Surprisingly less of a pain in the backside than expected

Despite my predictions of disaster, my long-distance controlled drug prescription renewal all went through without an issue and I had the filled prescription in my hand by 11AM the next morning. Which means I'm currently comfortable, rather than shivering my way through opioid withdrawal (last patch of the old prescription ran out overnight).

I strongly suspect both GP's surgeries were confused about the system (mine that it was possible at all, my mother's that it had changed in the past week), and that that's probably true of a lot of them across the country. Which isn't exactly reassuring.