112,500 guests attended the festival, which had 16 major event locations |
We will definitely be coming back next year, is the resounding
message from pharmacists who braved the mud for five days at the end
of June
to work as
volunteers in the two pharmacies at the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary
Performing Arts.
This year was the 24th annual Glastonbury Festival. It was attended by
112,500 spectators and 34,000 performers and crew. On site there were
two medical centres, two welfare centres and two pharmacies, the Festival
Pharmacy and Arena Pharmacy. These were staffed by approximately 500
medical professionals, including pharmacists, doctors, nurses, midwives,
anaesthetists, surgeons, psychiatrists, social workers, physiotherapists,
podiatrists and dentists. About 3,000 people were treated by the medical
team during the festival. A total of 32 pharmacists and 21 support staff
assisted the six-strong management team in running the pharmacy service
this year.
Most of the new volunteers had thought about going to the festival
before but all were “Glastonbury virgins” and it was the
Journal article (PJ,
20 March, p355) which gave them the impetus to apply. The
volunteers were of all ages, came from all over the UK and brought with
them a wide range of expertise from their various professional backgrounds
(see Panel below).
Biographical details of the new
volunteers interviewed
· Viv Youell is a
pharmacist who works in the prison service and is based in London.
She qualified in 1989. She worked two shifts, one five-hour and
one nine-hour shift; both were spent at Festival Pharmacy.
· Lisa Robins, a community
pharmacist working for a major multiple in Cambridgeshire,
qualified in 1995. She worked three five-hour shifts, two
at Arena Pharmacy and one at Festival Pharmacy.
· Janice Tadros is a locum
community pharmacist in London and qualified in 1981. She
spent one shift at Arena Pharmacy and two shifts at Festival
Pharmacy, each shift lasted five or six hours.
· Fiona Wild is a pharmacist
in an independent community pharmacy in Lancashire and
qualified in 1995. She spent all three of her four- and
five-hour shifts at Arena Pharmacy.
· Adam Sutherland, a hospital
pharmacist in London, qualified in 2002. He worked two
shifts, one five-hour and one nine-hour; both were at Festival
Pharmacy.
|
Viv Youell was the first person to call Tony Guest, superintendent pharmacist,
Festival Health Ltd, after seeing the article in The Journal. “I
[play] music as well so it just seemed to bring both sides of my life
together,” she explained. She was a little nervous about what she
might experience. “I didn’t know if I had skills that would
be useful in an acute situation. The prison service, where I work normally,
is reasonably static in terms of the client group,” she said. In
contrast, Lisa Robins has spent most of her career working as a community
pharmacist in holiday towns with transient populations, so she is used
to working with new customers — she thought this experience would
be beneficial when it came to dealing with Glastonbury Festival goers.
Festival Pharmacy was located in the medical unit and dispensed all prescriptions
written by medical staff, while Arena Pharmacy was based in the market
place and dealt only with over-the-counter medicines.
The two pharmacies were already up and running when most of the volunteers
arrived at the site, although some were involved in setting up the dispensary
and unpacking stock. On arrival, the volunteers reported to Festival
Pharmacy where they received a welcome pack, which contained a T-shirt
to wear while on duty, a security pass, meal vouchers and a shift rota.
It also included a list of their roles and responsibilities and comprehensive
protocols that detailed the festival formulary along with advice on how
to handle various situations.
Expectations of the event were mixed. “I had no idea what I was
going to. I imagined it could be anything from messing about in a tent
to ... well, I just didn’t know,” said Janice Tadros. Fiona
Wild says that she, too, had no idea what to expect and little information
was given before she arrived. “I took my wellies. That was the
only expectation I had,” she said. “But I didn’t mind
that. I just thought that it is a great opportunity. It is something
that I wouldn’t have done otherwise.”
Most of the volunteers worked two or three shifts, each lasting between
five and nine hours, which allowed them plenty of time to enjoy the sights
and sounds of the festival. There were at least two pharmacists working
at each location during any one shift. Festival Pharmacy
Festival Pharmacy is located within the medical unit and is open
24 hours a day |
Because the NHS refused to fund the medical unit at the festival this
year, 80 per cent of items were prescribed on private prescriptions and
a flat rate of £7 was charged for them to be dispensed at Festival
Pharmacy. However, if a particularly expensive item was required then
the local primary care trust agreed that doctors could write an NHS prescription.
