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Presciption review


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This actually happened a couple of months ago, but as I've not been here for a while, I thought I'd share it now.

I came home from work & got told by my parents that I needed to call the GPs as I needed to arrange an appointment to see a doctor to review my prescription for citalopram (I guess because I have been on it for nearly 5 years now).

At my local GPs, we have 4 or 5 doctors which you can make an appointment with depending on availability.

Unfortunately, I got stuck with the one both me & my dad call 'Speedy Gonzalez', so named because no sooner have you entered the room to speak to him than you are leaving the room none the wiser that he has actually really listened to you!

I suppose I shouldn't have expected any different, but as this was a review to discuss my medication I at least expected to be asked how I was doing before finding myself back out in the waiting room wondering if my appointment had all been part of my overactive imagination!

But no! I was never asked how my mood was, how my OCD was, whether I thought I still needed the medication or what, if anything I could do to improve my mood besides medication. I was simply told that I 'can't stay on them forever' & was advised on how to reduce my dosage.

To make it worse, but this was the same doctor I saw when I actually did come of my medication a couple of years ago & my OCD came back worse than before & I had to go back on them!

Maybe you can't stay on medication for ever, but I would at least expect my doctor to discuss whether or not I need it or at the very least, ask me how I feel. Not just try & convince me to start reducing my dose with an aim to come off it.

It just seems to me, another case of mental health not being treated with the attention it should be (would he have had the same attitude had it been heart medication?)

For all my doctor knew, I could've ben suicidal, but he never bothered to ask! :(

Has anyone else been through anything similar?

 

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Actually, I bet patients on heart medication do get similar from Speedy Gonzales. :(  He's probably always going to be the most available GP at the practise - who'd knowingly book an appointment with him? (Unless they had their own reasons for wanting to be in and out in 2 mins with a prescription in hand and no questions asked.)

Maybe when your next review comes up you could book well in advance with one of the more interested GPs? I honestly think mental health scares a small number of doctors, just like it scares some of the public. Best to avoid those ones if and when you can. But many GPs are very interested in mental health. They have to be - up to a third of the patients they see will have some sort of emotional or mental health problem. 

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Yeah, I reckon you're right snowy...

To be honest, I never even heard of a prescription review before & although I do think it is a good thing, I also reckon it's another area of the NHS that could do with looking at. Even a 5 minute session where you could air any issuses to be reviewed at a further appointment would be better!

But yeah, there are some good GPs out there, such as the first one who referred me :)

 

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Technically speaking every GP consultation is supposed to cover 4 areas. Your prescription review is part of (but not all of) number 2. 

1. diagnose and treat the presenting problem

2.  review ongoing conditions and any medication being prescribed for them

3. health promotion tests (eg.BP, weight checks) and healthy living advice

4. review the patient's overall well-being within their family and broader social context.

Sounds good, but I defy anybody to fit all that into 10 minutes, even if the presenting problem is as simple as an ingrown toenail. :biggrin:

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On 20/09/2016 at 22:07, Symps07 said:

To be honest, I never even heard of a prescription review before

It's something every practice carries out at least every 12 months and tbh, it usually is more of a box-ticking exercise than anything else so that they can be seen to have complied with guidelines :(

There's nothing to stop you booking another appointment now with another Doctor and explaining that you'd like to discuss things further :)

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I'd definitely take no notice of this doctor. Just ignore what he said, book another appointment with a better doctor and discuss your medication with them. Keep taking your meds as normal until you've had a chance to properly talk it all through.

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