Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

Bloody, bloody bureacratic NUMBSKULLS!!

*foams*

OK, so I need medical supplies now for the stoma. I deal with a company called Fittleworth. I used to ring up, squeak at them what I needed, get the goods within a couple of days. No problems.

Now my surgery has apparently decided that was too simple. Now they want me to bring in a prescription to them, which they will then send on to Fittleworth. Which is bloody stupid because according to Fittleworth, the turnaround time can be up to 2 weeks. Problem is, no-one's thought about how I get a replacement repeat prescription form. When you take a prescription into a pharmacy, if you have an authorised repeat prescription, they will print out the new one and put it in with whatever supplies you've just acquired. Simple, right? But a company like Fittleworth can't print prescriptions. So I send a prescription to the surgery, they send it to Fittleworth...and then what? How do I get a replacement prescription? (Which, btw, is a serious issue because that repeat prescription is what I also need for my asthma inhalers. Can anyone else forsee me needing both at the same time? Yeh. Me too. So how that's supposed to work, I have no idea.)

I have just had a very protracted row with the surgery and apparently "Corrine" who deals with prescriptions is going to ring me back. There had better be a really good system in place for making sure I get a replacement paper repeat prescription, or for being able to put the request in online, cutting out the need to send paperwork anywhere. (They used to have an online service, I haven't seen it advertised in the surgery lately. Must check if it's still running or if they scrapped it.)

I have also put in a phone call to the lovely stoma nurses at the hospital because I am down to my last few supplies of a particular item and it really, really isn't something you can bodge fix and make do without. I'm hoping they can cough up a box on the QT so that I've got what I need while I sort this mess out. (Fittleworth, btw, swear they sent me a letter explaining. I don't recall seeing it. Hmf.)

Suspect I might have to apologise to work colleagues for bad language during a phone call sometime this afternoon. The circular logic of it defeats me. The surgery send me a prescription which I then have to give back to them to send on to a third party who can't generate a replacement prescription. Madness.

Stay tuned, I may yet make the local news :P

In other news, I know I'm hideously behind on the movie meme. I'll try and slap up something later this afternoon :)