"jobsworth" pharmacist

I forgot I said I would blag about my run-in with a jobsworth, pharmacist!

When I was out last week at the supermarket, I decided to go to the pharmacy in there to get some soluble asprin. Illnesses such as mine have huge blood flow problems associated with them, and this is a major cause of much of my illness depending on how severe it is at any given time. Anyhow, I trundled up to the counter, and waited and no one appeared they were in the back chattering. Behind a counter in a wheelchair my diminutive size to start with kind of makes me hard to see. But I cleared my throat, and the assistant came out. I asked about something else and she asked about medication which was what started the ball rolling, as she fetched the pharmacist out. I then went ahead and asked for the soluble asprin, and you'd have thought I was asking for heroin! Cos I take ibuprofen for break through pain, she said there was a serious interaction between those and the asprin. I told her I'd been taking it for a couple of years, was seeing my doctor on Tues to try and get something different to asprin which did the same thing, but the affects of me not taking it for even a day or two, could be quite serious. But she wouldn't budge, saying it was "more than her jobsworth". I told her if I'd never told her about my other medication she wouldn't have even known. Anyhow, at that point, I went to the cafeteria for a coffee as what should have been a simple job of buying a jar of asprin had turned into frustration. But after coming out of the coffee shop and feeling niggled, I trundled back up the counter and I said, "I would like you to be aware, that even in medicine one size does not fit all. And because of you being a jobsworth, you could actually be putting people at risk by your one size fits all philosphy, especially with people suchas me, whose body does not act at all usual or normally It may be dangerous for some people to take both drugs, but my blood is sticky and full of toxins and much thicker than average folks blood, so one size does not fit all." She said she had looked me up on the computer which is linked to the doctors, but honestly! How could a pharmacist even try to interpret porphyria when even doctors don't understand it. A long time niggle of mine is either doctors receptionsist of others who are not qualified by their job thinking they have some kind of special medical knowledge. Of course they have some knoweldge but many of them just swing a heavy hand because of the little (often) knowledge they have. When I finally did my shopping at the same supermarket the chemist was located in, I found some asprin on the shelf where they keep some over the counter medicines. I resisted the urge to trundle back up the pharmacy counter and wave them under her nose, saying na, na, na, na, na, to show I got them anyway, without her help! The whole crux of the matter for her, was because my doctor had not prescribed the asprin for me. That fact alone confused the whole issue for her. They are about forty nine uk pence for a jar. How many people get a prescription for over the counter medicines such as asprin? How many do not just buy them as its both more convienent and very little cost. If I was paying for my prescriptions, a jar of asprin because the doctor had written them out would cost me about six uk pounds, so, really, If I was paying for my prescriptions, (which I don't) it would be rather ridiculous to pay six pounds rather than forty nine pence, but the whole doctor not prescribing them was the major issue for her. Gimme a break! Disabled people can make informed choices too. And I do know the risks of taking the asprin. But the benefits far outweigh the risks, in a way no pharmacist who has not experienced similar first hand, could ever have a clue about. I'm not of course slating pharmacists as a whole. I have known some very helpful educated ones who will often go further than many medical people in some circumstances. But this one was a major goat getter!! |