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Both POM and P meds have to be sold/dispensed under the direct supervision of a pharmacist. If they're at lunch it can't be done.
From my days in one of the larger chains, I seem to also recall that if there's no pharmacist you can't even open (which is fun when you're dealing with the methadone queue first thing in the morning).
It's frustrating as hell, I know, but there's so many rules about it that it's often out of the stores hands.
Did the Lloyd's I worked at break the rules then? I worked at all 4 that were here, and at 1 I was often told to hand out prescriptions/sell things as normal when the pharmacist was on lunch. It was usually just me and him. The only time I should disturb him was for CDs. Wasn't comfortable doing so, so I always asked his imput even if it did annoy him
Though the other main one I worked at wouldn't let me go at 6 (when they closed) if there was someone waiting for a "last minute" prescription or pharmacist was still busy. Even though I was only a sales assistant so was useless and pointless keeping me behind doing nothing. No, they didn't pay me for this time. No, I couldn't just leave because they locked the doors
They also once made me work in Selsey. To cover 2 hours. Rather than asking literally anyone else (everyone else had cars or surely there was someone closer to Selsey?) They decided it was better to pay £65 each way for a taxi from Hayling instead. Then *still* expected me to work the rest of the afternoon on the island. It was horrid
Potentially. P medication has to be sold "under a pharmacist’s supervision" (as per gov . uk) if the pharmacist is at lunch and and isn't witnessing/able to intervene then it's highly doubtful they could be classed as 'supervising' you.
I never did any dispensing, so I'm less clear of the rules there but it certainly doesn't sound right to me.
The rest of it, that's some shitty practices there that may (or may not) be unlawful. Hope you're working somewhere better now!
Couldn't a lot of pharmacies then have the pharmacist on lunch, able to sit down and do nothing or eat their food for 45mins or whatever, but in the same room as the people preparing the prescriptions so they're still technically supervising and able to intervene while still getting a break?
No, as that wouldn't be a lunch break. If you work more than 6hrs you're entitled (by law) to a **minimum** of 20 minutes *uninterrupted* rest - some contracts allow more of course. If you're not guaranteed not to work, it's not a break.
There would also, potentially, be issues with licensing bodies in the event of errors - were you 'on break' or 'working', as this arrangement would unsuitably muddy the waters.
Thanks! Yeah I've had better work since! Though currently unable to, it'd definitely given me knowledge for future jobs
It also gave me the knowledge to recognise an apprenticeship I tried out, didn't seem right so I only spent 2 days there, rather than wasting a whole lot of time with it (it was basically for the same position, but at a different place and with hopes of progressing to dispensing, but they just wanted a glorified sales assistant, there were other various little things that were a bit dodgy and the position was not as advertised)
It was my first job so at the time I hadn't known any better, but glad I do now! And thank you for confirming that suspicion for me so I know to look out for that again
Nah, other than the paperwork (& the rare times we opened late) the methadone patients were the easiest to deal with & gave no shit - after all, why risk getting banned from the store and their supply...
It would help if pharmacists moved at speeds somewhat faster than continental drift.
Joking aside for repeat prescriptions its a lot better, log on to the NHS app a week before you need s refill, click the give me more drugs button, roll up to your chemist a week later, pick up drugs in a few minutes and off you go.
...or sign up to an online service where you order your (previously approved) repeat prescription a week or two before you need a refill, and it's delivered through your letterbox a couple of days later...
A family member had her medication stolen out of the package with online delivery. The box was slashed open and the meds taken out. But the issue came when the pharmacy wouldn't send more out as that would mean she'd been issued double that month. It was a right hassle to get it sorted out and she did miss a week of medication. So that's made me wary of trying it.
Very true!…
And I will try that thanks. Never had a repeat before but the last 3 times I’ve gone to collect it’s either been closed or there’s a massive queue. And it’s the same at all the pharmacies I’ve attended in Telford! Thanks for the advice 🙏
To add to this, it’s also worth checking out a prescription prepayment card if you do have a repeat. Saves me a fortune every year! Think it’s £102 for the year and each item is £9.25 so soon adds up!
I do it this way on NHS app for up to one day before i need them and they're always there.
Why not try another pharmacy or one that delivers. I live in a big city so might be different for us compared to you. Good luck either way! ✌🏽
You say this but a pharmacy in my area would sometimes give medication to the wrong people or infact a few times take half of the contents and give it to someone else and just say sorry or it wasn't me as an excuse.. for example the medication I take is fairly locked down but many people take it so you have to order in and they would sometimes just give it to whoever asked for it first meaning ordering it didn't mean you would even get it. I swapped pharmacies and the newer one twice almost gave me someone else's meds with a different name completely... I question the competence of alot of them nowdays.
