# Duty chemist/ pharmacy less available/ coordinated?



## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

I tried to get to a chemist yesterday evening but with no luck. I couldn't find any duty roster online. Any chemists listed online with declared opening hours were closed (all day). I nipped out on the scooter to 4 chemists we have used with long opening hours but they were all shut. One had a helpful poster telling me to check the display in the window for the duty roster, only the window couldn't be seen as security shutters went from pavement to ceiling!

The local rag website had nothing on it.

I tried NHS Direct to get a recorded message that if it was anything other than me declaring an emergency I would have at least a 4 hour wait.

A similarly long wait at A&E would not be warranted as it wasn't an emergency.

Did I miss anything obvious? Or is the truth that I can read daily newspapers and spend money in shops on Bank Holidays, but to get access to a pharmacist needs me to declare an emergency? 

What have others found?

Dave


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## passionwagon (Nov 13, 2005)

DABurleigh said:


> I tried to get to a chemist yesterday evening but with no luck. I couldn't find any duty roster online. Any chemists listed online with declared opening hours were closed. I nipped out on the scooter to 4 chemists we have used with long opening hours but they were all shut. One had a helpful poster telling me to check the display in the window for the duty roster, only the window couldn't be seen as security shutters went from pavement to ceiling!
> 
> The local rag website had nothing on it.
> 
> ...


 8O It depends what you call an emergency.If it was a medical emergency determined by the out of hours doctor then they should mark the prescription as such. Every police station has a duty rosta for the area emergency chemist who will open up and dispense. :roll:


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

passionwagon said:


> It depends what you call an emergency.If it was a medical emergency determined by the out of hours doctor then they should mark the prescription as such. Every police station has a duty rosta for the area emergency chemist who will open up and dispense. :roll:


Totally correct but the prescription has to be suitably endorsed, many Doctors actually have small amounts of the most common drugs with them - such as antibiotics which can be handed over if it is deemed essential.

If you just need some more Paracetamol then the local garage may well have a supply! But for other drugs the pharmacist is the only answer and even then the Duty Pharmacy may well only be open for an hour extra and may be 20+ miles away.

Dave


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## MrsW (Feb 8, 2009)

If you had persevered with the phonecall to NHS Direct, ignoring the 4 hour wait message, the call handler who first takes the call would have been able to give you the information without any wait. Unfortunately that is not made clear in the message. I am off sick at the moment but will pass on your comments once I am back at work. As Penquin says, many garages and corner shops carry basic stocks of paracetamol, ibuprofen, indigestion remedies etc but if it was a prescription only mediction that you needed then you would have needed to find the duty pharmacist.


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

No it certainly wasn't an emergency (Alison might have disagreed in her darker moments but it wasn't) and we didn't have a prescription but what we wanted was only at a pharmacy.

Emergency isn't the only thing that has ambiguous interpretations, so has duty. From what you say it seems duty means "on call to open up". The roster I recalled was more late opening chemists, typically up to 11pm. Some are now 24hr. But not yesterday.

I would have felt equally guilty dragging someone out to open up, as it wasn't an emergency.

Dave


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## bigfoot (May 16, 2005)

Were you too far from the local hospital out of hours service? They have an on call pharmacist. I hope everything is resolved now. I do feel that the way public service in this Country are going we are becoming worse than a third world country!!!


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## javea (Jun 8, 2007)

I can't understand why we are not able to copy the system that the Spanish chemists operate. When closed each pharmacy displays in a prominent position the name and address of the one chemist who is open on that particular day. In Javea if you need something from the chemist you just go to the one closest to you and look on the window to get the information you need.

Not rocket science, is it?


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## spykal (May 9, 2005)

javea03730 said:


> When closed each pharmacy displays in a prominent position the name and address of the one chemist who is open on that particular day.


Hi

That is how it works here too.... mind you where I live is a still an olde worlde place .... we are moving into the 21st century soon :lol:

Mike


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## MrsW (Feb 8, 2009)

bigfoot said:


> Were you too far from the local hospital out of hours service? They have an on call pharmacist. I hope everything is resolved now. I do feel that the way public service in this Country are going we are becoming worse than a third world country!!!


Their pharmacist comes in from home when on call overnight and is there for life-threatening and extremely urgent medication requirements for in (or sometimes out) -patient requirements. They are not there for Joe public who did not get themselves organised in normal working hours. The cost of providing that sort of level of service would be immense and as a tax-payer I would not be keen on paying the bill for it.

I do agree that most pharmacies display the details of the out of hours provision on their window when closed, but this is still a relatively short-opening time only.


