The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

burtha

yup it's frustrating , but hopefully doctor's and pharmacys are working together , think I'm very lucky to be doing that .. 
we will get through this but I do understand the change of hours,  trying to eliminate mistakes ,extra cleaning and just to be able to switch of for 5 mins is all a bonas these days . 
It's a beautiful day here today , plan on shifting a load of gravel and painting the fence .... dog walk or run later . 
stay safe folk 💚🏃‍♀️🙂

pollyanna_26

burtha said:

yup it's frustrating , but hopefully doctor's and pharmacys are working together , think I'm very lucky to be doing that .. 
we will get through this but I do understand the change of hours,  trying to eliminate mistakes ,extra cleaning and just to be able to switch of for 5 mins is all a bonas these days . 
It's a beautiful day here today , plan on shifting a load of gravel and painting the fence .... dog walk or run later . 
stay safe folk 💚🏃‍♀️🙂

Morning burtha. I'm feeling calm today. Dd managed to top up my mobile remotely so I have my back up if needed. I didn't say it to her but I really wasn't feeling comfortable going into town today, The few times I've been in the high street has been pretty deserted but we live where holiday. makers and day trippers pour in when the sun comes out. It happened when the sun came out a couple of weekends ago and the police and coastguards had a heck of a job clearing them off the beach, closing the car parks and blocking access roads. With the sun due to shine this weekend I've no doubt we'll see them arrive again.

I've been very careful not to take risks at this time.

She never did get any info on the pharmacy opening times . We were emailing back and forth so I asked her to check all the dosset boxes. She had a nasty bout of Norovirus recently, she picks up every virus going which is why Superdoc has her on total lockdown. When she has something like Norovirus he tells her to leave off taking the Methotrexate and some of her other meds , she's only vomiting them back anyway and the MTX does make her sick. So she checked and she has over a weeks meds. I asked her if it would be an idea to leave town until Monday morning and she said I'm so glad you've said that we've been worrying all day about you putting yourself at risk when  there'll be crowds and snotty kids around and not a lot of social distancing ,stand down soldier!

So I'm having the weekend at home, figuring out what to do in the garden and digging out the yarn and circular needle to start knitting the Stormy Weather Shawl from Elaine Colliars Mortgage Free in Three blog. She did a post on !st April. "Living a Little Life for a while will be OK. I think if we can all remember that, choose our battles and enjoy the many small things that bring us joy we'll be ok. Take it easy shifting the gravel! You're like the Duracell bunny a one woman powerhouse but you need to slow down sometimes and just be in the moment. Will you be painting rainbows on the fence? You can join Mar and I if you like and we'l be a tribe of three. You can keep a beady eye on her. It's so lovely you're happy , we always knew you'd make it through and you have.

Apologies to all for the terrible typos recently. Why do they wait until you come back to jump out?

pollyx.

[Deleted User]

We've just come back from a 4 1/2 mile hike along the lanes and footpaths which we can access easily from the house on foot, saw very few folks about and we decided to go early in the day because it was still cloudy and not that warm.  Cloud beginning to break now and we have some sunshine, forecast to get up to 19 or thereabouts here later on so I think all the world and his wife will be out and about taking in the sun, not us though at 3 this afternoon we will be taking tea in the garden with DD1 and family by way of facetime on the phone, sharing scones and jam and a pot of tea quite safely and hopefully enjoying ourselves.

ivyleaf

I'm obviously missing something here.  Our pharmacy too is now too busy to either text people to say their meds are ready or to answer the phone (in fact most of the time I don't think they even notice it ringing, they're too busy!)
What I don't understand is, if you can't do anything for COVID-19 except take paracetamol, what are all these extra prescriptions that are causing pharmacies to be run off their feet?

MingVase

Xackly Ivy!

pollyanna_26

That's an interesting point ivyleaf. burtha will probably be able to explain when she's finished shifting gravel and painting fences.

I was wondering at the shortages over a year ago in some of dds meds. They could usually give some of the short ones but a number particuarly antivirals were suddenly an issue and sometimes it would take one or two more visits to collect the rest.

Apart from a few regulars our Boots rotate their staff.A new one told me it was a combination of licence holders trying to up their prices to the NHS and the preparing for Brexit back up stocks. I've no idea if that's true but for whatever reason there was a problem and to a lesser extent there still is.

I trawled through the constantly updated pharmacy lists of hard to gets and antivirals and some other meds dd gets were there.

Obviously it was not the fault of the pharmacy but having to make repeat journeys and listen to those complaining I used to feel like screaming at the complainers who were at times pretty abusive and holding back staff who were doing their best.

pollyx

gran3

It's probably that they are short staffed with people having to self isolate ect.

burtha

hi .. 
yup , short staff is one issue and trying to get ahead to plan for future staff problems too . 
we are getting lots of calls just to find out if we have , paracetamol,  thermometer, toilet roll, hand gel, ... 
so kinda is a bit of a pain ... 
lots of calls regarding people who are inside for 12 weeks and will need future meds , trying to give 2 mth worth if we can or at least sort them a date out for next meds due .. 
lots of weekly boxes , again sorting out if poss so that we can give a few if it's safe ... 
lots of stock problems,  some ongoing from last year .. so working with dr to sort alternatives... or dates for if it's coming back into stock ... 
lots of prescriptions for inhalers ... from people who haven't had any for years but now want them .. obs understand our reg customers wanting to be orginased.. 
people calling in just to panic buy , 
111 referrals,  some are dare I say it .. a bit silly and need basic common sense but they take time up and often we actually can't do anything for them ..but we are getting a lot more than normal ... 
people are worried,  that's normal ... we try to help direct to anything that helps them ... 
some people are just rude , and demanding ... 
lots not following the 2 meter rule , lots leaning over us , lots have questions we don't have the answers to. 
sometimes people don't understand that most dr work in 28 day prescriptions , so if you order your meds and they are not due , chances are the pres script won't be issued,  or won't be ready as we think you have 2 weeks left ... it won't matter if you tell us you orderd it 2 days ago .. not our problem really, but we do try and work out what's going on ... 
and everyone is asking about delivery.. again we help if we can , strange to say that if you friend/family/neighbour can get you bread and milk , could you ask them to pick up your meds maybe . .. it may not be possible at times but the number of times we get abuse for not being able to help is getting worse . 
and then we obs have to dispence in a safe way , follow protocols , safe for everyone .. 
keep everything clean, up-to-date poster with new advise put up .... 
don't know if that helps explain or not .. 

burtha

and I sound like I hate my job , I don't I love it ... 
love the fact that we help, we make a difference,  small independent pharmacy . 
as a rule my customers are nice , most the time , we do understand if your stressed / not well etc... you may not be at your best , that's normal .. 

burtha

and we are not perfect . lots more things we have to do now that we didn't 10 years ago