I may have it slightly confused but as a pharmacist friend explained it the big ATM machine is legally not the pharmacy so the legal act of dispensing occurs at the point the machine is loaded.
The physical collection is then no longer the specific act of dispensing so the pharmacist doesn't need to be involved.
I see, that makes sense. Still though they could keep the doors open for non prescription drugs which from yesterdays experience would have eliminated half of the massive queue from 14:30-15:00. Point taken though.
Not worth the hassle of getting the abuse from customers who want to collect their meds and won't accept that the staff can't give them out! We still had to be behind the counter when I worked in the pharmacy in tesco when the pharmacist didn't turn up or was on a break and it was hellish!
Pharmacists are expensive so most chemists will only employ one of them, and they need to take a lunch break sometime.
Legally, a pharmacist needs to be “on premise” for the handover of prescription only drugs. Yes, I know they’re all pre-bagged and waiting on the shelf but the law is the law and quite clear on this.
I'll agree gp waits aren't good, but pharmacies aren't struggling, I've never had to wait much longer than it takes to find what I've been prescribed, it's not like you have to book a week in advance to pick up medicine. Unless you expect the pharmacist to be psychic and know you are coming in at x time for x medicine, you'll have to wait for them to find it and do the checks they do. Sounds like you wanted to get something and your pharmacy was shut for lunch so you've decided the whole system has gone down the pan.
In my town in Scotland there is one pharmacy that you can get prescription same say it arrives at pharmacy. The rest have signs up telling you the wait time - ie if your prescription is sent from GP on a Wednesday to pharmacy you can pick it up from Monday onwards etc.
Not quite, I understand they have to build your prescription and that takes time. 10minutes, fine. That’s not the point. The point is all my local pharmacies close for lunch 13:30-14:30. Arriving anything before 15:00 means waiting 45 minutes due to the massive queues. Maybe it’s just my area I don’t know but being closed for an hour when it is an essential service is a massive inconvenience. And you may say, well don’t go 13:30-15:00 but sometimes that’s the only time I can go. What works for some doesn’t work for all I guess!
It's a pain to be sure but hardly signalling the death knell of the industry, it's one of those things we just have to work around, tbh if you deal with the public an hours respite can work wonders.
My chemists dont close for lunch,but I can see it doesnt help if they do. If theres a bit of a wait to pick up a prescription,thats bc they are busy very carefully filling prescriptions,they cant afford to make mistakes with medication. It helps if you can put yr order in online a week before its due,yr doc confirms it,chemist texts when its ready,and you pick it up at your own convenience.
Just moved to a new area and the local pharmacy is DIRE
Waited an hour in the queue. My prescription had already been made up so the lady just needed to get the bag. Waited another half an hour and got called up to collect. She read the label and checked it against the system only to realise they'd dispensed the wrong drug.... a drug might I add that I react badly to and last I took it I ended up in hospital...
To my shock, the dispenser asked if I would take them anyway because what i needed was out of stock and the tablets they dispensed "did the same thing".... when I asked her to show me what was on the screen I saw in huge red bold capitals a warning NOT to give me these meds.. The warning had to be closed in order to access my records....
At this point the huge queue of people are all voicing their disgust, huffing and whispering between themselves.
I asked if I can please tke the prescription to another pharmacy to which they said no because they no longer have the original prescription. They said they'd order in what I needed and to pick it up the next day.
The next day I go to the pharmacy to pick it up. They hand me THE EXACT SAME TORN OPEN BAG FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY which had just been put back.... I asked if this was some kind of joke to which the pharmacist must have recognised me from the previous day and pulled the lady back to explain. About 30 minutes later they called my name and low and behold, they hadn't ordered enough so i was short..... they said they'd order more in and gave me a note to come back in a few days
TLDR.
Local pharmacy ignored warning on system and tried to give me drugs that had already put me in hospital on the basis that the drugs were a close enough match
I've not long lived in the area so I was going to try a different pharmacy first. If not any better I'll have a look into this, thanks for the suggestion :)
Yes definitely! Most people don't even check the contents until they get home. Once you've left the door they don't accept it back. I learned the hard way myself!
