Shropshire Star

Shrewsbury pharmacist speaks about being first port of call for patients

As a community pharmacist, Connor Hunt is right in the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic. For many patients, he and his colleagues are the first port of call while the doctors' surgeries are closed.

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Superintendent pharmacist Connor Hunt, from the Lunts Pharmacy branch in Hereford Road, Shrewsbury

"We have noticed in the past few weeks that people are just coming in for general advice," he says.

"The surgeries aren't really seeing patients, so we can have a look and talk to them about their symptoms, and offer them advice.

"Eight out of 10 times we probably can help them, but sometimes we will tell them that they do need to ring the doctor. When that happens, we tell them to say that the pharmacist has referred them, so the doctors know this is someone who really does need to speak to a doctor."

Connor, 25, is superintendent pharmacist at Lunt's Pharmacy in Hereford Road, Shrewsbury. He says there was a large spike in the number of people coming into the shop at the start of the outbreak.

"It then started to fall back a bit, but it has started to increase again, which might be down to people's prescriptions needing to be renewed."

Connor says another part of the job at the moment is about providing reassurance to patients who are anxious during these uncertain times.

"A lot of people are scared of everything that's going on, and we're having to calm people down a bit and explain everything will be OK."

Superintendent pharmacist Connor Hunt, from the Lunts Pharmacy branch in Hereford Road, Shrewsbury

He says so far only a couple of patients have come in the shop with coronavirus symptoms, and that was in the early days before the Government's advice about self-isolation.

"I think most people are taking on board the advice that if you have symptoms of coronavirus, you must go into self-isolation," he says.

Nevertheless, Connor and his colleagues have had to put in place a number of precautions to reduce the risk of the virus spreading, the most obvious being that they now wear full protective equipment.

"The official guidance is that we need to wear it during face-to-face contact with patients, but in reality it is just too time-consuming to keep putting it on and taking it off, so we wear it all the time," he says.

Pharmacists tend to be small shops, meaning that social distancing can be quite difficult.

"We have a policy of only allowing two people in the shop at any one time," he says. "We have markers on the floor which keep people, I believe three metres apart, and we have installed a barrier in front of the counter to prevent people from getting too near.

"We are soon hoping to get a plastic screen installed, which should make a difference," he says.

Superintendent pharmacist Connor Hunt, from the Lunts Pharmacy branch in Hereford Road, Shrewsbury

Connor says the extra workload has put extra pressure on staff, many who are working extra hours to cope with the demand.

"At the peak I was working 50 hours a week, coming in an hour-and-a-half or two hours early every day," he says, adding that he also commutes from Birmingham each day.

"The trouble with that is that by the end of the day I am starting to feel tired, which could have an effect on the service that I am giving to patients, which I obviously wouldn't want, so I am not working so many hours now."

He says the number of patients going into self-isolation as a result of the outbreak has also led to an increase in demand for the medication delivery service, but he says this is generally holding up.

"It might mean some patients get their medication a day later, but if they tell us they really need it the same day, we will make sure they get it that day.

"A lot of patients are quite accepting that we are quite stretched at the moment."

Connor says while the pandemic has placed extra pressure on staff, he has so far managed to avoid any major impact on his personal life.

"I'm quite good at separating my personal life from my home life, but I know a few staff have been finding it quite hard to switch off at night," he says.

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