To think there is still a need for late night chemists?

[Lobatri]

24/7 stores doctors to be open more and no longer are there chemists open when you need them urgently.

Was better when i was little.

YANBU I remember having frequent bouts of tonsillitis as a small child
in the 90s where my Dad was able to go out very late at night and get a prescription picked up at the late night chemist in town. I think it was open until 2am.

We also had a 24 hour drive through chemist at a local supermarket (that wasn’t open 24 hours oddly?!) until about 7 years ago.

I’ve been really ill with a variety of symptoms recently and have been shocked to find that past 8pm and until 8am there is no pharmacy provision in a 20 mile radius. I’ve been awake in the night just waiting for a pharmacy to open. A couple of years ago I was seen at 11pm at the primary care centre at the local hospital with suspected strep throat following advice from 111. I was prescribed Penicillin but told I’d have to wait until the following morning to get the medication as the hospital pharmacy was shut and they didn’t keep a stock of penicillin at primary care. I was given enough paracetamol to get through the night and sent on my way.

I agree that in the days of 24 hour McDonalds, Supermarkets and god knows what else, you should be able to get the medication you need outside of regular office hours.

I can think of five 24 hour pharmacies within a 2 mile radius of my house. We're not even in a city.

If your willing to travel then you can generally find something.

I managed to find an open chemist at 6am on a Sunday morning last year.

There is only one 24 hour pharmacy in England as far as I am aware. Plenty open from 6am to Midnight (depending where you live), but very little provision from midnight to 6am as demand is low and staffing costs high.

The long term plan of the government is to close a significant number of pharmacies and they are doing this by cutting funding to force closures / bankruptcy.

Those of us that can are reducing our hours to try and ensure our businesses remain viable. A pharmacy will have to open for its core contracted hours of either 40 hours or 100 hours per week. Anything above this is supplementary hours and these hours can be reduced with 3 months notice.

We have a midnight pharmacy locally and outside of their hours you pay your prescription charge to out of hours and they dispense the medication.

I didn’t realise they weren’t a thing anymore. We live in a small rural town in Norfolk and we have a late night one 5 mins walk away!

I live in the sticks and we have a few nearby.

Doesn't everyone wind up at the all-night chemist at least once every year or two?

Of course, we still need them, but I wasn't aware that they had gone away?

It was trying to help a friend that i found they no longer exist, well not within a 20 mile radius of her home. She was seeing to little one while i was searching online. So then i serched my own area -we live miles apart but wondered so looked and nothing. We both live in big towns.

I picked up some antibiotics at 2am very recently!

Our minor injuries/out of hours clinic holds medication, so you can be given enough to keep you going until the chemist is open. Say 3 antibiotics, collect the rest of the course at a chemist. Obviously they don't hold everything, but they have the majority of meds that could be needed ASAP. If it's serious stuff you would be at A&E and the hospital has its own pharmacy.

I have never been aware of all night pharmacies, maybe because I have lived all my adult years here, where the set up is above.

Lucky people who have them still. Should add it to house details if ever selling as it would probably add to the interst.

You can download an nhs pp which will tell you which pharmacies are open. There are loads.

Have you ever looked for one? I ask because in theory there should be a rota for chemists to stay open late, till midnight, so that there is one in your area.
There is a search for chemists in England which lets you see which ones near you are open ‘now’.
beta.nhs.uk/find-a-pharmacy/

Ah, cross post.

They work on a rota here so one week it's one, next another etc which means you may have to travel for around 20 mins or it could be just down the road depending on whose turn it is.

Right. I’ll read the OP properly now. Sorry!
I see you did look, how did you look? That’s rubbish if there is nothing.

We have lots locally that stay open til 11pm or midnight and open at 6/7am, not sure about 24 hour. We've definitely used the late night ones for antibiotics after a ate night visit to out of hours doctors most often with the kids for ear infections that obviously only ever choose to cause pain when GP is closed. 🙄 I suppose if anything was that urgent, we would go to A&E. We always have a well stocked medicine supply but I suppose everyone should try to have the basics in like painkillers for adults and children as in most cases that can get you through until early morning if necessessary.

I did use the app and searched everywhere online and most of my family are HCPs who know this information anyway. Between 8pm and 8am there is nowhere in a 20 mile radius. I live in a big holiday destination with a major city 12 miles away...there is nothing. It’s very fortunate though for others that they have pharmacy access late at night or very early in the morning.

I don't think I've ever been needed a late night pharmacy, but I keep a range of meds in the house, including the strongest possible OTC painkillers, so it's very rare that I would need something urgently at night.

My medicine cabinet has: paracetamol, ibuprofen, aspirin, cocodamol. (Don't have any codeine and ibuprofen though, ought to pick some up.) Ibuprofen gel. Ice packs and heat packs. Wrist and ankle supports.

Antihistamines - cream and tablets, prescription, drowsy and non drowsy. Hydrocortisone cream. Clotrimazole cream. Fluconazole.

Simethicone, mebeverine, omeprazole, ranitadine, Rennies and gaviscon, and fibogel. Loperimide, dioralyte.

And then also decongestant, and peppermint oil which I use with steam to aid decongestant.

And then bandages, plasters etc. No steristrips yet because we don't get too many major cuts and I'm much more confident in my pharmaceutical knowledge than when a cut needs stitches Vs steristrips.

I think that's it off the top of my head, but I've not actually checked the cabinet!

As you can see it's pretty well stocked, so I don't usually need to go anywhere at short notice. Looking back at it it looks kinda crazy tbh!

We live a short distance from a 24/7 (it, quite literally, never closes) pharmacy. I think it might possibly be the only one in our city

Bloody Hell Nacreous - I’m a pharmacist and I’m lucky if we can find the paracetamol when we need it!

We had two locally, were I am in Liverpool, but they've cut back on their hours, because the Walk-in centers carry Meds and in theory, you're supposed to be discharged hospital with what you need, but from what I've heard, that doesn't always happen.

Those that say they have loads near them, do you have walk-in centres as well?

We live in a major city. There is one pharmacy in this side of the city open until 11.30pm each night. There's a branch of Boots in a student area open until 9pm each night. There are no 24 hour pharmacies as far as I know. Even the supermarkets with pharmacy counters dont have pharmacy staff in overnight even though the shop is open.

I don't remember 24 hour pharmacies when I was younger either, it wasn't a "thing".

I think the system they have in Spain works well, all of the pharmacies in a small town or area of a city take it in turns to be on call. Each one has a poster in the window showing which pharmacist is on call during closing time.

Nacreous, I think the difference is whether you'd request a home visit from a Doctor, or go to a Walk-in that can give antibiotics.

I've only had experience from Home Visits with relatives that are already under a team, Cancer/COPD etc and they get the Meds needed delivered rather than give a prescription.

We're lucky that we don't have overstretched Walk-in centers, because we have so many. We have a separate children's one. Three Adult A&E's, two children's A&E's, all within a 20 minute drive.

So people usually use them.