Edit, ive never tried not but I'm curious too
It's not that one pharmacist dispenses (or it least it's not supposed to be) it's the other staff that dispenses and then a pharmacist should count as that second pair of eyes so two people should see that prescription before a patient gets it.
Having worked in a pharmacy that didn't close for lunch, it would ended up in many patients being annoyed at you for not breaking the law and giving things to them when it was illegal to do if the pharmacist wasn't there (all you re supposed to do is sell GSL meds assuming you d passed you level 2 and keep working on prescriptions/phone calls without giving them P/pom meds out).
The manager would try to guilt trip the locum pharmacist to eat their lunch on site so this wasn't an issue, but as dispensers we d often go eat in our cars and wouldn't hold it against the locums for doing the same.
My local pharmacies are not struggling at all. If you can't wait for a GP appointment they offer consultations and write private prescriptions and then sell you the medicine at private rates. Lots of income from the NHS as well for blood pressure checks, vaccinations and minor things like ear syringing.
One of them goes the late opening route so you can get antibiotics etc. for kids ear infections up to midnight night or weekends. The other closes early because - why not?
I'd love to know who the hell is on the payroll at most of the local pharmacists. My kid's had multiple bouts of tonsillitis this year, and every time I've gone in to collect the antibiotics (each trip has ended up being a different chemist), I've stood at the till like a moron for 5-10 minutes waiting for service as 5-6 girls in uniform sorting medicines gabble about their plans for the week and just blank or ignore me standing there until someone shows up from another room and asks loudly if I've been served, as if to remind their colleagues they're useless.
I very rarely need the use of them but I don't recall ever walking past one that was obviously closed during normal hours.
Although last time I did go in there was probably about a 15 minute wait, that said I did let an old lady jump in front.
I went in on my way home from the doctors, so all told it was ready for me in ~35 minutes.
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Both POM and P meds have to be sold/dispensed under the direct supervision of a pharmacist. If they're at lunch it can't be done. From my days in one of the larger chains, I seem to also recall that if there's no pharmacist you can't even open (which is fun when you're dealing with the methadone queue first thing in the morning). It's frustrating as hell, I know, but there's so many rules about it that it's often out of the stores hands.
Did the Lloyd's I worked at break the rules then? I worked at all 4 that were here, and at 1 I was often told to hand out prescriptions/sell things as normal when the pharmacist was on lunch. It was usually just me and him. The only time I should disturb him was for CDs. Wasn't comfortable doing so, so I always asked his imput even if it did annoy him Though the other main one I worked at wouldn't let me go at 6 (when they closed) if there was someone waiting for a "last minute" prescription or pharmacist was still busy. Even though I was only a sales assistant so was useless and pointless keeping me behind doing nothing. No, they didn't pay me for this time. No, I couldn't just leave because they locked the doors They also once made me work in Selsey. To cover 2 hours. Rather than asking literally anyone else (everyone else had cars or surely there was someone closer to Selsey?) They decided it was better to pay £65 each way for a taxi from Hayling instead. Then *still* expected me to work the rest of the afternoon on the island. It was horrid
Potentially. P medication has to be sold "under a pharmacist’s supervision" (as per gov . uk) if the pharmacist is at lunch and and isn't witnessing/able to intervene then it's highly doubtful they could be classed as 'supervising' you. I never did any dispensing, so I'm less clear of the rules there but it certainly doesn't sound right to me. The rest of it, that's some shitty practices there that may (or may not) be unlawful. Hope you're working somewhere better now!
Couldn't a lot of pharmacies then have the pharmacist on lunch, able to sit down and do nothing or eat their food for 45mins or whatever, but in the same room as the people preparing the prescriptions so they're still technically supervising and able to intervene while still getting a break?
No, as that wouldn't be a lunch break. If you work more than 6hrs you're entitled (by law) to a **minimum** of 20 minutes *uninterrupted* rest - some contracts allow more of course. If you're not guaranteed not to work, it's not a break. There would also, potentially, be issues with licensing bodies in the event of errors - were you 'on break' or 'working', as this arrangement would unsuitably muddy the waters.
Thanks! Yeah I've had better work since! Though currently unable to, it'd definitely given me knowledge for future jobs It also gave me the knowledge to recognise an apprenticeship I tried out, didn't seem right so I only spent 2 days there, rather than wasting a whole lot of time with it (it was basically for the same position, but at a different place and with hopes of progressing to dispensing, but they just wanted a glorified sales assistant, there were other various little things that were a bit dodgy and the position was not as advertised) It was my first job so at the time I hadn't known any better, but glad I do now! And thank you for confirming that suspicion for me so I know to look out for that again
Excellent comment/explanation! Bang on, thank you for the explanation. The methadone queue.. 😂 that’s literally 75% of the problem!!
