Let’s save community pharmacy
Please help save pharmacy staff and cashiers. Our community pharmacies are at risk of being destroyed by online pharmacy which does not provide anywhere near the same level of service. Please read to the end and write your comments below.
With online pharmacy a pharmacist who you don’t know dispenses your prescription and your medication is sent to you in the post or delivered to you. The huge disadvantage is that there is no opportunity for you to discuss your medication with a pharmacist. That is risky as hell!
This is how to end this trend. If you are on repeat medication then 7–10 days before you run out, please fill in the repeat prescription order form on the back of your prescription. Then hand it to your GP surgery or post it, one of the two. On the order form put your mobile number on. That way when it’s ready your pharmacy can text you. On top of that 7–10 days gives the GP plenty of time to deal with it, reducing the risk of a prescribing error. It also gives the pharmacist plenty of time to deal with it reducing the risk of a dispensing error.
If we can all do this then we can get rid of online pharmacy which has no benefit whatsoever to the patient.
I can’t help but tell you how the prescription pick-up system came about. In 1977 my Dad moved into a GP surgery in Ormskirk. There was a local pharmacist called Mr. Clumpus from Harval chemist (commonly called Mr C.) He is Jewish. Very sadly in those days, there was considerable discrimination in the medical profession. The local GPs tried very hard to stop patients from having their prescriptions dispensed at Harvals.
Mr. Clumpus came to see my Dad and they struck a deal. He would get his patients to re-order with 7 days to go. Harvals would send someone round and the prescription would be ready in 2 days. It took off like there was no tomorrow.
Sadly, the other GPs in the area and the pharmacists referred both my Dad and Mr C to their respective regulatory bodies to get them struck off. Those complaints were thrown out because they couldn’t get a patient complaint.
The rest is history. Now I welcome your comments.
