A pharmacy in Ellon has said it won’t accept abuse aimed at staff members as demand for lateral flow tests rises.
Rowlands Pharmacy on Market Street is one of many locations facing increased demand for lateral flow devices as more information surrounding the Omicron variant develops.
Positive Covid case numbers have steadily risen across Scotland since the first Omicron case was detected.
Lateral flow home test kits were unavailable yesterday on the government website as people wait to book a coronavirus vaccine.
The website advised visitors to “try again later” or book a test appointment instead – and also stressed that people can still pick up a box from a local chemist.
Rowlands gets a box of 50 lateral flow tests delivered each day, but due to the increase in demand is running out faster than before – leading to some frustration among customers.
Test shortages across the UK
Pharmacies across the north-east have also advised that prescriptions also need to be filled out in a timely fashion as the increased demand is having a knock-on effect.
Posting on social media, Rowlands Pharmacy in Ellon wrote: “The month of December is an extremely busy time and quite often our workload doubles.
“So prescriptions can take a bit longer to get ready or deliver.
“Make sure you order your prescriptions in plenty of time.
“Sometimes there are issues that are out of our control like stock issues that and the extra jobs Covid has put on us (lateral flow tests, Covid boosters, flu jabs) it’s extremely challenging at times.
“Please be assured we will do everything we can to get your prescriptions ready on time for you and sort out any stock issues.
“A box of 50 gets delivered to us every day, which has been the same since they started, but due to the increasing demand, we are finding that the box is not lasting all day so once they’re gone we can’t get any more until the next day.
“At the moment, to make sure we have enough to give everyone, we will need to limit how many we give out to each household at one time.”