Lancaster pharmacist's selfless act to help people access vital medication

Hadeal Jaidy has vowed to continue helping Boots in Lancaster St Nicholas Arcades get much needed prescriptions to patients while shielding a member of her family from the coronavirus.

The 27-year-old said: "I feel that it’s my duty to support as much as I can during this challenging time. I’m incredibly proud to be working for Boots, now more than ever.

"I love my job and will continue to help and support our patients, giving them the medicine and healthcare advice they need."

She added: "One of my family members is vulnerable so to keep her safe and continue doing my day to day job, I have moved out of my family home for the time being."

Hadeal says the amount of prescriptions they are processing has soared.

"When the outbreak first started, it was really busy and difficult at times. I’ve never experienced such a high demand in prescription orders, however, it’s much better now," she added.

"We’ve also had some staff members in self-isolation, meaning we’ve had less people working in the pharmacy, but we have all adapted to this new way of working and are really seeing the hard work pay off.

"Pharmacies are at the heart of the critical response and we’re here to help people to stay well and feel better. Working has certainly been challenging recently but our team has pulled together and is working tirelessly to be there for the community.

"We are focusing all efforts on taking pressure off hospitals and the NHS as it comes under increasing strain and we’re doing everything we can to ensure patients get the medicine and healthcare advice that they need."

She added: "To keep ourselves and customers safe in stores, we have been provided with protective equipment like perspex screens and visors, floor markings and reminding customers to observe the correct social distance.

"We are also encouraging card transactions and are suggesting people bring their own pen to sign prescriptions."