Prior to COVID-19 I had to make an appointment and see my doctor every time I wanted a new prescription. The only time she ever gave me a prescription without a consultation first was when I’d been away, my mother was ill, and I was almost out of medication. That time she left the script with the clinic receptionist, and I had to go in and collect it.
Then came COVID-19.
My first prescription post the onset of COVID-19 was another pickup script. We were into stringent lockdown by then, so this time I had to make an appointment, mask up, go to the doctor’s surgery, call them when I got there and tell them what I was there for. They brought the script to the door for me.
The next time I had to get a prescription the doctor called me and consulted over the phone, while I provided some of the details she usually took like weight and blood pressure. She emailed a script through to my regular chemist. He lost it. I had to do some frantic phoning to get the clinic to resend, but we got there in the end.
Last time I needed a prescription we were in another mini-lockdown. I made an appointment, the doctor called me, we discussed blood pressure, etc. Then she sent QR codes to my phone for the prescriptions, which I took to the chemist and he filled.
He also sent the repeats as QR codes as well, which was a bit unnerving.
It’s lovely to see an industry respond to an issue like this (getting prescriptions through a pandemic) and do something about it that works for everyone involved.
Now, all I have to do is make sure I don’t accidentally delete my script repeats off the phone.