Name and shame

[Sofia]

I'm considering another career at this stage.

I can tell you're still very young too. Go for it if you're under 30 and have not big debts. Heartfully. Good luck.

[morerightsneeded]

Hi fabulous,

I really feel for u and I know exactly what you are talking about. I want to warn every locum about lloyds in ******* (area deleted) as this was my first ever locum and my worst ever- how lucky was I

I walked in and without exaggeration there must have been about 500-700 items all over the pharmacy in baskets ready for me to check. the methadones weren't prepared obviously. As if that wasn't bad enough it was a horrendously busy day and the cd registers didn't balance either.

The damn stupid dispenser (an old bag) was acting like she was the pharmacist and we soon clashed silently...every time i wanted to check a patient's record she would say 'i'm using the computer' forcing me to wait for her to finish and put up with a typing speed of 3 key strokes per minute.

as if that wasn't bad enough there was a que of ppl waiting for their prescriptions. The stupid dispenser wanted to annoy me that little bit more by fighting with the patients as well. in short it was a nightmare.

wait till you hear this.... I called the agency the following day and expressed my anger at the situation they put me in. They later told me it was supposed to be a double booking but the other pharmacist didn't turn up and lloyds kept it quiet. But being lloyds they were going to compensate me by paying me a month late and under paying by over £50 and to this day (many months later) i have not received the underpayment.

In hindsight I should have said only urgent prescriptions arriving today will be checked and dispensed and worked my way through the backlog at my pace. Either that or walk out and screw them. Any views on such a situation?

[Moderated to remove identifying branch information. PM poster for more details if needed]

[pharmacygirl]

hey hows it going? I would also like to warn everyone about lloyds pharmacy. I believe in every store i have been to i have found incompetent staff....this ranges from birmingham to essex and area 4c especially. You will find most branches are run on long term locums......all the good staff have left and you get the rubbish staff. some are really nice but not worth having in the shop. my shop assistant would continue to give p meds without consulting me....saying paracetamol was better than calpol and the dose for ibuprofen was 2 x 400mg 'cos it never did me any harm'.....like what the f*** do you really want to get me struck off?....well they dont care do they?!

But its your registration on the line. and trust me the company will get you struck off just to keep their £5/hr shop assistant happy. Do NOt work for lloyds pharmacy. they have good advertising and promotional ideas but no training or support staff. very poor.

[neo-pharmacist]

As a locum i have been to some horrible stores. One particular store in chelmsley wood, birmingham was the worst one i can remember. As soon as I walked in and saw the chav healthcare assistant I had an ominous feeling of what was to come. It was a friday and none of their methadone for the day had been made up. I was just swamped with walk in checks, pcs checks, supervising addicts and doing the work of the incompetent healthcare assisstant, whose response to every query was "do you want to speak to the pharmacist".
The dispenser and healthcare assisstant just stood there complaining and tutting under their breath. The thing is their regular phramacist is more familiar with the place and this puts them in a situation where they can prioritise better. I sometimes wonder if "support staff" even have an inkling of the pressures your under. I really wanted to slap them or walk out. Why are people so negative these days and unable to make the best of a bad situation. Sure customers had to wait but its a busy friday afternoon not the end of the world! Been to a few stores where the staff panic if the customer has to wait more than a second. Even been in the scenario where a dispenser was waiting outside the toilet for me.
I wont be going back to that store and didnt even say goodbye to the staff when I left. Has anybody else had an experience of pharmacies from hell?

Well...name and shame then! I'm from Bham and would avoid areas such as the aforementioned!
But yeh, I've been in situations such as this...staff are just negative and downbeat (I guess it's a trait of the British), and say 'tha'll be 5 minutes', when you have a pile of red baskets waiting.
I just look forward to the light at the end of the tunnel, ie closing time, and never having to go back.

[mrmeds]

i was thinking of selling up and doing locums, but maybe i'm better off where I am

[johnep]

If you mention a company by name in a derogatory way then unlikely they will employ you again. They have people looking at face book and these sites. Beware of any PMs asking for details.
johnep

[mrmeds]

how very Orwellian

[johnep]

Unfortunately, one poster has found this out to their cost.
johnep

[neo-pharmacist]

I don't see the point of these 'name and shame' threads, where the 'naming' is notably absent. I thought it's puropose was to alert locums from working in particular branches? Naming a company or even area is too broad. No large multiple for example, has time to look here, or even decipher usernames (unless your name is your username, which would be naive if you intended to create such threads), imo.

[Fleegle]

I don't see the point of these 'name and shame' threads, where the 'naming' is notably absent. I thought it's puropose was to alert locums from working in particular branches? Naming a company or even area is too broad. No large multiple for example, has time to look here, or even decipher usernames (unless your name is your username, which would be naive if you intended to create such threads), imo.

You may be surprised how many large multiples do actually look here. It is nothing new, they have been doing it for years. Most of the established forum members have an idea who they are from the nature of their previous posts. Many newer members do not.

By way of a tip, your IP address, and not your username is the easiest way for someone else to 'crack' your online identity. Worth bearing that in mind.

Hope this helps,

Fleeg (forum moderator)