All I wanted was a nasal spray for hayfever. I’d read on patient. info that other than over-the-counter steroid sprays all others require a prescription. I used AskMyGP to request a prescription.

I assumed this would be a straightforward process.I won’t go into *all* the details. Suffice to say that I found myself caught up in a new system that seems to outsource some of a GP’s traditional work to local pharmacists.

The system was having teething problems.

I’m sorry, I’m going to have to put you on hold’

I’m just going to check this with a colleague’

I am sorry, I’m going to have to put you on hold again because this computer isn’t showing the right information. I need to switch to another machine’

A pharmacist did ring me in the end. Told me that what is available are all over-the-counter products and don’t require a prescription.

Which is not where I was expecting this to take me.

I just hope that people with serious issues get the help they need without being bounced around by a process that is probably meant to be efficient. Or more cost effective. Or to make the end user experience more pleasant.


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