Passing The Buck.

Buck passing, or passing the buck, or sometimes the blame shifting, is the act of attributing to another person or group one’s own responsibility. It is often used to refer to a strategy in power politics whereby an entity tries to shift the blame on another person or company. If you pass the buck, you refuse to accept responsibility for something and say that someone else is responsible.

I was about to blow a gasket.

I should have put it down to it being a Monday.

  1. So my first interaction was with an insurance company that wanted me to give them my card details over the phone without keypad encryption. They even went on to say that this was the only way I could update my details. When I refused they then miraculously offered a direct debit. I then referred to an article I had written about encryption because they were breaking the law without encryption. https://marketingagency.cymrumarketing.com/2021/11/07/telephone-encryption-to-process-payments/
  2. My second interaction was a pharmacy that will remain nameless and a local GP which I have written about in the past. So cut a long story short for the last few months my daughters medication which is on repeat prescription was not materialising so every month for the last 4 months or so I have been phoning the pharmacy and the GP and each time each one blames the other (Its not us it is them scenario). So today I phoned the pharmacy that said they requested the medication on the 12th even though I had phoned them on the 10th and they said my daughter prescription would be ready on the 12th. I usually get a text message to say it was ready but I had nothing. so I waited until today the 21st and I was told by the pharmacy to phone the GP and ask them to fax it over, which I proceeded to do. I explained the prescription was not ready. The GP said the pharmacy had not requested the prescription and they would get the Doctor to write one out but I had to wait until 16.00 hours. I then phoned back and they said they put a request for the GP to write a prescription and for me to wait for a phone call from them to say that they have faxed it. I waited until 17.13 hours and proceeded to phone them again. This was now my third phonecall and was told they had just faxed the prescription to he pharmacy. Excited at the prospect of finally getting the prescription I phoned the pharmacy who told me the first time round to tell the GP to fax the prescription….Now you have to wait for this because it unbelievable what I was told…The pharmacy said they received the fax but it is against the law to request a “CD” by fax. At first I did not know what this woman was on about, I did not ask for a CD (thinking it was a circular disk you put into a compter) and raising my tone told her so. She then rephrased her wording and said “it is against the law to send ‘Controlled Drug Prescriptions’ by fax”. OMG I was about to rip someones head off at this stage because the woman at the pharmacy at the beginning told me to tell the GP to send a fax and the GP after three phone call should have said they cannot send out faxes. So I proceeded to phone the GP who then blamed the person for being (NEW). The pharamcy said they would not be able to collect the medication as they were under staffed. None of it was my problem and when the pharmacist asked me to collect it I said I couldn’t, she sniggered and muttered something inaudible under her breathe and I could hear her say to her colleague “she can’t pick up the prescription, in a mocked tone”.

Obviously, the arse does not know what the elbow is doing.

It is the doctor’s responsibility to write out repeat prescriptions like clockwork without being prompted or reminded, ready for the pharmacies to collect. It is also the pharmacy’s duty to follow up on repeat prescriptions that are missing or overdue. It is not up to the patient to do their work for them.

In total, I made four phone calls to the GP (27 mins) and two to the Pharmacy (14 mins) and I felt physically sick sorting out their incompetence.

I ended by saying if my daughter relapses because she has run out of medication there will be medical negligence litigation.

So in total, I wasted 41 minutes of my time where I could have been working. But the saga will continue because tomorrow I will have to phone the pharmacy to see if they collected the prescription or not.

This GP has been on my radar for a while now. But I am also feeling anger at a Pharmacy that shows little respect to people.

If you work with the public you keep your opinions and your tone to yourself. You stay neutral and you do not let your thoughts filter through. You do not show you do not like someone and you never mock or judge them. Working in the NHS you have to show professionalism, your personal opinion has no room in the workplace.

I will update you in due course. I just had to let off steam as I was starting to feel unwell.

Note From The Editor.

According to the NHS website, prescribed drugs will be sent electronically to the dispenser you have chosen. You can collect your medicines or appliances without having to hand in a paper prescription. So the pharmacist I spoke to on two occasions was full of 💩.

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/prescriptions-and-pharmacies/electronic-prescriptions/

#badreview #repeatprescriptions #shiftingblame #passingthebuck