Odd one from today. Would love some input from you guys (thread): #pharmacylaw

Patient who has an FP10MDA comes in. They’re vegetarian so get buprenorphine SL tabs, not Espranor. However, they come in with 3 x Espranor 2mg and 2 x Espranor 8mg.

Locum pharmacist was in on Tuesday and so I left them in charge of the blue prescriptions. However, the prescription is written generically, so it’s feasible that they made an error in dispensing, but the patient picks up either two/three days-worth at once.

With 12mg OD, they receive 1 x 8mg and 2 x 2mg for each day - so with the amount they returned to us, it didn’t add up. The patient requested their Rx from today AND their Tuesday and Wednesday dose. At this stage I took in the Espranor to inspect and chat to our pharmacist.

We couldn’t confirm HOW the patient acquired these Espranors, and obviously we can’t turn back time. We explained that we could only provide the Thursday and Friday doses since they should’ve told us about the (potential) error on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Patient gets very angry. Since I had taken the Espranor for inspection etc, they were now in our ‘hands’ - however they wanted them back, claiming that they were their property. The patient’s vegetarianism means that they wouldn’t have taken them themselves.

So it was all very contentious - the unclear legality of ‘are they technically allowed them back on the basis that we may have given them to the patient in error?’ versus knowing that the patient wouldn’t use them themselves since they can’t take them. What are your thoughts?