Chipping Norton Pharmacy - Chipping Norton

Romilly Horlick

Honestly really upset. I’ve been on wait as “caller number 1” for longer than half an hour, after being referred by 111 and potentially with noro virus. I can’t drive and the only other way to reach them is if I walk 15 minutes at night (19:30) into town…. This is no way a health centre should be operating.
UPDATE: just hung up after 1 hour of no answer

Claire Nicholson

I arrived 15mins before my scheduled appointment time for combined COVID and Flu vaccination. I was told on arrival that they were not due to get COVID vaccines delivery till next week so would only be able to give me Flu jab today. I Waited for 45min, they had forgotten I was sat there waiting I suspect as the pharmacist saw another customer in consultation room long after I had arrived.
I ended up having to leave without any treatment because I had to get back for work. Terrible service, can't see why the pharmacy or NHS didn't contact in advance to let me know they didn't have the vaccine at all or cancel the appointment if they were unable to meet demand? It was a 40 min round trip for me to get there so not impressed.
I do feel empathy as I could see they were short-staffed, but my recommendation is to avoid and go somewhere else.

Alison Weston

Fabulous place, staff very attentive and very happy to help. Excellent position in town with plenty of parking. My first go to every time instead of battling through the congested town to find a place to park.

Henry Perfect

The Chipping Norton Pharmacy which is located next to the medical centre in Chipping Norton has gone through some really tough times. It was originally linked to the GP Practice - I believe that it was owned by the GPs - but was sold and the present owners have tried their very best to provide a 7-day a week service. They are very helpful and take the time and trouble to help you with any pharmaceutical problem that you might have. Regrettably it seems that the GP practice, in their wisdom didn't want to cut their ties with the pharmaceutical world and opened their own small pharmacy in the practice building, thus undercutting the new owners of Chipping Norton Pharmacy. They CNP were given authority to provide Covid 19 vaccinations and flu vaccinations but it seems the GPs want to also provide this and thus as a business model the CNP is not as profitable as it should be. One could even surmise that it will reach the stage where it will be sold and perhaps the GPs will buy it back at a much reduced price thus making more money in additional to what they sold it for. Why is this allowed to happen. Are GPs providing a service on behalf of the government or are they simply highly qualified business people who have eyes on making money. How many hours do they work a week and is it a vocation or simply lifestyle job - me thinks that it is a lifestyle job and no longer a vocation.

If you don't want to lose the CNP, then support it and go and get your covid and flu vaccinations and continue to get your pharmaceuticals from them. They do, after all, offer a 7 day a week service which is more than the GP practice does.

gunscratch

Very poor and expensive advice from the pharmacist. I was sold a product as “an alternative pain killer” gel as I’m now unable to use the usual ones. I thought that was great til I got home and found out it’s for osteoarthritis which I don’t have. I know things can have alternative effects so I checked on the product website. It states it can help with back pain but only if it’s osteoarthritis of the spine NOT muscle or nerve pain which is the problem and I explain led that to the pharmacist. I tried retuning the product but “they’re not allowed to accept returns”. So, thanks to really poor advice I’m now 20 quid out of pocket on a product that WON’T WORK. Their advice? “Just try it because you’ve got it now.” And the government wants us to use pharmacists more to relieve the pressure on doctors? What a joke. I definitely won’t be buying anything here in the future if it needs any “advice”. I feel ripped off to say the least because I purchased this on trust of the pharmacist knowing her stuff. She didn’t so do your own research people and definitely DO NOT LEAVE THE PHARMACY until you’ve read the leaflet and googled the product website if you have any extra info or questions you require answering. If you do you won’t get your money back.

Roxxie Blackham

Absolutely horrendous experience almost every time I go here. My partner has tried ordering repeat prescriptions countless times and has been met with some of the rudest pharmacists we have ever experienced! They often talk to you in a patronising manner or hang up the phone completely. Plus half of the time his prescription is incorrect or weeks late and he’s only ordering inhalers. It’s not just my partner who has experienced these issues - my dad is currently being treated for cancer and has several medicines that are required on a daily basis. We have encountered endless challenges with the pharmacy never having his medication in stock or telling him that he hasn’t ordered a repeat prescription when he has. For someone who should be focussing on healing and staying calm, this pharmacy have made him feel stressed on more occasions than I can count and more often than not they try to shift the blame onto my dad. I am honestly quite fed up of how terrible the customer service and dispensing is. I highly recommend avoiding and going elsewhere

Mike Smith

The single star given to this review does not apply to Rashda who has always been incredibly helpful and always does her best to help. She along with one or two other members of staff are consistently excellent. Nor does it apply to the extended opening hours which are so welcome and differentiate this pharmacy from all the others in the town. However, anything great about this pharmacy is completely spoilt by the most awful levels of chaos in their operations. It is not uncommon to wait 30 minutes or more to collect repeat prescriptions, watching staff hunt through paper slips, computer records, shelves and boxes to find orders. Whatever systems are in place are shambolic and make life a misery for staff and patients alike. Pharmacists are never consistently present and don't know the systems, taking time away from staff. Pharmacists have been unhelpful, pushing problems about orders back to patients and not taking ownership, and are frequently poor communicators. There are clearly issues of communication within the business and with the doctors at the health centre. I am only leaving this review in order that whoever is accountable might finally realise there needs to be corrective action taken, both to help staff and patients. This is a management and leadership issue - where both seem to be lacking - and the impact on patients is too great to ignore, particularly anyone with mobility or cognitive challenges. There is such an opportunity to be great yet it feels like whoever is ultimately responsible doesn't care which is such a shame. Please, however hard it might be, take time to look at what's not working well and try to improve it, offer the opportunity to understand the issues by talking to customers, and do the right thing for your staff to make their already challenging role less frustrating.

Update Dec 23: a couple of weeks ago I received another patient's medication in with mine, along with their re-ordering slip, which shared their full name, date of birth, NHS number, address, and list of all their medications. Can only assume that my reordering slip with the same information was transposed to someone else's bag. Took this back to the pharmacy and was promised a followup and a contact from the manager - but nothing yet.

Caroline King

Really helpful, member of pharmacy team. I left my meds at our holiday destination. The person I spoke to on the phone was efficient and helpful. No problem in me collecting some meds today.
Thank you, I really appreciate the excellent service!