Scripts getting delivered, or not?

[sapphire]

My DSP used to have everyone pic their scripts up at their keyworking appointments. It then transpired (surprise surprise) that all the "keyworking" time was getting taken up with "where's my script" and that was it, which the DSP where not happy with.

They started about 18 months ago to send all scripts direct to the pharmacy of your choice and you had a keywoker appointment every fortnight/month depending on your "need".

Now there have been a few personnel changes at the DSP and it is a fucking mess.

You just don't know whether or not your script is going to be at the chemist and if you do go in ad hoc to the DSP to collect it (if you're wooried it won't be at the chemist) the staff often turn people away as they don't have an appointment (it used to be the case that if you didn't have an appopintment the "duty" staf would see you for stuff like giving out scripts).

Does anyone else have this hassle?

We have had cases of people going to the chemist at 3pm on a Friday, their script isn't there and the DSP close at 4pm so they've had to go all weekend without and then get the 3rd degree from the doctor about why they haven't taken their meth that weekend!

[froude]

Saph,since me nad the misses been on our  scripts it has been like that.Can you believe this ,they send our scripts a day before they are due(yeah you probably can lol)by post,yeah our good old Postal service,i pick my script up on a tues and fri,if anything goes wrong on the Friday im in the poo poo.I personally think it is disgusting way to send perscriptions that are NEEDED,there has been times when im waiting for the chemist to ring me ,because the scripts aint turned up,not at all satisfactory and when i told them it fell upon deaf ears.What makes it worse now, is i  have moved to a different town that still use the same chemist,how ironic.This really is a sore point with me and it does my friggen head in,what makes me laugh/cry is your script dont come until the Saturday and because it is late you wont get Fridays dose that you didnt get as it was my D.S.P's fault and we are punished for it .Plus this new town im in not one doctor perscribes Methadone,it all goes through the local D.S.P,bloody mental aint it,All the best Froude

[usandthem]

I have had loads of trouble with my scripts not being ready and having to wait on the day Im supposed to be picking up my dose. The times I have had to wait in the doctors till late afternoon. I usually have to phone down first to check its been done. Since I done my nut they started sorting it but touch wood I will have no more problems. What gets me is they give you this shared care to make you feel like you are a regular citizen like the rest in the waiting room at the surgery - but then instead of just picking up your script and seeing the doctor every 2 to 3 months - you have to be shuffled off to a side room with your key to defend your corner in trying to keep hold of your meds. Yes that makes me feel like a regular citizen going to the surgery. Plus if the doctor is out the older team CDT could get you a script off their doctor or from the hospital in a couple of hours. This new service they just turn you away and say well theres nothing we can do about your script. We cant force the doc to sign it. How messed up is this?!!

[sapphire]

I can mostly never get scripts earlier than the day they are due to start.

So basically what happens is the day your script is due, you have to hot foot it to the DSP, end up waiting the best part of the day and also starting to rattle if you take your dose in the morning as you haven't had the damn script yet.
Ringing them first is no good,as some well meaning fool invariably gets your script out and puts it "to one side" for when you come in, only when you come in they have gone off for their 3 hour long tea break and no one else can find the script and they won't issue a new one as "they know it's here somewhere".

I have tried talking to my key about getting my script a couple of days before it's due, so I know it'll be at the chemist in time but it seems that their "policy" now is to make you wait until the very day the script starts, which is useless really as no one wants to talk to their keyworkers, they just want to get the script so they can take their dose.

This happens every 2 weeks for me, literally, and I can't cope with the stress of not knowing whether my script will even be signed or not, if not will there be a doctor in to sign it, and of course youcan't do anything on those days as you end up hanging round the DSP for hours waiting.

Having to hang around there for hours is a nightmare too, you get loads of people still using, talking about who they are scoring off, who's got the best this and that, people trying to give you phone numbers to score.

There used to be a few GP surgerys' that did shared care here, but due to the "policy" of giving out really low doses the area ended up with a lot of really chaotic service users' that the GPs didn't want to deal with so everyone now has to either use the DSP or nothing.

I have a good relationship with the pharmacist and staff and I asked if they would call me if they didn't receive a script but they have said that as the DSP keep changing things that it all gets too much to keep up with and all they will do is remind you on your pickup day that the doses you are receiving are the last on your script and that they don't have a new one for you yet.

Plus NONE of the chemists here dispense meth on Saturdays AT ALL. So if your script is due on a Friday, you go to the chemist and it isn't there and the DSP do manage to sort it but you can't get to the chemist in time on the Friday then you have to wait until Monday anyway as the chemists won't dispense on weekends.

