Should an out of hours pharmacist have done this?

[tigwig]

My toddler has been ill all weekend but worsened this aft so I took him to walk in centre. He had temp of 40 and a throat infection and was inconsolable. I had stupidly come out of house and brought different bag with me without his med in it so he desperately needed some to bring his temp down. By this time it was nearing 6pm and there is only 1 emergency pharmacist open in the area. Got there with a screaming babe in arms to be told he is out on his lunch and will be about 10 mins and theres people waiting before you. What The Funicular? I was not happy and said is there no cover for breaks? No she said. I asked for ibuprfen and she said no I cant sell you it without pharmacist (it was in a locked cupboard). I then argued you dont exactly need a prescription for it and luckily there was some Calprofen on the shelf so she could sell me that. Was this whole situation right though? Surely the only pharmacist in the area should have to be in the building at all times in case he is needed desperately. I was bloody mad!

[micmak]

Where I live you can't buy aspirin in Boots if the pharmacist is at lunch. When did the rules change to only having 16 in a pack. I can remember buying a bottle of 100.

[bednobs]

seems right to me. no community prescription is that urgent it cant wait 10 mins. Are you suggesting the pharmacist can't even take a break to go to the loo? The pharmacist has to be there to authorize the sale - so if they were for example in the loo, they still wouldn't be able to sell it

[charlieuniform3]

He's allowed a break - if you worked would you be happy all day working without a break?

[sherrardk]

Unfortunately it is correct and there is a logic to it. Today, however, I suspect all logic went out of the window because your little boy was poorly and that was all you could concentrate on (the urgent need to make him feel better). Hope he's feeling better now, x.

[RATTER15]

So the pharmacist is not permitted to have a break or they get in a stand-in pharmacist for a 10 minute shift?

Patience is a virtue!

[sadielady]

Forget the chemist, should you have taken the babe out with a temperature of 40 and a throat infection, surly he should have been kept in the warm and quiet, and if he was that bad have you n ot an A & E in your area?

[shaneystar2]

It is Sunday .And people are allowed a break .
Lucky to have all day pharmacies these days .Years ago they were designated at weekends and you would you have to go miles sometimes in an emergency or wait until Monday .

[boxtops]

It's correct, tigwig, nowhere will sell you prescription-type medication if the pharmacist isn't there, and the pharmacist is entitled to his lunch break. It's not just on-call pharmacies, it's the same if you go to the pharmacy in Tesco - they only open certain shelves when the pharmacist is actually on duty. It's in the interest of patient safety, the supervising pharmacist must be there and working so that they are aware of what's being sold.

[bednobs]

barb, why would a baby with a temp of 40 need to be kept warm?
Waht would a and e have done that a walk in centre couldn't do? (apart from give tigwig a 4 hour wait?

[boxtops]

Tigwig, if you went to the walk-in centre, what did they prescribe for you? It seems that a 10-minute break for a chap who's actually had to wait until 6pm to get his lunch break isn't unreasonable at all. Could you not go back home to get the baby's medicine? The pharmacy assistant was completely in the right on this one.

[EvianBaby]

I think you are way over reacting. I can appreciate you wanted to settle your poorly child but you're lucky to havre a pharmacy that opens til 6 on a Sunday, even if you did have to wait a whole ten minutes. Why couldn't you just go home and give him the medicine you already had in your other bag?

[pusskin]

Whenever I go to chemist for my medication, I have to wait till the pharmacist returns from their lunch break! waiting 10 minutes shouldnt be any problem, they have to eat to keep going all day x

[China Doll]

I once had to drag myself to the doctor and then to the pharmacist with a really bad case of tonsilitis. There was no one I could have called to get it for me or even take me to the doctors in the first place and I can honestly say this was the sickest I had been in years.The pharmacist was out on his lunch and had I to wait to fill my prescription. I actually thought I was going to collapse in the twenty minutes or so it took for them to get back and sort my prescription. But the chap was entitled to his lunchbreak and it's not his fault I was so ill and had no one to go out and pick my prescription up for me so I could have gone to bed after seeing the doc.

It was you that came out of the house without the medication after all... put it in to perspective. Yes, it was horrible and you wanted to look afer your baby and who can blame you. But equally, you are over reacting.

[beejaybee]

What does annoy me is that the pharmacists in chemists dont have a regular lunchbreak time. It`s annoying when you`ve made a special trip to a chemist to find he/she is not there. I`ve gone at all different times between 12 & 4pm. Before anyone says I should go early, I`m unable to go in the mornings.

[tigwig]

I'm not disputing the fact he needed a break, of course he did everyone does. I just thought he would have to stay in the building and therefore be 'on call' if someone was really struggling. Of course if it had been normal hours and there were other chemists open I wold have gone to another. This has happened before at lunch time through the day and its not a problem then as you have the choice to go elsewhere.
Sadly my little one is no better this morning and absolutely hates the med, that much that he threw it all up after I'd managed to get it down him!

[China Doll]

If you are on your break then why should you be 'on call' so that effectively you can be disturbed at any point during your break. As bednobs said, no prescription is that urgent that it can't wait for several minutes. Sorry, I do still think you overeacted a bit in this instance although I can understand the frustration.

[EvianBaby]

Beejay - maybe it's not consistent because they have to take the chance while they can. If it suddenly gets really busy at 1pm then they might decide to deal with the customers they have and take their break when it's less busy, at 3.30.

I don't really see how anything in a pharmacy can be that urgent. If it was so urgent then the pharmacy is not the place for you to be.

[bednobs]

how long would it have taken you to get to the next nearest pharmacy? Probably more than the 10 minutes the pharmacist was away, and who's to say there wouldn't have been a queue there too?

[ojread2]

You can by GSL (off the general shelf) meds inc ibuprofen without the pharmacists being there, why didnt you grab some of that?