I'm just writing a piece for my village e-magazine Hethersett Herald entitled "We Deserve So Much More."
I refer to the erosion of facilities in the village despite the fact that houses and new homes seem to be springing up at a vast rate. I have long given up expecting facilities to keep pace but it seems that we have something of a crisis - particularly in the field of health.
I had heard that our pharmacy would be closed for three days, but thought this was just a ridiculous rumour. My repeat prescription is ready, so I thought I would take a walk down yesterday to see if the shop was shut..... and it was.
There was just a stark notice on the door stating that: "We are sorry but our store is temporarily closed today." There was no other explanation as to why or for how long the store will be closed. I will check again today but yesterday I couldn't find anything on social media.
Our chemist being closed is becoming a regular occurrence and it made me cast my mind back many many years when a pharmacy first opened in Hethersett. A public meeting was called to protest against the idea that most people could no longer pick up their prescription from the doctors' surgery but would have to cross the road to a pharmacy.
I was a lone voice at that public meeting, speaking up in support of a pharmacy and the reason was I knew something that most of the other people there didn't. I knew that the pharmacy was going to be opened by good friends Gordon and Liz Edwards. Both qualified pharmacists, there was no doubt in my mind that the service they would provide would be second to none - and so it turned out. Opposition to the shop soon melted away. I can't remember the shop ever being closed due to lack of a pharmacist. If Gordon and Liz were away or on holiday they got in a locum.
Sadly we now have a pharmacy operated by Boots that seems to be unfit for purpose. It takes over two weeks to get a repeat prescription (I pretty much order my next as soon as I pick one up) and shortage of staff means that it suddenly shuts with little or no warning and just a notice on the door. This is not satisfactory for anyone. I could forgive it if it was a one day emergency, but this seems to be happening time after time after time and this time it's during the half-term holiday and you don't have to be a genius to work out just why the shop is shut this week.
Boots Pharmacy is no longer providing the service to our village that it is paid to do. I feel sorry for the staff that do work there. They must be totally frustrated at being told not to turn up for work because of a lack of pharmacists... and all this whilst our Government is suggesting that people with minor ailments shouldn't make an appointment to see their GPs but take advice and get remedies from their local chemist. Talk about a winter of discontent.
I thought there was a certain irony in the fact that the notice of closure was next to a list of the pharmacy's opening hours.
Hand in hand with all this is a diminution in the service at Hethersett Surgery which is part of the Humbleyard Practice. A notice a few says ago showed that the practice is also having difficulties. On Facebook the practice wrote:
"From Thursday 9th February through to Friday 17th February 2023, due to staff shortages we will only be able to offer on the day appointments for patients who feel they need to be seen the same day. Please be courteous when speaking to our staff, they are here to help you. Abusive language will not be tolerated. Thank you for your patience."
For me this is all a sad state of affairs and something we should ask our MP Richard Bacon to take up on our behalf. Sadly Mr Bacon doesn't respond to e-mails or contacts despite his official website stating: "I am here to serve and represent local people in South Norfolk regardless of how you voted. If you need help then please don't hesitate to get in touch."
At least Mr Bacon has now taken off his welcome piece to the new Prime Minister Liz Truss which stayed on his official website over 100 days after she left office.
I have lived in Hethersett for well over 40 years and I have never known things to be this bad. Sadly I don't see any chance of them improving in the near future.
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Are people becoming more and more rude and ignorant? I ask this question after trying to get out of a shop in Sheringham on Monday.
Close to the doorway stood a group of six people. They also had a buggy with them. Three of them were on mobile phones and they took up the whole pavement and made no attempt to move. I had to push my way through and people coming along the pavement had to walk into the road.
This has been a good old whinge blog. Tomorrow I'll talk about lighter things like caffeine dependency!!!!