BOOTS CHEMIST one person at a time allowed into store

[justasking111]

I was a bit puzzled why Boots are only allowing one person into store at a time yesterday, when I finally got in there saw there were three aisles to queue in with arrows etc. I had sent my GP details as to why I needed to see them, but being in pain decided to go to chemist for something to keep me going until gp got back to me having filled in this online form that took some time, I have been told they will be contacting me by 6.30pm on Tuesday if they dont phone them which is how we did it before lock down.

Is this a national thing, coz this is my first visit to chemist since before lock down.

I went into our medium sized Boots on Monday to pick up a prescription, there was no queue to get into the store. There was a queue of about 5 of us for the pharmacy counter, plus a couple of other people in the rest of the store. All of the make up was taped off, but everything else like deodorant and shampoo was accessible, and I'm assuming hair dye too, as thats in the same area, though I didn't check.

Staff in our local pharmacy are all gowned, gloved and masked. I found that a bit OTT.

Why is it OTT?

They'll be exposed to potentially very sick people all day long.

I went to a big boots last week. The small queue moved quickly and there were about 4 people waiting at the pharmacy and around 4 walking round the shop. I bought stuff from the retail side, there didn't seem to be any restrictions, but I was just stocking up with general stuff. One person only if the store is quite large seems a bit ott.

Depends on the size of the store surely. My local boots is TINY. Like not much bigger than the size of my lounge. So one in, one out makes a lot of sense.

In a big high street branch, not so much sense.

Staff in our local pharmacy are all gowned, gloved and masked. I found that a bit OTT

I do too. People with covid should be at home, other people will be collecting their prescriptions for them. Why is it any riskier now than at any other time? And why are the security concerns greater?

All they have to do, is look at the prescription, find the relevant medication on, stick labels on it, and put in bag and give to customer. I am struggling to understand why that is more high risk activity than being a salesperson in Sainsburys.

And what hostility are pharmacy staff facing? Why are customers being (more) rude and abusive (than usual)?

I think it is up to pharmacies to assess their risk, just because people with covid are meant to be at home doesn't mean they actually are. There have been numerous deaths in a lot of sectors and I'm sure they want to keep it that way.

Yesterday a 3rd customer came into the shop and was abusive when asked to leave, I'm sure it's not the only time they have faced abuse.

That's up to Supermarkets though, maybe they should look into their safety measures? Nothing to do with pharmacy.

I work in pharmacy, i'm pregnant and have been told i won't get the 80% pay so cannot afford to be off. So if me and my colleagues are in masks, gloves and serve one person at a time it's because we don't want to catch the disease. Also, we've been told to do that. So that's what we'll do, but if you have a problem maybe write to the NHS 😎

Local big one wasn't letting anyone in a few days ago unless it was for a prescription. I need certain vits to stay in one piece, otherwise the bone pain becomes unpleasant, and my normal supplier is delayed, but couldn't get anything from Boots.

Customers are being more rude because prescriptions are taking longer. They are also frightened, and lonely, and don't like queuing up outside 2m apart for 20 min. They do not like the fact that we only want one person in the shop, or that the pharmacist will no longer do consultations in a teeny private room. They do not like the fact that if they have a temperature or a cough we tell them to go home and follow guidance - they are still coming in which is why we have ppe. They also don't like that we have sold out of thermometers, hand sanitizer, hand soap and do not sell masks - despite wearing one. So when they get to the front of the queue, have been told " no we don't sell masks, no we have no hand sanitizer, and I'm sorry your repeat prescription hasn't come from the doctor yet," or is "out of stock with our suppliers" they are a bit miffed.
Some become rude, some become angry.

My usual chemist attached to surgery, two in at a time for prescriptions when you say who you are you leave and stand in the car park for 20 minutes or so then someone comes out calls your name and leaves it on a table. Luckily I had a book in my bag and the sun was shining so it was quite pleasant.