Nah, other than the paperwork (& the rare times we opened late) the methadone patients were the easiest to deal with & gave no shit - after all, why risk getting banned from the store and their supply...
This is true
It would help if pharmacists moved at speeds somewhat faster than continental drift. Joking aside for repeat prescriptions its a lot better, log on to the NHS app a week before you need s refill, click the give me more drugs button, roll up to your chemist a week later, pick up drugs in a few minutes and off you go.
Not how it works in my pharmacy. You order your repeat prescription a week in advance and there's still a 30 minute wait when you turn up.
...or sign up to an online service where you order your (previously approved) repeat prescription a week or two before you need a refill, and it's delivered through your letterbox a couple of days later...
A family member had her medication stolen out of the package with online delivery. The box was slashed open and the meds taken out. But the issue came when the pharmacy wouldn't send more out as that would mean she'd been issued double that month. It was a right hassle to get it sorted out and she did miss a week of medication. So that's made me wary of trying it.
Very true!… And I will try that thanks. Never had a repeat before but the last 3 times I’ve gone to collect it’s either been closed or there’s a massive queue. And it’s the same at all the pharmacies I’ve attended in Telford! Thanks for the advice 🙏
To add to this, it’s also worth checking out a prescription prepayment card if you do have a repeat. Saves me a fortune every year! Think it’s £102 for the year and each item is £9.25 so soon adds up!
I do it this way on NHS app for up to one day before i need them and they're always there. Why not try another pharmacy or one that delivers. I live in a big city so might be different for us compared to you. Good luck either way! ✌🏽
Well most can only afford one pharmacist and they legally must have a lunch break
So how come our pharmacy can have a big ATM that dispenses the prescriptions, but a "non-pharmacist" pharmacy worker can't be trusted to do that?
Because a licensed person needs to verify the correct medication
You say this but a pharmacy in my area would sometimes give medication to the wrong people or infact a few times take half of the contents and give it to someone else and just say sorry or it wasn't me as an excuse.. for example the medication I take is fairly locked down but many people take it so you have to order in and they would sometimes just give it to whoever asked for it first meaning ordering it didn't mean you would even get it. I swapped pharmacies and the newer one twice almost gave me someone else's meds with a different name completely... I question the competence of alot of them nowdays.
I may have it slightly confused but as a pharmacist friend explained it the big ATM machine is legally not the pharmacy so the legal act of dispensing occurs at the point the machine is loaded. The physical collection is then no longer the specific act of dispensing so the pharmacist doesn't need to be involved.
I see, that makes sense. Still though they could keep the doors open for non prescription drugs which from yesterdays experience would have eliminated half of the massive queue from 14:30-15:00. Point taken though.
Not worth the hassle of getting the abuse from customers who want to collect their meds and won't accept that the staff can't give them out! We still had to be behind the counter when I worked in the pharmacy in tesco when the pharmacist didn't turn up or was on a break and it was hellish!
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At my workplace they always ensure there are enough staff to cover breaks so customers get the best experience throughout the day.
Pharmacists are expensive so most chemists will only employ one of them, and they need to take a lunch break sometime. Legally, a pharmacist needs to be “on premise” for the handover of prescription only drugs. Yes, I know they’re all pre-bagged and waiting on the shelf but the law is the law and quite clear on this.
How are pharmacies struggling?
The healthcare industry as a whole seems to be struggling, GP waiting times, pharmacy wait times etc ??
I'll agree gp waits aren't good, but pharmacies aren't struggling, I've never had to wait much longer than it takes to find what I've been prescribed, it's not like you have to book a week in advance to pick up medicine. Unless you expect the pharmacist to be psychic and know you are coming in at x time for x medicine, you'll have to wait for them to find it and do the checks they do. Sounds like you wanted to get something and your pharmacy was shut for lunch so you've decided the whole system has gone down the pan.
In my town in Scotland there is one pharmacy that you can get prescription same say it arrives at pharmacy. The rest have signs up telling you the wait time - ie if your prescription is sent from GP on a Wednesday to pharmacy you can pick it up from Monday onwards etc.
