Hours a week at the wheel keeps remote village pharmacy open

A Scottish pharmacist has revealed he drives 10-hour round trips to keep his dispensary open in a remote Highland village.

David Dryden travels from his home in Glasgow to his Gairloch Pharmacy in Wester Ross to supply vital prescription drugs for the remote community.

The long-distance trips are the only hope the 3,000 local population have of getting antibiotics, heart drugs and other life-saving medicines. Gairloch Pharmacy is the only outlet for more than 50 miles in the northern coastal community of Wester Ross.

The busy dad divides his time between everyday family life and serving a rural community in need.

Now he is speaking out as Scotland struggles to staff community pharmacies in the face of a serious national shortage of pharmacists.

“We have a lovely community in the Gairloch area, many of whom are dependent on prescription drugs to remain healthy,” he said. “But there is a constant struggle to staff our community pharmacy.

“Pharmacists are on the UK Government’s shortage occupation list and those who want to work in a beautiful remote area have a problem finding accommodation.

“If I did not drive from Glasgow to work three days a week it would be a serious challenge to keep Gairloch Pharmacy open.”

David Dryden arrives at his pharmacy, which serves 3,000 locals in Gairloch.

The Sunday Post recently revealed the crisis in staffing rural pharmacies is predicted to worsen further after the number of places for final training places for graduates was cut by 20% in Scotland.

The 60 graduates who don’t get places have been advised to leave Scotland for England or overseas to complete their year-long registration training. The fear is that few will return to work here.

Gairloch community council says it is working hard to support its local pharmacy but is concerned about losing their medical lifeline in the future. Secretary Alex Gray said: “Besides accommodation shortage in rural Scotland, we believe that many pharmacists have been encouraged by the Scottish Government to join GP practices.

“That makes it more difficult to recruit them to work in communities, especially the Highlands.

“Scotland’s remote towns and villages such as ours are in danger of losing their pharmacies altogether. It’s not so much the Scottish Government’s ‘Pharmacy First’ policy as pharmacy last for rural Scotland.”

Pharmacists have been on the UK Government’s Occupation Shortage List since 2021. A report by the Pharmaceutical Society in 2022 urged widening access to pharmacy education to people from remote and rural backgrounds in the hope they would return to their childhood communities to work.

Pharmacist Maurice Hickey, who formerly owned Kyle of Lochalsh pharmacy, said: “Wester Ross is a remote part of Scotland and fewer people live there. That includes pharmacists.

“However, local people and tourists depend on the pharmacies for prescription drugs like antibiotics for infections, sore throats and other conditions, and most importantly for NHS Scotland’s Pharmacy First and other services.

“Attracting specialist staff when housing is in short supply poses serious challenges for all local businesses like pharmacies. Even hiring temporary staff is problematic because of the inflated cost of accommodation.”

He urged NHS Highland and other health boards serving rural populations to subsidise the excess costs of accommodation and higher pay rates of locum pharmacists. “This subsidy should take account of hours travel to work times over longer distances,” he added.

“I saw it done in Australia where it was a means of ensuring local services were made available without disruption. Without their local pharmacy, Gairloch locals are facing 120-mile round drives to Ullapool and Dingwall for vital prescription drugs. We don’t all live in cities or market towns with multiple pharmacy outlets.”

The Scottish Government denied reducing the number of pharmacy training places, contrary to the position taken by the Pharmacists’ Defence Association. The government added: “NHS Education for Scotland is working with rural health boards to explore mechanisms to attract more pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to work in rural communities.

“The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has established a National Pharmacy Workforce Forum which will provide recommendations on the pharmacy workforce across all sectors.”