[usandthem]

I changed my prescription to mid-week pick up. Its easier if the thing has been signed when it is supposed to be. I do understand doctors have busy schedules but the key should make it their job that the script is signed and ready. Listen to this for a barrel of laughs. One day I went to pick up my script and all was well it was a friday. I signed the back and handed it in to the pharmacist and said I would return in 15 minutes to give them time to make it and label it up. I went back to pick up 15 minutes later and pharmacist said, "we can't cash your prescription" I said what do you mean? She said, "The doctor has forgot to sign it"  so back to the docs I ran to get him to sign it. The receptionist took it off me and said the doctors not here he is on holiday and this was 10am they told me I had to come back at 4pm because they had to bin that script and make a new one for the other doctor to sign. I just wished I would have signed it myself and pretended the squiggle was the docs signature. What a complete mess that day was. Went to get my script 9:30 - Had the run around - Went back home to wait all day - Went back down to get my new script at 4pm and they had it made up and got my first guzzle at 4:30pm A speedy service Eh! McDonalds not.

[froude]

aph,I cant believe that you have no chemist dispensing on a saturday,do you live in a small area?,or cant you change your chemist? (i know it is a pain in the Ass).I feel this whole way of dispensing perscriptons is a NO BRAINER,im lucky enough,that my chemis
t is dispensing 6 days a week,so if it does turn up Saturdays are ok.Yeah Saph im an early bird in the mornings(up with the little one and meth down throat,its 6am)on pick up days we not allowed in the chemist before 9.30in the morning so they have time to make it up,if its a waiting game im up and starting to get a sweat on by midday.I've a good rapore with our chemist Dorothy(young Aisian pharmacist),give them all the pleasentries and they usually ring when a script doest turn up,good like that,then like you have said there is days when im fucking screwing as its Friday at 4pm and yeah your thinking of using as it aint turned up ,i get haome and its there so i have to walk up there,im sure when one of the Key workers is dropping the scripts off they are looking round the corner,waiting for you to fuck off then they walk in the chemist(bastards) .Its like they have changed things and made everything harder,personaly i think it is a crap idea and only our local D.S.P would think of dispensing Perscriptions the day before they are due.Im not being callous here ,would this happen if you needed Heart pills or bottles of oxygen,i think not,it seems with my D.S.P at the moment it is losing intrest if you know what i mean,I will even say,its like they are making things harder.D.S,P's are losing there way at the moment,bringing in "thats not our policy",these policy's are appearing overnight,good luck Saph,All the best Froude

[sapphire]

Froude - it is a huge area but just no chemist in a 10 mile radius dispenses on a Sat/Sun, so changing chemist would be no good or I'd have already done it.

It is a nightmare, what I do now is ring the chemist on Friday 9am, invariably the script ain't there so it's then a trek up to DSP to get it. Then have to sit around often til lunch time waiting for the fucking thing, and getting rattley as it's the day the script is due so you've got no meth for that day.

Last time I was in thre DSP they have a huge new poster about how to complain, I think I'm going to complain about the script thing, as it seem something that would benefit everyone and that could be easily fixed.

[froude]

Oh fucking hell,they gonna buy you some shoes next month,what a nightmare,Saph both me and the misses had to do that ,but we just had to wait for the scripts until they got to the Chemist.Our D.S.P is about 25 mile away.Fucking nuts,i really feel for you,cant you put by 5mil a day,then your have something to keep you going or aint it worth it (anything is worth a try)?.They really make things harder than they should,All about how it works for D.S.P,its like that here ,dont take into account that we have better things to do than trek everywhere,or wait at home for a phone call.I wonder if other places are like this ,any one guys,girls?Like to know.Keep strong Saph,dot let the bastards grind you down.All the best Froude

[sapphire]

I had been thinking about doing that froude, putting some away so I had at least 1 day's worth to cover me.

The DSP is about 5 miles away so it's not really walkable so I always have to make sure I've got enough money for a taxi in case my knees are really bad and I can't do the bus.

I am defo going to fill in one of their new complaint forms, as it's just a bit stressful the way it is at the moment.
Plus it's something that they CAN actually change. I can understand if people are wanting changes to their scripts that things might be a bit last minute, but if it's the same week in, week out, I can't understand what is so difficult about getting the scripts ready one time.
They have a person employed full time just to do the printing and admin involved in scripts, so it's not like the keyworkers are too busy as they don't even have to do anything.

With my last keyworker I had to see her every 4 weeks, which is the maximum time my service "allows" between appointments, but now I have this new one and the bloody scripts are never ready I am ending up having to go in every 2 weeks to pick the script up.

