Queues of up to two hours have stretched outside a Westhill pharmacy after the town’s only other counter closed – with a security guard even recruited to manage crowds.
Lloyd’s at the Westhill Shopping Centre is the only pharmacy left serving the Aberdeenshire town.
The company has temporarily closed its second store in the Arnhall Business Park until August 28 due to staff shortages.
It means all residents in the area needing to pick up prescriptions are being forced into a single queue.
Meanwhile, the Press & Journal has been told of prescriptions being lost in the ensuing chaos while doors have also been locked on customers who have queued for hours to allow staff to have their lunch break.
Customers threatened with police action after 45-minute wait
Mum-of-three Emma Watson told the Press and Journal that after waiting in a queue for two hours on Monday to pick up her husband’s prescription staff were unable to find it.
They gave her a week’s supply instead and asked her to return in a couple of days to give them time to request a new one from her GP.
On Wednesday, she returned around noon for the prescription with one for her three-year-old sons while on her lunch break.
After waiting for 45 minutes, the mum was surprised to see the security guard locking the front door of the building.
The pharmacy closes between 1 pm and 2 pm for staff to have their break and no one else was being allowed inside.
Those queuing told the guard they had been waiting since 12 and asked to speak to a manager.
According to the mum, when the security guard went to get the manager, they entered the shop and a pharmacist asked them to leave immediately or they would phone the police.
Mrs Watson said: “We’re being withheld medication that we need, I have three children and I work and they’re telling me I just need to come back and wait in another queue, to get to the counter, to again be told they still don’t have it.
“Nobody cares, no one will do anything, and now I’m being threatened with the police for asking if I can wait in line, calmly and quietly, for a prescription they’ve told me they have.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. I don’t know what else to do now.”
‘There’s obviously a big problem’
The Press & Journal spoke to customers queuing on Thursday afternoon.
The situation was summed up when one woman began explaining she wanted to pick up a prescription and another lady immediately said “good luck”.
Gill Drain from Portlethen travels to Westhill specifically to see her dad and to help by picking up his prescription, usually collecting the medical from Arnhall.
Visiting Lloyds Westhill Shopping Centre for the first time, she said she could see the staff were trying to help.
Mrs Drain said: “I’m not getting angry or anything but I know there’s obviously a big problem with the way that they’re doing things and it needs to be sorted.
“But I can’t understand why closing that one and just making everybody come here is actually going to help things because there’s just going to be more people using the same one.”
One carer wanted to pick up some cancer medication for a client this morning but saw a massive queue before the pharmacy even opened.
She said the client needed it for first-thing tomorrow morning: “This lady’s prescription I’m trying to pick up, it’s a repeat prescription, every month the minute that I pick it up her repeat goes in so it’s ready but she can’t give to to me because she’s shutting for lunch.
“I’m finished and that’s me finished until tomorrow so the evening carer is probably going to have to stand here in a queue for two hours to try and get it later on.”
‘We’re not there for a fight, we just want to pick up our prescriptions’
Another of her clients was queueing for over two hours only to get to the desk to be told they did not have the prescription.
The Westhill resident added she had been given the wrong prescription for her daughter a few weeks ago as well.
She said: “It’s worse than during Covid.”
Westhill resident, Kirsty Taylor said many people have experienced similar issues with wrong prescriptions.
Looking to pick up a prescription for hay fever, she said she was not too hopeful: “I’m due to pick up a prescription I put in for a repeat, it’s just for hay fever medicine but I can guarantee it won’t be ready and they’ve had it for over a week.
“This is what everyone has been facing.”
Ms Taylor, 45, said the pharmacy had only been closing for lunch for the last six months.
She added: “It’s absolutely horrendous.
“The staff don’t come out and tell you ‘Look, we’re really sorry’, or even when you come up you don’t get a ‘So sorry for your wait’, just a ‘What do you want?’
“They used to be so polite and so nice and helpful but now it’s as if they’re always ready for a fight with a customer – but we’re not there for a fight we just want to pick up our prescriptions.”
Both women said it was going to put other smaller pharmacies such as Blackburn and Kingswells under pressure as people who have the option, choose to go elsewhere.
‘Operating in extraordinarily challenging times’
The branch at Arnhall Business Park is due to be closed until August 28 due to staff shortages after a Covid spike and difficulties with recruitment.
The business has apologised for any disruption caused to the services.
The Press & Journal asked Lloyd’s if alternative arrangements could be made for lunch breaks to stop doors being locked on customers, which the company did not address.
A spokeswoman for Lloyd’s Pharmacy said: “We are deeply sorry for the impact this has on the community and are working closely with local health boards to ensure patients can access medicines and pharmacy services.
“We are actively recruiting to strengthen our teams, but recruiting new pharmacists and pharmacy team members has become increasingly difficult owing to a sector-wide shortage.
“Recently we’ve had a spike in Covid-19 cases, and it is harder to secure cover over the summer period, which exacerbates the issue.”
She stressed that colleagues are working behind the scenes to assemble prescriptions and minimise any disruption.
The spokeswoman commented that incidents involving customers have also had an impact on the service, prompting the business to put safety measures in place.
She said: “The pharmacy has also experienced a number of incidents relating to customer behaviour which are impacting service levels, and we have taken precautions to protect our colleagues.
“These workforce challenges mark the pressures facing community pharmacy which require a sector-wide response; it is not something Lloyds Pharmacy and other community pharmacy providers can address on their own.
“As always, patient safety is paramount for us however we are operating, like the rest of the healthcare sector, in extraordinarily challenging times.”
Conversation