One of our local pharmacists has recently objected to giving methadone to a client's mother - an arrangement which was clearly requested on the prescription, had been assessed as safe and had been working well. The pharmacist has requested a letter for EACH DAY the mother attends - ie every pick up. We think this might be part of a wider instruction to pharmacists - has anyone else heard about it or know what it's about?
Obviously the practice of a third party collecting CDs is one which requires careful assessment and is used rarely - but can sometimes be very useful.

technically a breach of CD regs except in an emergency i think............why can't the patient collect their own? and i think the consent has to come from the patient not the prescriber. it's supposed to be the exception rather than the rule...........altho don't know if that applies to relatives picking up CD's in palliative care situations.

'part of a wider instructionj to Pharmacists'
As said collection by third party can be useful and could also mean the difference between working and not for quite a few i would think.
My caseload as an advocate would go up if this 'bending' of the rules wasn't continued. Add the pharmacist/staff to the treatment plan along with the realtive that picks up for hard working (or not ) clients.
It's not rocket science and a really big win.....i hope common sense rules.
TonyB

The starting point is that a third party doesn't usually have a legal right to possess a Controlled Drug. The only way that is possible is if they are acting as the patient's collector, so the pharmacist has to be satisfied that the patient has authorised it. The usual way of doing this is by a note from the patient (which can be for any length of time). However, locally there has been an issue with forgery of notes or with the collector being a person of whom the local prescribers do not approve (do you want a local dealer collecting A's diamorphine ampoules, even if A says it's fine by him?), so as an added safeguard our local Service Level Agreement says that pharmacists won't give it to anyone else without at least the telephoned agreement of the prescriber or keyworker. The service has forms that are faxed to the pharmacy to authorise collection by a third party, but in an emergency we accept phone calls if we can verify them. The faxes have a box where the keyworker ticks "today only", "X days" or "until further notice".

When someone is on pallitive care medication(I am thinking Schedule 2 here), we never ask for a letter, although we are expected to ask for IDand a signature. We can still supply if ID is not forthcoming, or the signature(unless it is to a professional).
In the MEP it mentions twice about a third party collecting for installmentsie methadone
The first mention is that ... although not a legal requirement it is good practice that a letter of authorisation from the patient is obtained on every occasion that the representative collects the medicine, and thet letter should be retained in the pharmacy
The second mention is...Patients who collect via installments via an FP10(MDA) or equivalent are not required to sign for each installment, nor will a third party collecting the CDon the patient's behalf
This would indicate that it is perfectly legal for a third party to collect, with or without a letter, or even prescribers consent
Whether this is desirable is another question. In some cases it will keep the person in employment as Tony has said, which is really important.
I think that the pharmacists and prescribers need to work together to find something that works for the person on the script, to keep them both safe and well.
Sally.. I do know what happened in your area.. I am hoping that a letter will be going out very shortly.
MEP...Medicines, Ethics and Practice. A guide for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Techniians July 2008
(yeah, I've been a swot and read it cover to cover already!)

Despite any legislation I do like that a part of the health care team has seen a patient. I wouldn't let this happen on a regular basis.
I do recall a patients partner collecting a Zopiclone prescription for her and she was in prison. We do seem to have much better access to Pharmacies of late with extended opening times.

Sally,
Pharmacists are autonomous professionals and can interpret the rules as they see fit.
Would your pharmacist be happier if the methadone was prescribed on a green FP10 - then anyone can collect it.
Alternatively the client (or their mother) is at liberty to choose another pharmacy.

Jeff