange problem. We both needed a course of injections (different ones for different things) as part of an NHS treatment programme. We both turned up for the first injection, to discover the practice nurse asking us for the drug(s) in question, which we were required to have sourced. Ideally we would have been told about this, our GP would have written a scrip, we'd have collected the medication from a Pharmacy in good time, and bowled in with it clutched in our hands. But we weren't told about the process in advance.

This is clearly an administrative failure. We both got the issue sorted, eventually, and we both then knew what to do in the future. But I was nearly late for a time critical injection.

The reason, I believe, is that the GP Practice cannot order most medication directly for NHS treatment, as the payment system under the NHS operates through NHS prescriptions and Pharmacies (who pays what for NHS prescriptions differs depending on age, condition etc.) It can order medications directly for private practice as the costs are paid directly by the patient or their insurer, and certain types of vaccine (flu, Covid, childhood vaccinations) form part of a separate Government programme.

So this is just a process cock-up, which could be solved by informing the patient how it works in good time. But until that happens, be wary and ask for a prescription well in advance of any planned course of treatment based around injections given by the practice nurses.

Oh, and this may be an issue with other practices - I just know about mine.

Edited yesterday at 17:16 by Penguin68