"Impact of Pharmacy Wait on Ill and Elderly"

The return system in the pharmacy where the choice is come back and collect at a later time or day or wait for a minimum of one hour is appalling.

As the pharmacy visit is generally the last stop of an hospital experience there is no way of the patient managing this more effectively.

Only those that live very close to the hospital and are able can reasonably return. Those living further away, the elderly, immobile and workers who have had already had to take time off work to attend find it impossible to return to collect.

I also overheard patients being advised by outpatient staff to ask their GP to prescribe to save them a wait at the hospital - this is an irresponsible use of primary care that is already overburdened and requires a patient to book an appointment and then attend - putting unnecessary steps and hurdles in the patient pathway and places the cost of the prescription in primary care.

The advice from the tiny number of pharmacists available is go for a walk or go and have a coffee but patients too have busy lives and need to get on with their day.

Had a 'friends and family' feedback form been available within the department I would have left my view at the time - I expect they have run out!

So total wait time in outpatients (45 minutes) for which staff apologised and was understood along with an hour and 5 minutes pharmacy wait meant additional expenditure in the coffee shop and car park and almost two hours of wasted time.