To think Pharmacies shouldn't shut for lunch anymore

[MrsBrie]

Hi,

It just seems so old fashioned and unnecessary and I don't see any argument for it. Yes, everyone is entitled to a lunch break - of course, but why does the entire pharmacy need to close? Can't they stagger the staff lunch breaks, like everywhere else?

It's not like it's not an important place? What about the people who need their prescriptions and can only pick it up in that hour? I suspect that's a lot of people.

Also, with GPs now really encouraging people to see their pharmacists first, this just seems even more unjustified.

Assuming it's not just me who thinks this?...

There are laws here too.

The pharmacist has half an hour for lunch per six hours of a shift, and one 15-minute break. He or she can be interrupted in an emergency. When the pharmacist is at lunch, prescriptions that have been previously filled and verified can be dispensed, and the techs can continue filling prescriptions, which the pharmacist will verify after the lunch break.

If you get a call (automated) to say your prescription is ready, or if you call to inquire, the recorded voice states the lunch time for the pharmacist, so if you have questions, you are welcome to wait.

Technically, Walgreens is a subsidiary of Walgreens Boots Alliance. The structure isn't a clear-cut X owns Y, and operations vary according to market.

We had one across the street from us, shut at lunch for an hour... why? there was the Pharmacist and an assistant, they both had lunch at the same time as it was unsafe to have just one member of staff working.

It was a Lloyds, owned by USA private equity firm, premises sold off for housing.

The UK allowed this sale to foreign private equity, PE rarely improves CS, their business model is to break up and sell for profit.

Pharmacy stores in this country are still stuck in the 19th century. Just waiting for online pharmacies to come and decimate them. If you’re a dinosaur, you will eventually become extinct.

It is owned by a US company. My point is that if they could do the same here as in the US and make a profit they would. That is obviously not the case as in the UK they have been cutting the hours of shops and also shutting them.

We are a community pharmacy. We have many, many customers who tried the online route, but then came to us for the personal service.

Unfortunately what is happening (living the dream/nightmare right now) is that high street pharmacies are closing. Online pharmacies are skimming off the easy customers... the ones with the same dose of the same medication every month... no complications. We are picking up the rest. The complex in and out of hospital customers, end of life care, urgent needs like antibiotics. Advice... we have so much time spent advising our own customers, we have had to instigate appointments- but still those who have chosen to go online for medication expect to be seen instantly by a pharmacist they have no relationship with...

We are dinosaurs who shut for lunch... extinction is a lonnnnnnng way off. Our customer base for prescriptions alone is growing by 20 to 30 a week. (Which is unsustainable long term as we have limited space and limited staff). These are customers with complex needs, not just a 5 minute dispensing job.

The government does not pay enough to employ a second pharmacist to cover lunchtimes. They barely pay enough to properly cover the first pharmacist considering the responsibility of the professional services and having to manage a business and make profits for the owner.

The pharmacist has half an hour for lunch per six hours of a shift, and one 15-minute break. He or she can be interrupted in an emergency.

There's the distinction. A pharmacist here is perfectly entitled to be unavailable during their unpaid break time, and rightly so.

In our area of the U.K. there are companies that own pharmacies in several towns and, during the issues over the past couple of years with there not being enough pharmacists to cover all the branches, they have been having to cover 2 branches a day so having to travel between the 2 on their break. This means some communities only have access to the single pharmacy in their town for 4 hours either morning or afternoon and the opposite the next day - not great if you don’t drive and your prescription is needed urgently but it’s given to you by the Dr at 1.05pm when the pharmacy has just shut till 2pm tomorrow. Oh, and the dispensary in the surgery is not allowed to deal with the scripts for patients whose address is within 2 miles of the surgery so can’t help even if they are open because their licence doesn’t allow it so they aren’t ’in competition’ with the community pharmacy!

Unfortunately some people think pharmacy is like McDonald's! "My doctor sent my prescription a couple ofi minutes ago. And IV come to collect it"...that's what they hear.."the pharmacist on a break" is not what they want to hear as it upsets them. It's a bit sad when people don't have patience while a pharmacist takes a break which is by law expected. Especially when some of these people have time on their hands anyways . Some people need to learn a bit of patience.

Thing is they might not have time on their hands. And if the pharmacy is next door to the drs I think they can be forgiven for assuming they can pick up their prescription in the same trip. I agree though once it's explained the pharmacist is on lunch people should be more understanding

The pharmacy at our local surgery has a pick up thingie, a bit like a vending machine, outside. You get send a code by email or text, pop it in, and after some shuffling accompanied by robot noises, you can push open the little window and pick up your prescription. It's great, saves me from having to get to the pharmacy between the end of my work day and their's.

We has a high St shop for 30 years. When we first opened, half day closing was still a thing, and just coming to an end, but a good number of long established shops still closed at 12.00 on Thursdays. We were young and enthusiastic, so opened all hours we could, but Thursday afternoons remained the quietest trading time for most of the time we traded. Over the years opening hours expanded. First late nights, then an extra 30 mins, from 5.30 till 6.00, then Sundays. We opened all the extra hours, but it didn't increase our business, just increased our costs. We were always amused that the people who banged on about it being a 24 hour business day usually worked Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, and usually finishing early on Fridays. As others have said the Pharmacist has to be on duty to dispense drugs. Work round it to let them have a lunch break.

I have wondered about this - the pharmacist must be present for prescriptions, I think. The local Boots had its pharmacy closed the day before my DH had a cardiac arrest. I had meant to ask for some advice because he had had indigestion since the previous night, and a pain in his arm (he frequently had indigestion, and had a left shoulder injury that often gave him pain all down his arm, so I had no rational reason to worry). Had I asked would they at least have said dial 111? The herbal remedy shop I went to for turmeric (DH wanted this) neither asked questions nor suggested anything - a pharmacy might have? I doubt it would have made a difference - he had a cardiac arrest when I was out of the room for a few minutes, caused by a blood clot - the silent killer aka widow-maker. DD has said her uncle (a doctor) thought survival unlikely even if it had happened in hospital (and sadly, while DH was still being treated, another patient had just this happen - we could hear the crash team all too well from DH's side-ward).

So you want a highly qualified health care professional to be available to you for nine or ten hours continually without a break, to have your prescription ready as soon as you approach the counter, to have antibiotic syrups available in any flavour your child currently fancies....
Please be real