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?...

I went into the pharmacy the other day at 8.45am and was told the pharmacist was unavailable because they were on their lunch break!

All of the pharmacies I have gone to, and I know my pharmacists by their first name and they know me by sight, stay open all day but with reduced service at some point around mid day as there is no pharmacist on the premise. So I can collect prescription already completed or buy paracetamol or similar but couldn't buy something that would require a discussion with a pharmacist.

Most of the pharmacies have the break once the lunch time rush has died down but a previous pharmacy had it at a set time 2-3 and this was highlighted on the door so thr pharmacist took their break outside thr standard lunch break windown

I went to a supermarket pharmacy. I got told the pharmacist was on his meal break so it’d be over an hour. Closed or not I couldn’t get my prescription there and then.

The idea of a GP closing for lunch is mind boggling.

my GP closes for lunch

My GP has always closed for lunch. Chemists need a break, so either go at other times, or go to a bigger pharmacy.

So does mine. I don’t think anything of it. They always have done.

No one can just open a Pharmacy , they need permission from the council , there are specific rules around how many Pharmacies there can be in a two mile radius .

Why wouldn't GPs close for lunch?

Because they have patients who need to see them?

Our GP surgery is huge (4 branches across the town and 20+ GPs named on the website) but they all close completely for lunch, doors locked, phone calls aren't answered (not even by answering machine). They could easily stagger break times and stay open, but don't. Funnily enough, it used to be a small 2 GP practice until it merged and when it was just the two of them, they staggered their lunch break and stayed open!

I agree. Our pharmacy doesn’t dispense medicine between 130-230, and hasn’t done for years. Can still go in for over counter stuff or leave a prescription for later. Suppose depends on how many staff though.

My primary care doctor's office is open for business from 7am to 8pm daily M-F, and 7 to 12 noon on Saturdays. There are four receptionists/ billing staff, six doctors, a phlebotomist, four nurse aides, three medical nurse practitioners, six residents (completing their family medicine training after graduating from medical school), four LCSWs (counseling), two psychiatric nurse practitioners, and a midwife on staff. They are open for business during all of their hours.

If any of your local doctors ever emigrate to the US, they'll be shocked to their core, @taxguru

My pharmacy doesn't close for lunch. 8.30 to 18.30 Mon-Fri. Closed at weekends.

It's their choice, simple as that.

They would be paid a lot more money than they are in the UK and they charge much much more. Whether or not the close, I'm sure all staff have a lunch break.

Our local one isn't even open at a weekend. Have to go to one of the big names, or supermarket pharmacy if you want "out of hours".

Why would they need to see them between 1 and 2? If it is an emergency they should go to the hospital anyway. If it is not an emergency then can wait until 2.

I think private businesses should be allowed to choose and operate their own hours.

Presumably you can find out the opening hours by googling, ringing, or reading the sign on the door.

If customers don't like the hours they can go elsewhere.

If the business loses enough custom, they might want to revisit their opening hours I guess.

I don't like this culture of demanding entitlement where the world is supposed to spin on your needs.

I'm sure they have done the calculations before deciding to shut at lunchtime. If it cost more to be open than close and/or staff were getting abuse why would they stay open?

Just spoken to someone I know who is a pharmacist and apparently shops are cutting hours everywhere to reduce operating costs to avoid full closure.

I live in a small town and work in a different small town (15-20k people) and since the pandemic have been astounded at the amount of shops which now close for lunch. It's one thing if it's a small pharmacy, but Boots for goodness sake? It shafts you on a lunch break if you need a prescription, I have to find a supermarket pharmacy outside of working hours which is a real pain, none of which are in either town.

Some people will wax lyrical about the 'good ol' days' when everything shut for lunch but back then most families didn't have two adults working, so basic life stuff could be addressed.

A pharmacy is a health care service the same as the Dr's surgery and the hospital yet its treated differently which I can't understand...people will happily wait an hour for takeaway food but god forbid you have to wait 10 minutes for your prescription. Pharmacy is short staffed full stop ....from pharmacists to dispensers ....when it shuts for lunch it's chaos imagine it shut for a day which is the way it's heading. We live in such a demanding privileged country. We can only pray everything doesn't go private and we have to pay for medication then you will really have something to moan about

Pharmicists don't pick off a shelf (dispense) dispensers do ....pharmacists clinically check then accuracy check ✔️

Because after four hours of non stop abuse staff get hungry and need a break 🙃

Staff aren't subjected to non stop abuse though. Yes, there will always be arsey customers, but the majority are not.
And staff always had breaks - it's just not necessary for large busy stores to give all their staff a break at the same time.

Boots still seem to be making money - I don't know how. Maybe the big stores compensate for the smaller, neglected ones that a lot of us have. But they need to be careful - they have no USP now - Superdrug etc and the supermarkets sell a lot of what Boots used to do, so people who live in larger towns have more options.
And once people get out of the habit of going to a specific shop because the opening hours don't suit, it's hard for a business to reverse that habit.