Robbie Coull wrote:
> I was told recently that it is perfectly legal and possible
> to issue Canadian-style Rxs with the number of repeats on it
> to UK pharmacists.
>
GPASS has piloted repeat dispensing in a Fife practice, and will be
rolling it out soon. I presume that any difficulties pharmacists might
have with this system have been dealt with. I have a feeling that the
dispensing interval will be one month, which is obviously not so handy
for patients as the 3 months we usually give for thyroxine, atenolol,
bendrofluazide and the like, and much less handy than 6 months supplies
of OCP and HRT we currently issue.
At the other end of the scale, we're being asked to rewrite
prescriptions for all drugs in a Monitored Dose System when one of them
is to be given more frequently, or a new one (e.g. a week's supply of an
antibiotic) is added. Apparently it's necessary to discard the contents
of one of these devices if a change has to be made - even by addition.
Of course, we all know that patients puncture holes in the top to get a
nice pattern, and then take their drugs at random.
--
Michael
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