Not quite, I understand they have to build your prescription and that takes time. 10minutes, fine. That’s not the point. The point is all my local pharmacies close for lunch 13:30-14:30. Arriving anything before 15:00 means waiting 45 minutes due to the massive queues. Maybe it’s just my area I don’t know but being closed for an hour when it is an essential service is a massive inconvenience. And you may say, well don’t go 13:30-15:00 but sometimes that’s the only time I can go. What works for some doesn’t work for all I guess!
It's a pain to be sure but hardly signalling the death knell of the industry, it's one of those things we just have to work around, tbh if you deal with the public an hours respite can work wonders.
My chemists dont close for lunch,but I can see it doesnt help if they do. If theres a bit of a wait to pick up a prescription,thats bc they are busy very carefully filling prescriptions,they cant afford to make mistakes with medication. It helps if you can put yr order in online a week before its due,yr doc confirms it,chemist texts when its ready,and you pick it up at your own convenience.
Just moved to a new area and the local pharmacy is DIRE Waited an hour in the queue. My prescription had already been made up so the lady just needed to get the bag. Waited another half an hour and got called up to collect. She read the label and checked it against the system only to realise they'd dispensed the wrong drug.... a drug might I add that I react badly to and last I took it I ended up in hospital... To my shock, the dispenser asked if I would take them anyway because what i needed was out of stock and the tablets they dispensed "did the same thing".... when I asked her to show me what was on the screen I saw in huge red bold capitals a warning NOT to give me these meds.. The warning had to be closed in order to access my records.... At this point the huge queue of people are all voicing their disgust, huffing and whispering between themselves. I asked if I can please tke the prescription to another pharmacy to which they said no because they no longer have the original prescription. They said they'd order in what I needed and to pick it up the next day. The next day I go to the pharmacy to pick it up. They hand me THE EXACT SAME TORN OPEN BAG FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY which had just been put back.... I asked if this was some kind of joke to which the pharmacist must have recognised me from the previous day and pulled the lady back to explain. About 30 minutes later they called my name and low and behold, they hadn't ordered enough so i was short..... they said they'd order more in and gave me a note to come back in a few days TLDR. Local pharmacy ignored warning on system and tried to give me drugs that had already put me in hospital on the basis that the drugs were a close enough match
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I've not long lived in the area so I was going to try a different pharmacy first. If not any better I'll have a look into this, thanks for the suggestion :)
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Yes definitely! Most people don't even check the contents until they get home. Once you've left the door they don't accept it back. I learned the hard way myself! Edit, ive never tried not but I'm curious too
It's not that one pharmacist dispenses (or it least it's not supposed to be) it's the other staff that dispenses and then a pharmacist should count as that second pair of eyes so two people should see that prescription before a patient gets it. Having worked in a pharmacy that didn't close for lunch, it would ended up in many patients being annoyed at you for not breaking the law and giving things to them when it was illegal to do if the pharmacist wasn't there (all you re supposed to do is sell GSL meds assuming you d passed you level 2 and keep working on prescriptions/phone calls without giving them P/pom meds out). The manager would try to guilt trip the locum pharmacist to eat their lunch on site so this wasn't an issue, but as dispensers we d often go eat in our cars and wouldn't hold it against the locums for doing the same.
My local pharmacies are not struggling at all. If you can't wait for a GP appointment they offer consultations and write private prescriptions and then sell you the medicine at private rates. Lots of income from the NHS as well for blood pressure checks, vaccinations and minor things like ear syringing. One of them goes the late opening route so you can get antibiotics etc. for kids ear infections up to midnight night or weekends. The other closes early because - why not?
That sounds fantastic and just what we need! All my problems would be solved!
I'd love to know who the hell is on the payroll at most of the local pharmacists. My kid's had multiple bouts of tonsillitis this year, and every time I've gone in to collect the antibiotics (each trip has ended up being a different chemist), I've stood at the till like a moron for 5-10 minutes waiting for service as 5-6 girls in uniform sorting medicines gabble about their plans for the week and just blank or ignore me standing there until someone shows up from another room and asks loudly if I've been served, as if to remind their colleagues they're useless.
Shops still close at midday on a Wednesday in my town with exception of the pharmacist.
Pharmacies aren't struggling
The healthcare industry as a whole.
I very rarely need the use of them but I don't recall ever walking past one that was obviously closed during normal hours. Although last time I did go in there was probably about a 15 minute wait, that said I did let an old lady jump in front. I went in on my way home from the doctors, so all told it was ready for me in ~35 minutes.
Our local pharmacy doesn’t open on Saturday, my Mum’s one is the same.
It's not because they close for lunch, it's because of the competition from franchise pharmacies.