to feel uncomfortable about neighbours seeing my confidential info.

[jennakong]

A couple of women who live quite close to me work in the local pharmacy (just at the top of the road). It's a very small, close knit community, where everyone know everyone else, kids play together, adults often socialise together etc.

I have been feeling a bit uncomfortable recently about the fact that these women have sight of my prescriptions. I am on an antidepressant drug and on hormone replacement also. I was in recently and when I turned at the door, I noticed them both obviously whispering about me behind the counter, both nodding and looking in my direction. It made me feel very uneasy.

I've never really been sure of how strict the rules around non- disclosure of medical info. are with pharmacy staff. Are they bound by any sort of confidentiality? If they are a pair of unprofessional gossips, is there anything to stop them telling others about my treatments?

The next nearest pharmacy is good walk away, and HRT is so difficult to get sometimes that I'd probably struggle with the inconvenience. Is it just me who is bothered by this kind of scenario and am I unreasonable?

Can you arrange for them to be delivered to your house - I think Lloyds have this service and you can sign up online.

www.lloydsdirect.co.uk/

I’d be bothered too, I’d definitely use a different pharmacy, especially if one can deliver.

The rules are as strict as they are for any profession like that, but I understand why you might feel uncomfortable.

What @PreparationPreparationPrep said. It's an amazing service. Whatever the women were whispering about, even if NOT you, it's rude & it made you feel uncomfortable.

Highly recommend Lloyd's delivery service. It's excellent and I'd happily pay for it.

Nothing embarrassing about anti-depressants or HRT. They're obviously bored with nothing better to do with their time. I agree about changing pharmacy/home delivery.

To answer your question, yes they are bound by confidentiality. But even if others did find out, please don't worry about it, there's nothing to be embarrassed about

Yes they are bound by the same confidentiality as any other health care worker and will get in trouble if they discuss it with anyone else

Firstly if you arent comfortable then look at the delivery service. I changed a medical person due to an uncomfortable link, i trust their professionalism but it felt a bit dr martin and odd

Its estimated that over 1 in 6 adults is on an antidepressant so its really nothing to worry about

It may be they were attempting to discuss something confidential and were waiting to see if you were leaving. Often it could look that way in my role, but its more that we have to stop conversations when people come in and be sure they are leaving or are out of earshot / not coming back to resume important conversations

Your concerns are valid, I use Pharmacy2U for my repeat prescriptions, my medication arrives in the post and no issues so far!

That's one of the thing I dislike about living in a smaller community. It was unprofessional of them to be whispering about anything like that, where a customer could see them and feel they were gossiping about them. Even if you've misconstrued, and even though there's nothing for you to be embarrassed about, I understand how it feels!

As everyone else has said, if you can have things delivered anonymously, that's what I'd recommend.

Thanks for replies. Will look into home delivery, though it's a bit like closing the stable door. I don't know why I feel uncomfortable - but HRT (pessaries) is for intimate stuff I suppose. Maybe I shd go in and buy something to really give them something to gossip about!

As you say @Oliverfunyuns it is one of the drawbacks of closeknit communities, I sometimes crave the anonymity of large cities where no-one knows their neighbours, as horrible as that sounds. Imagine being a teenage girl and having to buy the emergency pill in a small village where the shop staff knew your family, jeez.

I worked in one of two pharmacies in the same kind of town and I can assure you they there are so many people on hrt pessaries and anti depressants the fact you were picking them up won’t even register with them.
They are bound by the same confidentiality as any other professional dealing with your health records and would be putting their job on the line if they disclosed your personal information to anyone else. But realistically who is going to be interested in anyone else’s medication.
As for young people and emergency contraception yes they may feel uncomfortable but I can assure you it is handled in the same way as anything else.
People who work in pharmacy do this every day and it is routine to them they honestly don’t give it a second thought.

I feel uncomfortable about this too as my next door neighbour now works in the village pharmacy. I’m sure she won’t break confidentiality but I’m just uncomfortable with her knowing stuff about me that I wouldn’t have otherwise told her. I’m going to switch to a different pharmacy or online/delivery.