To ask people to cherish their local Pharmacies

[Oldsu]

A lot of people have been advocating companies like Pharmacy2u (who were fined for selling patients data by the ICO) and other companies who provide a postal service for prescriptions, during the pandemic they may be a boon, at other times they may be convenient, but they will destroy local Pharmacy services and ultimately cost the NHS money. NHS England have a scheme called think Pharmacy first encouraging people to use them instead of getting a GP appt or go to A&E for minor matters, if local Pharmacies close people once more will have to use precious front line resources at a cost to the NHS. These companies may employ Pharmacists but they cant advise on over the counter medicine and how it may interact with other medication, they can't reassure a scared mum whose child has a funny rash. Please think behind the publicity blurb, please think beyond the pandemic, and imagine a time when you need help NOW but cant get a GP appoint for 3 weeks and your local Pharmacy that has been serving your community for years has closed down. I don't work for a Pharmacy this is just my opinion

Agree, in our village we have a massive network of volunteers to do deliveries to over 60s and to manage the queue (1 in 1 out)

All in support of the local surgery and pharmacy

Our pharmacy who are normally lovely have been terrible since the lockdown. They won't open the door at all and speak to you through a tiny window. You have to declare your issues to the whole queue. They are only open certain separate times for handing in and collecting prescriptions. I'm not surprised these online pharmacies are so popular.

Our local pharmacy is only open for prescriptions - I wanted some OTC meds and couldn't go in and buy them so I had to buy online.

No thanks. I've had really poor advice from our local pharmacies on several occasions- burn they suggested cream for as they didn't have the dressings in stock (any sale rather than appropriate advice?) ended up having to go back several times to minor injuries for specialist dressing and check and have a scar. Pharmacist wouldn't even look just got his assistant to check.

Wrong diagnosis of skin condition ended up at dermatologist privately costing £££

Having to explain my medical condition to an assistant plus queue to be allowed to buy otc medication

Not being allowed to get a prescription because the trainee pharmacist wanted to check the consultant was correct

Pharmacy2U has been brilliant. I'm happy to use alternatives.

One member of counter staff (not a pharmacist) at the place I used to go was really officious. Would always ask what drugs are for including some antibiotics I was prescribed once. She also refused to sell me co-codamol despite my not having a history of buying it often and not taking any other medication. Said I'd need a prescription.

I go somewhere else now. She was a nightmare. Like all services, some are good and some not so good..

Our local pharmacy is shit. Rude, unhelpful and once gave my DF the wrong prescription which they barely even apologized for and I know they’ve done this to other people as well. This was all before the lockdown as well, I dread to think what they are like now.

So no, I won’t cherish them.

I have stopped using my local. It's a branch of Boots based near the health centre. They reduced their hours a few weeks ago and now the queue goes 3 times round the car park and onto the main road. I don't have 2 - 3 hours which is the current wait time. That's just to hand your script in, you need to wait again to collect the meds. It's absolutely ludicrous. Next town along (bigger town incidentally) managed to take the prescription and dispense the medication within 10 mins. We now use that chemist. So I'm not using my local, but only because it's become overwhelmed and I I still using a local chemist.

Part of my current volunteering at my local doctors’ surgery is managing the queue to the pharmacy and dispensary.

They are clearly absolutely brilliant, but my god, so many people are so absolutely RUDE to them. It’s horrible to watch. And then they come storming out the door and say things to me like, “She needs to smile, what’s wrong with her?” As though I’m going to bloody well agree with them.

I had no idea before how awful some people can be to their pharmacist. And I’m a teacher, so quite used to receiving my own fair share of abuse at work.

I used to work in a local pharmacy but left because the stress was damaging my health and for minimum wage even after a completing two year qualification it wasn't worth it anymore.

Of course there's bad staff in any profession but a lot are overworked for the sake of profits, I found myself with horrendous compassion fatigue and having no time to actually care anymore otherwise I d be too slow for the managers liking.

My local independent pharmacy are delivering all medication whether you are in the at risk group or not. They’ve been doing this for 4 weeks now. They have done this to support social distancing as they didn’t think that asking people to queue outside was safe, even 2m apart, as they process so many prescriptions. I expected to have to wait for my medication but it arrived 2 days after I put the request with my doctor in. I will be supporting them once this over.

