Very tedious job - need advice.

niall06/2005 · 10-05-2006 11:21PM #1

Hi everyone I’m looking for some help on the current job I’m assigned.

I work for the HSE, and I was recently reassigned to the Psychiatric drug scheme section. This section is handled by one person only, ‘me’.
Now here’s the problem I have – I’m finding the job unfair and a head wrecker and this is why,

The Psychiatric drug scheme system is mostly all manual, and this is now it works, there is about 200 pharmacy’s I deal with, and each pharmacy sends me in a signal report with the prescriptions attached, some of theses reports would have 200 to 500 prescriptions attached based on the report. the pharmacy’s would send theses in once a month. The first step is to stamp each envelope and rotate the mail, I then open the earliest dated envelope, and then check each prescription by the drugs listed on the corresponding report, matching them off, ‘this can take some time, once I’ve checked that all prescriptions are right for my area, I calculate the pharmacy’s mark up witch is (33.33%) and drug fee €2.98 (per each drug)- then print off the totals using excel. I then raise a purchase order on the SAP R/3 MM side, this part of the job i enjoy, as it's a networked system, NOT manual.
Now this might sound all find, but the volume of paper i.e., prescriptions & reports is large and processing them I find very time consuming, so much so’ I have two full storge boxes of unopened mail at all times, As the post keeps coming in. But this isn’t the thing that wracks my head mostly, it’s the constant calculations that I have to do on every report, because it’s not done on any kind of computer software and that's just mad.... And I’m told there’s no plans to do so. plus I'm finding my concentration drifting from it being so tedious, It’s very tedious work.. and I’m not happy doing it.
I went to the boss and asked him if there’s going to be any changes done and he gave me the run around, I told him in this day an age doing a job that’s all manual is crazy, he just looked at me. management just cant care less about the little people.
I’ve been thinking of ways of changing the procedures but I can’t seam to come up with anything. I would really appreciate any advice & is there anyone out there who might be in a similar situation and if they came up with a solution

:mad:

Please help Thanks for reading this post.

TempestSabre · 10-05-2006 11:59PM

Why do you do the tots manually before entering them in excel? Why not do them in excel?

gandalf · 11-05-2006 12:03AM

33.33% Markup FFS !!!

Back on topic, you really need to put some thought into what the work needs to achieve and what you need to change to make it more efficient. Get this down on paper and when you are happy with it present it to your boss and get his/her opinion. If they agree with you then ask them for a timetable of impliementation. If you don't get this from them consider transferring to a more interesting job.

There is no point going to management on an issue like this unless you have a decent suggestion for an alternative.

TempestSabre · 11-05-2006 12:07AM

I could be wrong but are these prescriptions not created on a computer then printed out? If thats the case then should they not be electronicly submitted at the point of origin? But I assume, the chances of such a major change in a system are slim to none.

Kinetic^ · 11-05-2006 12:08AM

gandalf wrote:

33.33% Markup FFS !!!

Just off topic once again but methadone markup iirc is double that.

jimmycrackcorm · 11-05-2006 01:46AM

I looked at the implementation of the GMS payments scheme before and it is much worse. If OP had any authority then a simple interactive web site could be created and logins given to each pharmacy. then they could be insisted upon to enter the data online (if they wanted to get paid). this data could then be downloaded by op and cross checked against the report and prescriptions being sent in and the calculations done automatically. It would only be a matter of cross referencing.

But then isn't the HSE a monolithic bureaucracy and you'd never get achance to get this done?

tech · 11-05-2006 06:14AM

I thought Deloitte & Touche had designed a new great system for the HSE, or is that the one the they discovered was of NO use

11 million Euro later:D

Beruthiel · 11-05-2006 07:42AM

TempestSabre wrote:

Why do you do the tots manually before entering them in excel? Why not do them in excel?

