Under-pressure Well Pharmacy, in Diss, vows to end wait times following criticism from former staff

A Diss pharmacy has promised staffing levels will soon be returning to normal after a number of former employees criticised working practices at the branch.

The Diss Express revealed last week how patients were being forced to stand in queues for more than an hour to pick up their prescriptions from Well Pharmacy, in Mere Street, as the branch struggles to cope with a severe shortage in staff.

While the high street business has attributed the shortage to the increasing number of staff being asked to self-isolate, a handful of former employees have told the Diss Express that it is the result of bosses cutting costs.

They claimed that the shortages came from a reluctance to take on more staff, leaving existing employees with an unmanageable workload.

One of the former employees, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “People would leave, and they would replace them with someone on fewer hours.

“If you’ve got a shortage of staff, nobody knows what is going on.

“Naturally, people are irate, and people that are on the front line end up having to deal with abuse and bullying from customers.”

The pharmacy has maintained that self-isolation is the chief reason, while reassuring customers that service should return to normal soon.

A spokesman said: “We are very sorry for the inconvenience our customers have faced. We are doing everything we can to get back to our usual high standard of care.

“With the introduction of isolation mitigation for community pharmacies earlier this week, we are confident we will safely be able to bring colleagues back to work to help alleviate pressure on our teams across the region.

“A new pharmacist manager is due to be joining our Mere Street branch in September and we are actively recruiting for pharmacists and trained pharmacy colleagues in the locality to support the pharmacy and the wider area.

“We would like to apologise again and ask our customers to please bear with us in these difficult times.”