ABSTRACT
Community Pharmacy Limited receives a large number of prescriptions from surgeries for repeat dispensing. One of the dispensers is already on long-term stress leave. Another dispenser has taken leave for an operation. The pharmacy is thus short-staffed. Dianne often employs locum dispensers who are not fully conversant with the dispensing program in the computer. Pharmacists work under constant stress. Repeat prescriptions are piling up, and when the patients visit the pharmacy to collect the medicines, they are not ready. The healthcare assistants have to spend a considerable amount of time trying to locate the prescriptions among the huge pile. When confronted, Dianne’s reply is: “Everybody has to work harder, and it is difficult to get good dispensers.”
