Pharmacy Staff Battling The Snow To Deliver To Housebound Patients, UK

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 08 Jan 2010 - 9:00 PDT

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Pharmacy staff throughout the UK are going the extra mile to deliver vital medicines to patients in their homes in spite of the heavy snow.

All year round thousands of community pharmacies run prescription collection and delivery services to help people who find it difficult to leave their home. The freezing weather has put this service to the test, and community pharmacy staff have been out battling the blizzards to make sure that the medicines reach the people who need them.

John Turk, Chief Executive of the National Pharmacy Association said: "Pharmacies are in the heart of the community supporting the most vulnerable people in sun, rain and snow. Their commitment to making sure that people get the medicines they need when they need them, regardless of the conditions, is extraordinary."

Lila Thakerar of Shaftesbury Pharmacy, Harrow, Middlesex said: "We have helped the house-bound patients by collecting their prescriptions from surgeries, delivering their medications to their homes, and asked patients if they had any shopping we could deliver from the local supermarket, while we deliver their medications."

Melinda Setanoians of Lloyds Pharmacy, Wishaw, Lanarkshire said: "Generally it is our elderly patients being stuck in their houses and not able to collect prescriptions thus requiring our staff to walk considerable distances down snow blocked paths to ensure they don't get left without vital medication."

Linda Bracewell of Baxenden Pharmacy, Accrington, Lancashire said: "My delivery driver has been an absolute star! He has been doing deliveries on foot with a rucksack - fantastic service! Many other services around us have struggled with buses not running and many deliveries being cancelled but not a single patient of ours has been abandoned! Lots of coffee and hot blackcurrant with biscuits have been needed to revive patients making it through the snow to the pharmacy -fortunately we have a considerable supply from all the thankyou gifts we received from customers in the Christmas period. People have been very grateful."

Source
National Pharmacy Association

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