Topiramate prescription ridiculousness

Hi

My partner has started taking topiramate for a medical issue. Currently the process when he needs a repeat prescription is as follows:

1. He submits an e-consult to the GP
2. The GP gets back to him after a few days by phone or email and they have a whole discussion about it
3. The GP sends the request to Neurology at the hospital
4. Neurology creates the prescription
5. My partner then has to take part of the day/afternoon off work and collect the prescription from Neurology (who close at 5) on the 3rd floor to the Pharmacy on the ground floor of the same hospital (apparently they are incapable of sending the prescription down themselves for some reason). Last time he did this the prescription was not there, despite them telling him it was, so he had to go back later in the week and take more time off work.
6. He finally collects the prescription from the hospital pharmacy.

As you can see this is a ridiculously complicated process. Apparently the reason is because the drug needs to be prescribed/approved by the consultant (every single time, not just the first time he took it) for some reason due to labyrinthine NHS funding reasons, so he can't simply request it via the GP and collect it from our local pharmacy like he usually would. Neither can he request it directly from Neurology as they don't take enquiries either from patients or often from the GP either.

Does anyone have any tips though on how to make this process any easier? Anyone with experience of the process from taking topiramate or another drug that needs consultant approval?

0 likes, 0 replies