Health officials to review pharmacies in Brighton and Hove
Health officials are to carry out a review of pharmacies in Brighton and Hove over the next 12 months.
The aim is to assess whether the existing 59 pharmacies in Brighton and Hove meet the needs of the people who live and work in and visit the area.
A key slice of their income comes through a national contract with the Department of Health. Locally they receive almost £4 million, excluding fees and allowances.
The review was discussed by the Brighton and Hove City Council Health and Wellbeing Board at Hove Town Hall on Wednesday (5 February).
Councillor Anne Meadows told the board that there were no pharmacies in Moulsecoomb.
She said: “We have a GP surgery but people then have to get a bus down the Lewes Road. Within 50 yards in the Lewes Road, you’ve got two.”
Councillor Meadows said that her ward included some of the poorest people in the city who had to pay for transport if they needed a prescription.
She added that it was costly for people in her ward – Moulsecoomb and Bevendean – and not good for their health and wellbeing.
The last Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment showed that people in Moulsecoomb had some of the longest travel times to the nearest chemist on foot or by public transport.
Councillor Geoffrey Bowden said that, when the review started, it would be helpful if those carrying out the review could consult the local Older People’s Council.
The next Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment has to be approved by April next year after a 60-day consultation.
My local pharmacy consistently fails to have prescriptions ready after the published two working days and frequently mislays them. The look of bewilderment on their faces is frightening as they shuffle papers and look on shelves.
My wife and I are in our late seventies. For some time have experienced lack of reliable service. We have made complaints to the Practice Manager, but apparently the pharmacy is its own entity and not accountable to them.
Today, when calling at 2.00pm to collect prescriptions presented on Wednesday, 12th March at noon, we were informed that they had not been filled and we would have to come back later. At 4.30 pm I was told that various items were missing and had been ordered for Monday 17th. One item was Paracetamol, which I am now out of, so, no painkillers over the weekend. (I take 8 per day)
Another item is Ramapril – hardly an optional medicine and not available over the counter. The other items are not so critical.
This is the latest in a long line of similar incidents going back over the past three years and my wife and I have decided that enough is enough and we will henceforth have our prescriptions filled elsewhere.
We are not complainers and are slow to anger. We have been patients of the Group Practice for many years and are completely happy with the doctors and staff, but the pharmacy is like a running sore. In fact, if my wife ever goes into the pharmacy and comes right out with the prescriptions complete, high fives are exchanged since it is such a rare occurrence. I am not exaggerating!
Apart from the matter of our own inconvenience, we are seriously concerned that such constant incompetence is even possible considering that patients’ wellbeing and lives are concerned.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Cremer 14/03/2014