FOLLOWING ON from resident concerns over healthcare provision at Wokingham Medical Centre, patients have been struggling to get their repeat prescriptions.
The Wokingham Paper has been inundated with calls from local residents who have struggled to get their repeat prescriptions on time.
Wokingham redient Lynn Antink has been left in severe withdrawal after being unable to get her repeat prescription on time.
She said: “I had to be wheeled to the medical centre in a wheelchair after going into withdrawal because my tablets had disappeared.
“At the reception they said there was nothing they could do and I had to fill out the form again.
“The situation is getting really scary because people don’t know if or when they will get their medicine.”
This follows on from local resident Mrs Smith, who has been investigating the problem at WMC, who found that: “When it comes to ongoing repeat prescriptions, there seems to be no clear system in place.
“The system is creaking at the seams. Rose Street pharmacy which is paired with Wokingham Medical Centre processes 19,000 prescriptions per month.”
Dr Vipan Bhardwaj, GP at Wokingham Medical Centre and Executive Partner for Modality Wokingham said: “Wokingham Medical Centre provides care for around 23,000 local patients, and issues prescriptions for approximately 275,000 items a year.
“Safety in relation to the medicines we prescribe our patients is paramount to us, and our medicines management processes reflect this over-riding consideration.
“ Access to repeat prescriptions is influenced by a wide range of factors including patients presenting their request to their nominated pharmacy in a timely manner, through to availability of prescribed medicines at local pharmacies.
“It is currently widely recognised that there are regular supply problems with some drugs, thereby leading to delays in patients receiving their medicines.
“These factors are national issues and are outside of our immediate control, and we are not alone in experiencing challenges in relation to this matter.
“We acknowledge that there may have been instances where a prescription has gone missing and we would ask patients to raise any concerns directly with the practice, so we can address the issue and ensure it does not happen again.
“Fortunately, with the move to electronic prescriptions in the near future; the chances of physically losing a paper prescription will be reduced greatly.”