Part of me thinks they try to make things as difficult as possible so you will end up taper/detoxing just because you're fed up of all their idiotic "policies", then they can mark you down as a successful discharge. Arseholes.

[OP8S]

I just count myself lucky that most of my appointments are with the prescribing GP who is also my NHS GP. He always gives me my script for meth & another for some other repeat meds that I'm also prescribed monthly. I then get to take my script to the pharmacy & arrange obs days that fit in with my job. I have to admit that when he's away & I'm seen by the nurse who then has to take my script to be signed by a faceless GP that there have been mistakes made. I far prefer getting it in my hand. Anyway if you're maintenance why do you not just get issued a script for the month ? Would save a lot of hassle as well as less room for human error.

[sapphire]

They only do 2 week scripts at my DSP. In the past if you were what they decreed to be stable, you could get 2 scripts at a time, or they would send them straight to the chemist for you, depending on which keyworker you had, as different keys had different policies.

Now though it's a case of having to go every 2nd Friday and wait around the stinky waiting room, having to talk to people I'd rather not and generally getting really wound up.

Last Friday I waited for 2 hours, the person who was supposed to be getting my script for me had 4 fag breaks in that time and 2 cups of tea, but couldn't find 30 seconds to hand me a frigging prescription. These people just would not have jobs in the private sector the way they act, like they're doing everyone a favour just by turning up for work (usually 1 mins late, and then they have to put the kettle on before they'll do anything), and they wonder why the service users get pissed off with them. 

[OP8S]

Sounds very shoddy indeed. Whatever happened to the work ethic eh ? I prefer to go into work, get as much as the heavy stuff carried out early then I find the rest of the day a lot more pleasurable. I did have to go looking for my script once when the GP was on holiday but only had to walk 500 yards to CDT & was provided with my script pretty damn fast. I think my key heard me asking at reception for that old ***** get, realised his error & came clutching the only thing that I wanted to see, my script.
The carry on that you have to go through is there to grind you down until you bow to the " recovery agenda ", if only to relapse but then by the sounds of it you'd score quicker than get your script sorted ?? Not much incentive to enter treatment for those that mange to get by, surviving of some of the rubbish on the streets. 20% heroin content & that's a strong batch.
It's a sad old world out there. I still think Hunter Thomson was right & anybody caught selling bashed up gear or light weights should be put in the village square, in stocks for their punters to get them really stoned.
There is such a huge amount of money being made through illicit drug distribution, street quality is very poor. You'd think that the Government would get in there & raise some taxation while make huge savings on healthcare, incarceration, petty crime
Sorry gone of on one.
I'm not surprised that you keep a back up bottle sapph, I do also. There is no way I could do a shift at work without my meds & I've access to several different CDs also, it would be a recipe for disaster. Much like putting an alcoholic with the shakes behind the bar for the night ! So I'm pretty pro-active when it comes to my script, much to the delight of my pharmacist..not.

[froude]

Bloody hell Saph ,your D.S.P have the same ideas as mine ,USELESS.Im the same got a bad knee and walking is painful,if iwas to go to my D.S.P i would be on three buses,cost would be about a tenner all round trip,I know OP8S has a good thing there with his GP,but it aint happening in my town,they have just built a new medical Centre 5 miles away ,my understanding is there is everything there for the whole of the Mental Health Team and the other D.S.P in my area ,but oh no 70% of rooms are empty,waste of money if you ask me ,if you got an up to date Medical Centre fucking use it.Im sure we on the Alliance would do a better job,at least there would be people in there saying KEEP METHADONE MAINTENENCE IT WORKS,there isnt, so i just wait and implode everytime a new agenda is sent out on there fully recycleable paper,they do more for tree's than the clients lol.

Saph,would really work for you if you kept a bit back for the pick up day,it works for me and the misses,like i said keep a bit it wont hurt will it?
ALL the best Froude

[sapphire]

I am going to try putting some by for pickup days.

OP, you're right,I could score far quicker then these fools get my script ready.

[OP8S]

I've got a mate down the road from me & he saves quite a lot of it up, to sell. To be honest I think he only takes his full dose on obs days which are 3x a week. I couldn't do it, I'm mil perfect ...well unless it's over then I don't complain. He only sells it to people he knows use it or want to swap for gear & gets paid a pitance in benefits, so fair play to the guy. I ain't criticising, apart from when he got reduced to under 100ml, knowing that I had an extra bottle in case something went wrong was a relief. Especially when you've got work to get to & the pharmacy, DSP, GP all start at 9am. Last time I spoke to him he was reducing, something about Gov. policy *bollocks*, well it may be their policy but it is far from legaslative.