I went to Boots for a repeat prescription last week. No queue, but the shop was pretty much empty. When I walked in an assistant asked why I was in store. They have moved all the toiletries to the upper floor with the pharmacy (big high street branch) so had I wanted to I could have got things like razors, shower gel and so on, plus sandwiches, crisps etc. The baby section is on the same floor, and there was a lady stocking up on bits there, plus a bloke buying hydrocortisone cream. The self scan tills seemed to be closed.

I do too. People with covid should be at home, other people will be collecting their prescriptions for them.

People who should be at home are not necessarily staying at home. People, including staff can have the virus and not yet have any symptoms. PPE doesn't just protect the wearer, it protects the people they are in contact with too.

Why is it any riskier now than at any other time? And why are the security concerns greater?

And what hostility are pharmacy staff facing? Why are customers being (more) rude and abusive (than usual)?

In a normal day at work, I feel safe; occassional rude customer, nothing scary. In the past few weeks I have been on the receiving end of swearing, shouting, aggressive verbal abuse and physically threatening behaviour from people who don't like what is happening either because they have had to queue, their prescription isn't ready, something is out of stock etc. We live and work in an area where everybody knows everybody and there have been other stores nearby who have had to hire security guards specifically because of the threatening behaviour towards staff since this all kicked off. I'm talking tiny, community pharmacies, not big high street retail stores who normally have security. One pharmacy has stopped admitting anybody into their store at all because it was too dangerous. My colleagues have been in tears because they are frightened of what might happen if they rub anyone up the wrong way.

All they have to do, is look at the prescription, find the relevant medication on, stick labels on it, and put in bag and give to customer. I am struggling to understand why that is more high risk activity than being a salesperson in Sainsburys.

There is alot more to the job than that. We have had three times as many prescriptions delivered straight to us from the doctor's surgeries than we would normally process in a day. We are doing triple our normal workload with no extra staff and sometimes even fewer staff because of absences. People are not used to things working this way and don't listen or dont understand why we have upped the turnaround time for prescriptions. We are seeing so many new patients with complicated prescriptions for controlled drugs, prescriptions that require to be split and dispensed over 4 weeks in installments, prescriptions for unusual items or items that are nigh on impossible to get because of stock issues, not to mention the number of electronic and phone-in emergency scripts that need to be processed at the same time as keeping the pharmacy running as normally as possible. I understand that people are frustrated but it's not like walking in and ordering a coffee. Its medicine and there are processes to follow. Everything a dispenser picks and assembles for a patient must then be checked by a pharmacist. If we make mistakes the consequences for patients can be life changing or even fatal, so no, it's not just picking something off a shelf and sticking a label on it.

A number of staff in my local supermarket are now wearing face visors and there are screens at the tills.

Both Superdrug’s where I live you can go in and get make up hair stuff basically everything

Plus an increased number of prescriptions means an increased amount of stock that needs to be unpacked every day. So more time consuming.
I've also found that people are coming in earlier than expected to collect their prescriptions, sometimes before we've even got them from the doctors, let alone had chance to order the stock, receive it and make up the prescription.
As for us apparently wearing too much PPE? A lot of our customers are sick or vulnerable. Its to protect us and our customers.
There has already been a death in the pharmacy community: www.pharmacymagazine.co.uk/604627-covid-19-cheshire-pharmtechnician

I work in a large Boots. We only have 30-40 people in at the moment on a Sunday (numbers could be kept down if people weren't coming in together from the same family) over six hours, so luckily distancing is easy. Photo, click and collect, gifts, makeup, perfume, skincare and haircare are sealed off, but we can access basic haircare and skincare for customers.

People with covid should be at home, other people will be collecting their prescriptions for them

The key word there is should. We all know there are people who are paying no attention to the rules and guidelines and who are going out anyway.

We also know people can be contagious without symptoms. So if I was in a job where I was coming into close contact with lots of people on a a daily basis, I would want to be as safe and well-protected as possible.

I was in my local boots this morning.

All staff with gloves, masks and large visor type things. Also large screens across all the counters.

Tbh I think they're probably more protected than nursing staff dealing with covid patients in hospitals.

Three customers in a any one time, as far as I could see.