Maybe a strange question. Is it just me or does anyone else find it strange that important medical services are shut while the city centre is heaving with people? If every major high street store and even corner shops are open then why can't pharmacists bother to work and serve their local community like everyone else does? I had to go to the hospital to get medication which is ridiculous, the elderly and infirm are screwed by the 5 day pharmacy closures.
Why are all the pharmacies shut?
- Thread starter Energize
- Start date
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,643
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
It's a bank holiday so it's a holiday.
Retails wants to make money, which I guess medical services exists partly on a different purpose.
Retails wants to make money, which I guess medical services exists partly on a different purpose.
Soldato
- Joined
- 10 May 2004
- Posts
- 13,070
- Location
- Sunny Stafford
Supermarkets? They usually have a chemists section. Bank holiday opening hours 10-4, so you got 1 hour left.
Pharmacies are run privately though and are for profit.
I went to the hospital pharmacy in the end.
That's lucky and how it should be organised, I rang up 10 pharmacies in the city and all closed.
A close friend of mines is a pharmacists for one of the larger companies and I can confirm they are not all shut over the Christmas period, at least one pharmacy in any given catchment area has to be open on Christmas day for at least one hour (most open for at least three), same applies to bank holidays.
A quick google would find an open one near you
A quick google would find an open one near you
Aye in most towns there will usually be one Pharmacy that is open till late and on restricted hours on bank holidays, around here I think they put a notice up on the door stating the "emergency" pharmacy.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 77,643
- Location
- Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
Not the SALES!!! SALES!!! SALES!!! SALES!!! SALES!!! Mentality.
Else they would be open 24/7 to make money.
One of the issues though is that they will only sell you a couple of days worth of some meds...
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Nov 2008
- Posts
- 511
- Location
- Scotland
Which is enough to get you through until they are open for a full day.
I get where the OP is coming from. It would be easier if Christmas was at the same time every year so we could be prepared.
Not sure whether that covers holidays. You probably need to include rota in your Google search.
Associate
- Joined
- 23 May 2011
- Posts
- 355
- Location
- Surrey
Definitely not all closed as my other half is at work today dispensing for one of the bigger chains.
You said there are 10 local pharmacies, couldn't you have gone to another to carry you over?
Although it seems worrying that you have to buy drugs every 2 days from a pharmacy, does your GP know and can you not get larger amounts prescribed if it is required?
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Nov 2008
- Posts
- 511
- Location
- Scotland
Some results show Christmas hours, some don't, appears to be pharmacy specific, but a starting point at least.
I'm interested to find out what sort of medical problem is unforeseen so that you couldn't stock up in advance, not urgent/life-threatening enough that hospital isn't an appropriate solution, and yet urgent enough that waiting a couple of days means someone would be "screwed"??
Suspended
- Joined
- 22 Apr 2015
- Posts
- 2,634
Not everyone watches TV though.
That's lucky and how it should be organised, I rang up 10 pharmacies in the city and all closed.
As Jokester said theres always a 100hour a week pharmacy open. Your local pharmacy should be able to point you to the nearest open Pharmacy.
Its always good to know where your "local emergency" pharmacy is located, especially during holiday time.
But as some people have said, supermarkets tend to have open pharmacies during holiday time.
I'm interested to find out what sort of medical problem is unforeseen so that you couldn't stock up in advance, not urgent/life-threatening enough that hospital isn't an appropriate solution, and yet urgent enough that waiting a couple of days means someone would be "screwed"??
There are medications that they are very unwilling to give you early or more than you need for the standard period of time (think any very strong painkillers for examples).
Then there are meds that aren't necessarily carried in large quantities or by every pharmacy so if your regular one doesn't have it on the day it's meant to be in you can run into problems.
I wouldn't necesarily say that you'd be "screwed", but you could potentially be in a lot of pain or require additional medications.
And then there are the unexpected things, like an acute infection, the emergency doctor might prescribe you something and you may need to start it ASAP but if there isn't a pharmacy open near you, you could be in trouble (some infections can get very nasty pretty fast, especially if you've got underlying health issues).
Getting the medication in those cases could mean the difference between a standard (strong) course of antibiotics, spending time in hospital, or a very long recovery at home, it can apparently take months to recover from some infections if they're not spotted and treated fast enough (look up on the effects of delirium which you can get from a bad water or chest infection).
Having said that, there is normally a pharmacy open somewhere relatively local in an emergency, and I suspect the duty Doctor on call, the local surgeries and I would seriously hope that at a pinch 111 should have the details as I believe the arrangements are formal and organised well in advance.