How Pharmacies Can Serve You Better During This Pandemic

The Coronavirus pandemic has hit the world incredibly hard, with no nation spared from its effects. Many people have been furloughed from their jobs, or worse, they have lost their jobs and we have all been confined to our homes during large periods of quarantine as we try to stop the spread of the killer virus. Another effect of the pandemic is that we have had to change the way we go about doing many routine activities, from going to the supermarket to taking the kids to school, as nothing can be done as it was barely six months ago. One important part of society is our pharmacies, as we all need access to life-saving medicines.

Here we are going to take a look at how pharmacies can serve you better during the pandemic.

During the pandemic, we have all been urged to maintain social distance from one another to prevent the spread of the virus. Due to the nature of pharmacies, there are likely to be many people visiting with underlying illnesses as they need to collect their drugs. Chemists can help to ease this pressure vulnerably by opening up their services to the online market, ensuring that people in the at-risk category can order their prescriptions online and have them delivered directly to their front door. This hugely increases social distancing and helps reduce the risk of those already suffering from an underlying illness from contracting the Coronavirus.

Pharmacies do not only offer prescription goods, they increasingly cater to body products in general, and you will find a vast array of items such as shampoo, toothpaste, and other products that are not considered strictly essential. By opening up an online shop these goods can be purchased online and delivered directly helping to keep the distance down between pharmacist and buyer and thereby reducing the risk of the virus being transmitted. A bi-product of the fact that you can shop online is that there are fewer overheads which means that prices are often much lower than they would be in a bricks and mortar shop, allowing people to save a few extra pennies, even when delivery costs are taken into account.

As we heed our government's advice regarding the pandemic, we are advised to stay indoors as much as possible and only to venture out for essential goods. Whilst prescription drugs are considered vital it is important that you are getting what you need without putting yourself at risk, so many pharmacies are helping the most infirm by delivering drugs directly to people's front doors. Prescriptions can be ordered over the phone or by the click of a button via the internet and drugs will be delivered within 24 hours ensuring that patient's needs are met without putting them at risk.

With traditional bricks and mortar shops, there are only a certain number of hours a day that a pharmacist can physically work due to licensing regulations or labor laws, however, an online store can be open 24 hours a day. Sure, each prescription will still need to be physically checked by a pharmacist and signed off by a doctor, but at least the order can be placed whenever, and non-essential items can be ordered and shipped throughout the night. This frees up the pharmacist to take care of their real work which is the dispensing of important prescriptions and delivering advice to the local community.

Often when you visit a pharmacy in person that particular pharmacy will buy all their stock from one individual supplier meaning that you are limited in choice. Whilst this is not an issue of prescription drugs as these will have been issued by a doctor, for anything else you will be stuck with the products and pricing that the pharmacy decides. Now that many pharmacies are available online it is much easier to shop around and find the specific products that you want at a better price as competition is so much greater. You will save a fortune and the bonus is that you do not even have to go and pick them up as they can be sent directly to your home.

As we have learned there are many ways that pharmacies can serve you better during the pandemic. By offering online services and home delivery it cuts out the need to physically go to a store, thereby helping to maintain social distancing as well as keeping the most vulnerable out of harm's way. Added competition means prices will drop and there will be many more products available thereby increasing competition.