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## suedew (May 10, 2005)

bigfoot said:


> Were you too far from the local hospital out of hours service? They have an on call pharmacist. I hope everything is resolved now. I do feel that the way public service in this Country are going we are becoming worse than a third world country!!!


Hospital pharmacies will only dispense hospital supplied prescriptions. the on call pharmacist, at the hospital where work, is just that, on call not on the premises and would not have been able to supply pharmacy only medications. The hospital does have a list of the late night pharmacies though, switchboard is usually able to help.

not much help now but might be useful in the future.
Sue


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## bigfoot (May 16, 2005)

I guess that despite the general picture we are quite lucky here,our district hospital has a GP out of hours service with a commercial pharmacy attached and is available for Joe Public.


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

" They are not there for Joe public who did not get themselves organised in normal working hours."

That's a bit harsh. Alison didn't get distressed until around 7pm. We're a pretty organised couple and family 

Dave


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## MrsW (Feb 8, 2009)

DABurleigh said:


> " They are not there for Joe public who did not get themselves organised in normal working hours."
> 
> That's a bit harsh. Alison didn't get distressed until around 7pm. We're a pretty organised couple and family
> 
> Dave


Dave I was not meaning to be harsh, just trying to point out that the on-call pharmacist just is not there to serve the general public who do not have what they need in their medicine chest. They are for emergencies, and for the very sick only. I was not trying to criticise you and your family in any way. It was aimed more at the assumption by others that that was the job of the pharmacist in the hospital. Please accept my apologies if you feel offended by my comment.


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Oh, heck, I felt guilty for my bantering reply anyway; now you have rubbed it in! 

I'm just glad you will feedback our difficulty in the context of the NHS Direct recorded message 

Hope you're fit for work soon too!

Dave


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## trevd01 (Oct 26, 2007)

Your local NHS Primary Care Trust* will have a list on their website.

Here is the one for ours:

http://www.kirklees.nhs.uk/fileadmi...es/Pharmacies/Pharmacy_Xmas_opening_hours.pdf

* XXX PCT, usually uses XXX NHS as their 'popular' title on websites, but Google will find either instantly.


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## trevd01 (Oct 26, 2007)

...and here's yours Dave

http://www.hampshire.nhs.uk/local-services/choose-well/37-pharmacies

more specifically:

http://www.hampshire.nhs.uk/create-...download/924-christmas-opening-north-2009-101


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Thanks very much for that. All I can say is despite Googling I didn't find it. That said and done, nothing was open after 7pm when needed, so it would have saved me a wasted scooter jaunt (albeit a very cold one!) but we still couldn't have got anything without declaring an emergency and calling someone out.

Dave


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## trevd01 (Oct 26, 2007)

DABurleigh said:


> Thanks very much for that. All I can say is despite Googling I didn't find it. That said and done, nothing was open after 7pm when needed, so it would have saved me a wasted scooter jaunt (albeit a very cold one!) but we still couldn't have got anything without declaring an emergency and calling someone out.
> 
> Dave


http://lmgtfy.com/?q=north+hampshire+nhs+pharmacy+christmas+opening

:roll: :twisted: :wink:


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Hindsight is a wonderful thing! It was New Year's Day; Christmas was a week ago 

Though I think lmgtfy should be an MHF sister site!


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

A friend, normally very organised, went away over New Year and left her asthma medication behind. She encountered the same situation as Dave and ended up at the local A&E. The doctor gave her a good talking to  

When a similar thing happened to me when I was in Malta (a tooth abcess which didn't clear up with prescribed antibiotics and prescription-only pain killers) I was able to buy the drugs over the counter by just showing the girl behind the counter my empty pill packets 8O.


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## MrsW (Feb 8, 2009)

patp said:


> A friend, normally very organised, went away over New Year and left her asthma medication behind. She encountered the same situation as Dave and ended up at the local A&E. The doctor gave her a good talking to
> 
> When a similar thing happened to me when I was in Malta (a tooth abcess which didn't clear up with prescribed antibiotics and prescription-only pain killers) I was able to buy the drugs over the counter by just showing the girl behind the counter my empty pill packets 8O.


The trouble with buying further antibiotics over the counter as you suggest is that if they didn't work at the end of the first course is that the bacteria may be resistant to that antibiotic and a change of antibiotic may be needed instead.

It is sometimes possible to buy a further supply of some medication over the counter in GB when one runs out away from home, but not all pharmacies will do it, and if they will it will only be limited medication and a limited supply to tide you over say a weekend away.


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