VULNERABLE patients in a small town have been left bewildered by the decision not to accept repeat prescriptions in the local chemist.
Wolsingham Pharmacy will no longer accept repeat prescription from patients, and asks users to travel to Stanhope to get their prescriptions.
Former Parish Councillor, Maureen Epsly, who is in her 80s and lives in Wolsingham, highlighted the problem patients like her now face.
Mrs Epsly, who requires multiple repeat prescriptions, said: “I have been shielding all year and now I am being asked to put myself at risk by going to Stanhope to take my repeat prescription to the surgery.
“It’s madness. The advice is to stay at home, help the NHS and yet I am now having to leave my home in order to get what could be life-saving medicine and have to visit a NHS premises to do so.”
She is concerned for others who will have to make that journey on public transport.
Mrs Epsly added: “Some of us need medicine quickly, in the past, we have been able to simply call the pharmacy and have our medicine delivered by the staff. It is a worrying situation.”
The Weardale GP Practice has tried to help by advising patients to put their repeat prescription needs through the letter box at the Wolsingham surgery where they will be collected once a week.
However, some people don’t feel as though that is often enough.
The Weardale Practice offered online repeat prescriptions two years ago but many people, especially older people, don’t have a computer.
A spokesperson for the Weardale Practice said: “During the last six months we were faced with a worrying situation that the number of patients handing in paper prescriptions to Wolsingham Pharmacy was growing rapidly.
"There was in excess of 330 paper requests coming into the practice via the pharmacy in just one week.
"The burden of this for both pharmacy and practice staff is untenable.
“With this there is clearly significant potential for information at the practice to go astray, be lost, or for patient confidentiality to be breached.
“The majority of patients using this paper service were already signed up to online services and within the patient cohort where we have found using online prescription ordering works really well.
“We have agreed to collect paper prescriptions from Wolsingham branch surgery as a short-term measure only.
"We will be contacting these patients to discuss alternative methods of sending their prescription requests to us.
“We are of course aware that there may be a very small number of our patients who are not able to submit their prescriptions going forward.
"Patients who genuinely struggle will always be offered an alternative method and we will never leave any of our patients in the situation where they are not able to obtain their prescribed medication."
"However for us to be able to continue to do this, we must ensure this service is offered only where the need is genuine. Patients who fall into this group should contact the practice directly.”
Durham County Councillor for Weardale Anita Savory said: "There are a number of residents who are worried regarding the changes to the prescription service.
"The Weardale Practice has promised they will not leave patients without medication.
"I would advise all residents if you are unable to comply with new arrangements or have any concerns to contact the Weardale Practice where assistance will be provided.
Share