You do not need an appointment and you do not need to have filled the prescription with us. If you have a question about a medicine, ask a pharmacist.
Things worth asking
- Whether a new prescription interacts with what you already take
- Whether a side effect you have noticed is normal or worth reporting
- Whether you can take an over-the-counter medicine alongside your prescriptions
- What to do about a dose you missed
- Whether a supplement someone recommended is a good idea
- Whether there is a cheaper version of something you pay a lot for
How to reach us
Call your store and ask for the pharmacist, or come in. on weekends the stores are closed, but you can call or text and we will come back to you.
Please do not include medical details, prescription numbers or your date of birth in a text message or a contact form. Tell us you have a question and we will call you back.
What we cannot do
A pharmacist cannot diagnose you or change a prescription on their own. What we can do is spot the problem, explain it, and talk to your prescriber about it — which is often faster than waiting for an appointment to raise it yourself.
When a consultation is worth booking
Most questions are answered across the counter in two minutes — just ask. A sit-down consultation is for the ones that are not.
- You take several medicines and nobody has looked at the whole list together. See medication therapy management.
- You have just come out of hospital with a changed list and are not sure what replaced what. This is where mistakes concentrate.
- You are managing someone else’s medicines — a parent, a partner — and want to understand the whole picture.
- Something is not working, or is causing side effects, and you want to think it through before going back to the prescriber.
- Cost has become the reason you are skipping doses. Tell us. There is often something we can do.
What it costs
Nothing. There is no charge for talking to a pharmacist, and no obligation to buy anything.
How to arrange one
Call your pharmacy and say you would like to sit down with the pharmacist. Walk-ins are fine too, but calling ahead means the time is set aside rather than squeezed between prescriptions.
You can also text your store — our numbers receive messages, which is often easiest for arranging a time.
Bring everything, including supplements and anything over the counter, or photograph the labels. Nobody remembers strengths accurately, and guessing defeats the purpose.
What a pharmacist will not do
We will not diagnose, and we will not tell you to stop something your prescriber started. What we will do is tell you plainly when something needs a prescriber or an emergency department — and that is worth a visit in itself.