Wtf is going on with pharmacies

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I remember a time when you would go to the doctor, or put a repeat prescription request in, get a green bit of paper, take it to a chemist and get your medication after a short wait.

My previous pharmacy was taking 3+ days to dispense medication so I moved to one that seemed a bit quieter.

This one is now telling me it's going to be at least 24 hours. And it's been sent electronically so unless I want a load of piss arsing about asking for it to be released and queuing up for a receipt to get it elsewhere, I just have to wait.

I have a raging infection that I need antibiotics for I can't understand why it's taking days to get medication. I don't even mind them saying come back in a couple of hours, but several days is surely taking the piss?!

Same locally. Loads of smaller Boots have shut and the pharmacies left are all in chaos.

nothing works anymore.

The pharmacy round the corner from me is always dead. There is one pharmacist who is all the owner (he told me) and one dispenser. They sit about chatting most of the time, they also run a parcel collection service for DPD. Evri etc. Not remotely run off their feet. I get my prescriptions from them 10 mins after I leave the doctors. How is that happening?

Was it nitrofurantoin? You know that's over £450 a bottle? Plus it's got a limited shelf life once open. Very few pharmacies will hold a bottle just in case but it should be able to get a bottle delivered the next day.

I've thanked a few people for understanding on here. I don't expect the public to know what goes on behind the scenes so I'm glad others have broken it down so eloquently.
Antibiotics and acute meds are tried to be prioritised so ideally they are printed and dispensed first. Though will 250+ backlog sometimes we can only see these when you come I'm and ask. We then do prioritise walk ins and Antibiotics. But we are then stuck with upset regular meds who have been waiting 3 days for us to catch up. And some of those meds are epilepsy or diabetes so still need to be done ASAP.
And yes we ask managers for more staff including locum pharmacists and dispensers but we are told no budget.

Talk to the pharmacist. They are knowledgable and qualified. Many items are no longer stocked routinely due to the expense. They order them in.

If they haven't got what you need and it's going to take three days to get it, talk to your prescriber (?GP). They can prescribe something else.

It's all down to funding.

needed a prescription for something pregnancy-related a few weeks ago. Waited days for the prescription and kept trying to ring ahead to make sure they'd had time to sort it- no answer.

Ended up just going in on my lunch break to pick it up (work FT- only time I could go). I queued for 1 hr 30 mins- only to be told it still hadn't been done so waited for a further 20 mins. I missed 2 meetings, my lunch and was dizzy from standing too long with no water and low BP. Not great when you're pregnant but there were also elderly people stuck queuing.

We need them more than they need us. It's not like they are raking in money, as you can tell by all the chains shutting them down. If the pharmacists decide the stress isn't worth it, they can find alternative work much easier than we can find alternative sources of medications.

Welcome to the governments "pharmacy first" nonsense, they are now too busy to deals with anything properly.
We are in a trial area for this and it nearly killed my partner who they incorrectly diagnosed as needing paracetamol rather than antibiotics.

OP, your experience sounds like very pharmacy in this town. It's normal now.

My local Pharmacy doesn't open on a Saturday but I assume that's because they don't have a pharmacist available to work.

Another burnt out pharmacy worker here!

There have been some great posts on here highlighting the issues community pharmacists and their teams are facing. I’ve just handed my notice in after 15 years of working in my local pharmacy and I’m gutted about it, it was my first job and I’ve built such great relationships with my colleagues and patients. I know I’m just adding to the problem by leaving but I can’t take it anymore. Pharmacy staff don’t enjoy the long waits, the supply issues and the long queues either.

I’ve had problems recently trying to obtain my own medications so I do appreciate how frustrating it can be. I would always advise people that if you need something urgently, try to push the prescriber to give you an FP10 or at least the electronic prescription token number so you can try other pharmacies.

In terms of low staffing, for all the reasons listed on this thread, there’s no appeal to working in a community pharmacy anymore. Low pay, hugely increased workload, if you work for a larger chain they tend to give the store a tiny budget for staff. It’s not an attractive job for the most part. A friend of mine works in a lovely little village pharmacy which is well-staffed and they have access to more suppliers so rarely encounter stock issues, I’m envious!

For me, I love the patient interaction but I can still do that in a hospital pharmacy for (marginally) better pay, less stress and shorter hours.

Glad you got your medication eventually, OP.
Apologies to anybody who is frustrated with their pharmacies, it really isn’t good enough, it’s a dire situation all round.