Wrong dosage medication dispensed

Glad it is sorted now Auntieflo and good that your prescriptions will be double checked in the future.

Thank you Susan56. I didn’t have to fill in a form whilst at the pharmacy, but when I had a reply to my email, I had to supply quite a few details.
This afternoon, I had a phone call from the store manager, who did apologise, and said it would be taken up with the staff member involved. Also she would oversee my prescriptions!
I hope all is finished now, and thanks to all who have commented.

I am now retired from working in pharmacy.The correct procedure would have been for the member of staff to fill in an incident report with you,with details of the error and what was being done to prevent the same mistake happening again.It is really important that this is done not to apportion blame but will point out if it is the same staff member is making errors then further training can be given.An error with medication should never be dismissed so flippantly,the repercussions of taking the wrong medication can be so serious and can even be fatal.

My OH was prescribed made to measure compression stockings, post knee op. R*****ds pharmacy twice gave him the applicator to help put the stockings on... but no stockings. On their 3rd attempt they gave him a pair of stockings that were clearly for someone half his size and weight and so they were utterly useless. A formal written complaint was sent to their Head Office and an investigation was begun. They ultimately came back to us to say that the errors had been caused because their staff are moved from shop to shop very quickly, and the staff following on from them often don't bother to check up what's been ordered on previous days. Just glad they weren't preparing anything more life threatening for him.
Having had 4 incorrect deliveries, that took 3 weeks and still no stockings, we went to a small independent pharmacy and got the right ones in less than 48 hours.

My OH was dispensed the completely wrong tablets from Boots which thankfully he noticed before taking them. When he rang, the pharmacist came around with the correct medication and said they would have to complete a serious incident form.

Good - lets hope they do

I did email Boots, and have two replies. They are, supposedly, going to investigate! We shall wait and see.

I accept you were shaken Flota as we were with DH but money wasn’t an issue - it was what they were going to do to avoid a repetition and why it had happened in the first place

Years ago I was once prescribed Algipan for severe sunburn, by a locum dr, and used it! (If you’ve never heard of it it’s a deep heat cream!) ??

I use Tescos pharmacy, the staff check your medication with you before they seal the bag - excellent service.

I had the wrong insulin dispensed to me by Loyds. I phoned up after I got home as I felt it was wrong and the pharmacist knew at once what she had given me and what it should have been . I told her she could have killed me and she agreed. I complained to the head office and they said it would be put in the hands of thier insurance company if I wanted compensation. After ages I agreed to only a hundrend pounds compensation as they said I had not really suffered from the mistake . They did not take into account how shaken I was by the whole thing as I really could have been in big trouble.

I have had serious problems with Boots pharmacy and never use them. That is appalling!

If we don’t complain, then nothing is more likely to be done. What I do in situations like this is to write to whoever is responsible and describe what happened. I then point out why it matters. I then say the important point is that there is learning from this to prevent future risk and will they please explain to me what steps they have taken in identifying how the error occurred and what steps are being put in place to prevent a recurrence eg training, system changes. I really do think we all have a duty to follow up errors although I appreciate some people hate making a fuss. But then my husband nearly died because of an error made by my GP’s surgery - I couldn’t have lived with myself if I hadn’t done something about it and put other people at risk. It’s not about punishment - it’s about learning and improving and reducing( although not always preventing) risk.

Oh I completely agree marye. They have no choice but to dispose of anything that has left their care and control. And as you say, the problems lie with the GP and the pharmacist making mistakes. I wonder if they're brought to book over their errors? I somehow doubt it

I know it seems wasteful Bath but imagine if a returned medication had been adulterated in some way but was passed onto someone else and caused real harm. It might not even have been deliberately adulterated but for example have been stored at the wrong temperature. What might look like waste is really patient safety. The real problem here was the doctor and in the OPs example was the pharmacist.

Of course worryingly someone may have the higher dose pills thinking they are lower dose - that’s another reason why it needs properly investigating . Scary

now check my medication before I leave the pharmacy. I have done this ever since I was prescribed the wrong cream by a doctor whom I had never consulted before, and who had clearly not read my medical notes. He simply wrote a prescription for a cream intended to treat an entirely different condition.

When I returned the cream to the pharmacy the next morning, still in its box with an unbroken seal, they told me it would have to be binned now. Anything that has left the pharmacy cannot be put back into stock because they have no way of knowing what's happened to it in the meantime. Fair comment, but I am dismayed at the level of waste this policy must create.

Of course, AuntifFlo, this would not have helped you as the box stated the correct dosage!

Hummmm I would complain formally to Boots - as a pp said this should be automatically investigated as an incident - not sure what the correct terminology is these days.

Thank you all for your comments. We went to B....s, immediately after DH appointment. Saw the young girl who said she would prepare my prescription yesterday. No apologies, she just said, “I’ll get that changed for you”.
Anxiousgran, luckily I had enough pills to last until tonight, but if I had used the ‘wrong’ ones, for two weeks, I would have had to request another prescription, and wait for it to be dispensed. I also think my Dr would have wondered why I needed more, when he had prescribed the correct amount, in the correct dosage, in the first place.
All is now resolved, but it will make me more alert, and check what is given to me, and not take for granted that the chemist is right.

That's strange about B***s. When my DS and DIL moved back to our town, my DIL was ill and I had to go to the local health centre to organise her repeat prescriptions. The receptionist advised me to go to Lloyds and avoid B**s.
?

I agree wildswan16 mistakes do happen. However we stopped using Boots in our town because they happened all the time. We now go to Lloyds and everything is fine, quicker, more efficient and all done with a smile.

Of course such mistakes should not happen. The double checking was clearly not carried out correctly in this case.

I do worry however that our pharmacists are now being given more and more to do without extra staff being employed. We are being told to visit and speak to pharmacists with problems that previously would have been seen to by a GP. They already have enough to do dispensing increasingly complicated medications.

About two months ago I had the wrong pills put into the correct package. Wrong pills as in wrong medication completely.
It was several days before I discovered this.i

I went back to B..ts and the duty chemist was quite alarmed. He said that a report and relevant paperwork has to be done in such a case.

I also wonder who got my original pills !!

Hope you get your prescription sorted out soon. •Auntieflo• At least you have 2 weeks to get the right prescription. B•••s are usually very good. You could ask if they will deliver. Hope all's well with your DH's appointment.
DH was once given nose cream for excema on his arm. And he used it ?

My daughter once returned from the chemist with her prescription to find that she had been given an empty box!