I was also going to suggest this, it would be useful short term

Miss Fluff · 11-05-2006 08:13AM

So very typical of the HSE, a farce of an organisation where people rise to the level of their own incompetence:mad: Well considering how the impetus on the HSE currently is to save as much money after their "Delighted to Touch" fiasco, you should try and calculate an estimate in man hours of how much time is being wasted in manual calculations when the job could be done more cheaply and efficiently with the implementation of the appropriate software. Then present the figures to your boss (if he can spare the time from playing golf while riding his expenses form that is)

Sgt. Politeness · 11-05-2006 11:26AM

Go work in a call centre for one month. Youll never complain about your job again

Gordon · 11-05-2006 12:17PM

Erm, do you not want this in a forum better suited to this? ie Work or Comp?

Tim06 · 11-05-2006 04:12PM

it’s the constant calculations that I have to do on every report, because it’s not done on any kind of computer software and that's just mad.... And I’m told there’s no plans to do so. plus I'm finding my concentration drifting from it being so tedious, It’s very tedious work.. and I’m not happy doing it.

sounds like you dont like your job, think that you would be better getting something that you like

stepbar · 11-05-2006 07:41PM

"some of theses reports would have 200 to 500 prescriptions attached based on the report"

How are these reports generated do you know? Do the pharmacies create the reports in Excel? If they did could you get them to email you the excel files they use? Of course you would start off with a few pharmacies i.e in the one county and go from there. You would have to get a generic email address setup, like psychiatric.prescriptions @hse.ie. All you would have to do then is file away the prescriptions.

I can empatise with you I usta work in a local dole office for the summer and I couldnt understand the need for the oceans of paper, same info recorded umteen times etc. It was so frustrating. Actually decided to do my dissertation on this area (Business Processes), so TBH u would be an interesting candidate for me cause you have to put up with this day in day out.

dudara · 11-05-2006 08:49PM

Agreed, this is really not much of a PI, moved to Work.

talla · 11-05-2006 11:22PM

Without trying to give too much away

, i work for one of the companies that supply the dispensing software for most of the pharmacies in Ireland and believe me i know whats its like to deal with the old GMS payments board / HSE (new name, same people and stone age procedures) and to deal with the pharmacies. We're also responsible for the electronic transmission of prescriptions to the HSE for all pharmacies. It is technically possible for pharmacies to transmit the Psychiatric drug scheme prescriptions electronically to the HSE in our software (just a matter of setting a flag to true), but transmission of these scripts are not permitted, not sure if the necessary legislation is in place or working practices agreed with the unions (which is my guess

). At present only the GMS, GMS Repeat, DPS, LTI, HT and one or two other schemes are permitted to be sent electronically. However the report that the pharmacies print off and send with the Psychiatric drug scheme scripts is printed directly from pharmacy dispensing system and i know with our software the pharmacies can export the report to a CSV file. So pharmacies could email you in this particular report. However, from my experience of dealing with pharmacies, they will not do anything unless theres something in it for them, the only reason they send in prescriptions electronically is they get paid within 14 days of transmitting the scripts. As their payments for the Psychiatric drug scheme will not be reimbursed quicker, i can't see them changing their working practices to suit you unfortunately.

Oh and Gandalf, its 50% markup on private scripts

and thats before all the various little charges they add on like dispensing fees, fees for containers, fees for breaking a pack in half fees for getting out of bed in the morning.....

stepbar · 11-05-2006 11:37PM

I think the prob here is that the OP is going to have to come back here and give us some more details about the "procedure" in place. But Im thinking if the OP didnt have to deal with all the boxes of crap he gets in the post he'd get his job done quicker so therefore the pharmacies get payed quicker

"I can't see them changing their working practices to suit you unfortunately." - Simple solution, dont pay them until they do! That would get them moving quick fast

TempestSabre · 11-05-2006 11:42PM

I think talla is right and this is likely a union and procedures problem rather than a technical or financial one.

vector · 12-05-2006 02:06PM

In any job if the management won't implement a solution/fix some problem you have two options, quit (and if its a minimum wage job then this is a realistic option used by many since time immemorial) or stick it out until you get promoted (if it's in a large organisation with an established ladder)

Very tedious job - need advice.

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