Waiting times in the pharmacy can be considerable, according to 54 percent of the 1500 visitors to PlusOnline. The responses also show that it is often best to come up with a solution. Read 5 tips for long waiting times here.
Tip 1 Ask if the pharmacy has a medicine safe
The medicine safe is a frequently mentioned solution for long waiting times in the pharmacy. People receive an email or code and can then collect the medicines themselves from the safe within a few days. ‘Our pharmacy has a medicament. You will receive an email with a code and you can then take the medicines outside from the vending machine’, writes Burdy Wijsman-Bruijn. ‘It’s just not possible if you have to pay extra or if the packaging is too large. I find it very useful.’
MJ Nout adds: ‘I always had to wait a long time at my pharmacy. A safe has been placed on the outer wall of the pharmacy for some time now. Ideally, I get a message on the phone with a code. I can then pick up my medicines day and night for 5 days.’
Tip 2 Have the medicines delivered at home
Many pharmacies have a delivery service. Inquire about this and ask whether, for example, the medicines with a repeat prescription can be delivered as standard.
Tip 3 Ask for a repeat service
Do you use regular medicines? Then you can inquire about a repeat service. After all, you have to pick up the medicines every few months. The doctor writes out a repeat prescription every few months and the pharmacy team can prepare the medicines, which saves waiting times. Willy Verbruggen-Jansen writes: ‘I receive a quarterly email that the new stock is ready. Can pick it up right now.’
Tip 4 Find another pharmacy
Are there several pharmacies nearby? See if you have shorter waiting times at another pharmacy. Many readers compliment their own pharmacy for the short waiting times, for example Elias Niehot: ‘Very smooth, excellent service and great staff in the Tolberg Center in Roosendaal.’
Tip 5 Take a thermoscan of coffee with you
‘Fortunately, I rarely go to the pharmacy, but I can take the thermos with coffee here,’ writes Fimmy Hoekstra-Douma. A tip with a wink: if you have to wait a long time, you better make the most of it.
In some pharmacies it is best to bring an umbrella, according to the reaction of Jenny Damveld-Tuytel: ‘A maximum of two people are allowed to enter our pharmacy. Yesterday I stood outside in the rain with six others waiting for more than ten minutes.’
After all, not everyone finds it annoying to wait a long time. After all, there is a lot of hard work behind the scenes to give the right medicine to the right person. ‘Everyone thinks it’s normal that you have to wait a long time at the bakery. I am happy to wait in the pharmacy because I know that the work is done with care’, says Rosemarie Van Beek-Hooijmans.
Read the statement here: I have to wait a very long time in the pharmacy.
