Thread by @MoyaCrockett

LONG THREAD: I really, really want men to understand what a fucking HASSLE all the admin around female contraception can be. (1/16)

Until very recently, the staff at my local GP surgery refused to write me a prescription for more than 3 months’ worth of the pill. Even though I’d been on it for over two years; even though I experienced no negative side effects. (2/16)

As a result, I had to have a check-up every 3 months before I could get a prescription refill. But like all NHS surgeries, mine is horrendously overstretched, so getting an appt outside 9-6 is virtually impossible. (3/16)

This meant I had to take time off work almost every 3 months for a 5 minute appt where they never found anything wrong. When I asked if I could have a 6 month prescription, to avoid this seemingly unnecessary hassle, I was always told no. (4/16)

The person saying no was never my GP. It was always a nurse, usually one I’d never met before, often from an agency who was just covering a shift that day. When I asked why I couldn’t have a 6 month prescription they never seemed to know, & eventually I gave up asking. (5/16)

FAST FORWARD to 3 months ago. I go for my regular check-up and am told, FINALLY, that I can have a 6 month prescription. No explanation given for the change, but I don’t care. I practically skip to the pharmacy to collect the pill the next day. (6/16)

And then... the pharmacist tells me they don’t have my pill in stock. She has no idea when it will be restocked, but it won’t be soon. She prints out a slip of paper & tells me to take it to another pharmacy to see if *they* have it in stock. (7/16)

Me: So I just have to wander round random pharmacies asking if they have this medication?
Her: Yeah. (8/16)

I spend the following Saturday morning going from pharmacy to pharmacy asking if they have my pill. Nowhere does. FINALLY, I find somewhere. But... they only have 3 months’ worth in stock. I‘m given ANOTHER slip of paper & told to come back in 3 months to pick up the rest. (9/16)

Today, I left work early to return to *that* pharmacy before it closed, and was told THEY STILL DON’T HAVE MY PILL IN STOCK. “I think there’s a manufacturing problem,” the pharmacist says. “You'll have to book an appointment with your GP to get a different prescription.” (10/16)

I call my GP surgery. After waiting on hold for ages, I speak to a member of staff who looks up my pill on (I’m guessing) their internal computer system. “Ah yes,” he says. “It looks like this medication isn’t available at the moment.” (11/16)

Are you bored yet? COS I AM. The guy on the phone suggests I “just ask the pharmacist for a different pill”. I politely tell him to fuck off. They’ve been making me come in every 3 months & now they want an unaffiliated pharmacist to pick new meds for me at random? Nope. (12/16)

So I now have to wait for a call from another pharmacist, to discuss whether they can put me on a different pill without me having to come into the surgery in person. Meanwhile, I’m braced for my hormones to go haywire as I come off medication I’ve been on for years. (13/16)

This is a maddening waste of time for me, and I have a good employer & few responsibilities. It‘d be near impossible if I had kids/sick parents to care for, mobility issues that made it hard to trudge around pharmacies, or a job where I couldn’t just duck out for an appt. (14/16)

It’s also time and energy that my boyfriend - through no real fault of his own! - DOES NOT HAVE TO WASTE. All of the interminable work that goes into making sure I don’t get pregnant rests solely with me. (15/16)

Anyway this thread is too long & I don’t know what the answer is. It’s also worth adding that none of this counteracts my deep love for the NHS. But it‘s SHIT, and I’m 100% sure I’m not the only woman to go through this BORING ADMINISTRATIVE HELL. (FIN)