I should say there are some brilliant examples too - my doc emailed a prescription to a pharmacy he uses and they'd delivered it to me within the hour. Makes a mockery of Boots etc.

My pharmacist is fantastic. She’s lent me tablets on at least two occasions when there have either bee supply issues or the doctors surgery have been late sending my prescription. As it’s a time
Critical medication I really can’t be without it so it’s a great service.

I'm shielding. I asked my pharmacy if they would be able to deliver my meds which was met with a wall of huffing and muttering, pharmacy2u seems the ideal solution and I'm grateful for their service.

Not keen on my local pharmacy. They are always grumpy and rude and seem to begrudge me my medication (that I take to stay alive).

Please support local pharmacies.
I work for one and we have stayed open during lockdown with little PPE, doing the best we can with a huge workload (doctors closing their door/unable to take calls for various covid related reasons) so people coming to us with all enquiries. We have carried on giving advice etc but the pressure has been immense.
I appreciate not everyone may have had positive experiences with their local pharmacies but if you have, please help keep us trading. We need you.

I now use a lovely independent pharmacy, nothing is too much trouble for them. The Lloyd's pharmacy near my home is awful, it can take 5 days from the GP issuing a prescription for them to dispense the drugs, the pharmacist is horrible, I was very poorly & had to have several courses of antibiotics & steroids, the pharmacist made very rude comments about abusing antibiotics & wasting NHS resources. He didn't know what was wrong for me or the test results the doctor had received before he prescribed the drugs he did.

I agree. We have a prescribing pharmacist near us and he has been amazing with a couple of issues with had with our baby's skin and we've been able to avoid doctors appointments except where really needed. So much easier during lockdown too. He's worth his weight in gold!

My local pharmacy is Lloyd’s inside Sainsburys and they’re fab.
Helpful, patient and they’re now my first place I go to for advice.

I have to say my pharmacy aren’t the best and I will actual look into the online ones in a minute, I didn’t realise we could use them for prescription meds. My main gripe is actually getting the meds, they never have them in so whenever I go they always say they have to be ordered and I have to come back the next day. I tried leaving it and going to collect a day/2days/3 days later, they’re never in stock. It’s like they don’t order them until I actually go in so I always have to make 2 visits.
I’m supposed to be on deliveries at the moment as I am self isolating. I ordered my prescription from the doctors on Friday, they say 48 hours but it will have been with the pharmacy on Monday, sometimes it’s there within an hour of me ordering. I’ve received nothing yet, no text/email or anything. They don’t answer the phone so if I don’t get anything tomorrow I’m going to have to go and queue as I will be out of medication. I’ve even had a message today from my gp surgery telling me to let the pharmacy know I’m in a high risk group and to get my prescriptions delivered - fat chance of that.
I think I definitely need a new pharmacist.

No thanks I prefer having my scripts delivered to my door. No way in hell would I take medical advice from a Pharmacy. Contraindications advice os fine but other than that I will speak to my Doctor or Pediatrician

I had a repeat prescription at one pharmacy, changed it to another close by thought nothing of it
Almost out of pills, call up and have to phone the old pharmacy to find out that my doctors had without contacting me reset the prescription to the old one and not told me, they didn't even have it either so that was confusing
Said it would take 2 days for my anxiety meds, it took 4 and the head pharmacist wasn't nice at all

Our local pharmacy- where my poor dad has been getting his huge prescription from for decades - are a bunch of lazy, resentful, unhelpful, rude bastards. Always have been. And now seem to think they have even more reason to be now.

Another pharmacy I use for my own family is just the same.

Sorry but much like my experience with the NHS, my experience with pharmacies does not match up to the current canonisation of every single employee as some sort of angel sent from heaven.

Not really. For over the counter stuff they're well expensive. I rarely have prescriptions. DM gets her prescriptions from the pharmacy next to her GP, which actually isn't especially local to us.

When there were shortages of medicines, it wasn't the big names that were price gouging, it was "independent" chain Jhoots charging £6 for a box of paracetamol and suchlike.

(PS: DMs pharmacy are good. They sorted out delivering her medicine when the GP was closed for urgent repair work. Just, like I said, not our local.)