NI pharmacists worried about burnout
NI pharmacists are feeling under increased strain because of the Covid-19 pandemic and are worried about staff burnout coming into the new year.
With many General Practices working remotely and with limited access to doctor surgeries, demand is increasing on pharmacies.
Chemists are providing prescription collections for those self-isolating as well as many other services.
With GPs operating a telephone triage system as part of infection control measures, chemists say they are under increased strain.
Many have ramped up their services to try and alleviate pressures on the health service.
This includes community pharmacists operating a walk-in basis, with infection control measures in place.
Many pharmacies have taken on an increased workload to try and reduce the pressure other health care staff.
Peter Rice is a Community Pharmacist in West Belfast and he told Downtown Radio and Cool FM that staff are feeling the strain.
He said: “I’ve had a number of staff, certainly at the start that actually had break downs in the pharmacy and I have had to introduce a counselling service for our staff to make sure they had someone to talk to and discuss it with.
“The tension in the pharmacy is palpable you’ve got to remember they’re working in an enclosed space eight hours a day and in a lot of cases quite close quatres and it’s very busy.
“So, for the nature of pharmacy you’re constantly moving, you can’t just stay in one place like in an office and isolate yourself or maintain your distance.
“They’re also wearing full PPE, so that’s extremely uncomfortable and it’s a constant reminder that you’re in a high-risk environment.
“At the minute a lot of them haven’t had more than two weeks holidays all year and most of them had the holidays in January or February.
“Just into March I’ve had relatively few staff being able to take holidays and a lot of them are having to work overtime to make up for staff who are self-isolating.”
Mr Rice said if members of staff get pinged by the STOP COVID NI app or contacted by the Track and Trace team and must self-isolate, they will miss Christmas with their families.
He added: “Now we’re into the Christmas period where pharmacies are traditionally extremely bus and we’ve just passed the limit of self-isolation.
“So, they really are at high stress levels at the minute and I really do worry that something might go wrong.
“You know one of the staff might have a real break down.”