The pharmacy service undertook to absorb the cost of prescriptions for
children under 12 years old and for those people who simply could not
pay. The festival formulary, which has been developed based on experience
from previous festivals, provided a prescribing guide for doctors.
Ms Tadros dispensed a range of drugs during her shifts at Festival Pharmacy. “It
was basically the same sort of things that I would dispense anywhere
else, only more intense,” she explained. She came across a lot
of prescriptions for antibiotics to treat a variety of conditions from
wounds and abscesses to chest infections and urinary tract infections.
Adam Sutherland commented that salbutamol and beclometasone inhalers
were other commonly prescribed items. He thought that the formulary was
helpful, although there were a few items listed, such as co-proxamol,
which did not work well in the festival environment, where alcohol was
so freely available.
Toothache and dental abscesses summed up Ms Youell’s first shift,
and sprained ankles summed up her second. She also witnessed the adverse
effects of magic mushrooms manifested as severe dystonia that required
sedation. “A couple of people said they found their shifts boring,” Ms
Youell commented, but she put this down to the fact that most pharmacists
usually have to “run around like headless chickens” and do
not have the luxury of time to think and watch what is going on around
them.
Ms Tadros usually works in isolation in community pharmacies and she
said that she enjoyed working closely with other pharmacists and health
care professionals at Festival Pharmacy. “It was really good to
be able to bounce ideas about,” she explained.
Ms Robins commented: “The professional relationship with the medical
staff was very good. We introduced ourselves at the start of each shift
change ... and they came to us more than we were going to them [with
queries].”
Arena Pharmacy
Arena Pharmacy: top-selling products included loperamide and sore
throat lozenges |
One of the top-selling products at Arena Pharmacy was loperamide. “After
experiencing the toilet and washing facilities, I wasn’t surprised
by the high demand for loperamide,” Ms Tadros admitted. Other products
commonly requested included contact lens solutions, ibuprofen and sore
throat remedies. This is not too surprising considering that 750,000
pints of lager and bitter were consumed and hours of shouting and singing
could be heard. Compeed, a product that protects and heals blisters,
was also a predictable top seller.
Pharmacists at Arena Pharmacy could refer patients to medical staff if
necessary. Ms Tadros found that most of the referrals she made were for
conjunctivitis — another hazard of less than clean conditions.
Tonsilitis was also a common complaint that required referral. Ms Robins
referred a number of people to the medical unit to have their wounds
dressed.
There was a high demand for emergency hormonal contraception at the festival
this year. Levonelle was sold over the counter by pharmacists at Arena
Pharmacy. “We soon ran out of EHC and then had to refer patients
to the medical centre where they could obtain a prescription,” said
Ms Tadros. Ms Wild explained that even when EHC was available at Arena
Pharmacy the cost meant that a lot of people preferred to go and face
the queues in the medical centre, where they could then have a private
prescription dispensed at Festival Pharmacy for a flat rate.
The most unusual request Ms Wild received at Arena Pharmacy was from
a rather inebriated man asking for a pair of trousers!
Ms Robins was expecting to have to deal with problems with over-the-counter
drugs open to abuse during her shifts at Arena Pharmacy but found that
there was a surprising lack of requests. “Perhaps there were just
too many other things freely available,” she suggested. However,
Nurofen Plus (ibuprofen and codeine) did have to be removed from the
shelf at one point due to suspicions of group purchasing. Ms Robins had
one request for methadone during her shifts. Methadone is not dispensed
at Glastonbury due to police concerns over its storage. However pharmacists
can assist people in obtaining a supply from a pharmacy off site. On
this occasion, it was not necessary. Final thoughts
So, was it a once in a lifetime experience or will the new volunteers
be prepared to don their wellies again next year?
“I will absolutely be going back next year — if they’ll
have me,” exclaimed Ms Tadros. “It was great work experience,
and to combine this with the festival was fantastic,” she commented.
Ms Wild said that she, too, would definitely work at the festival again. “It
gave me the opportunity to go to Glastonbury, to experience a completely
different environment and to get a different angle on the customers,” she
explained.
Ms Robins agreed: “I would definitely go again. There weren’t
any negative aspects to working there and the nice thing was that I only
did three five-hour shifts ... so I was able to see the bands that
I wanted.”
“I had a fantastic time. If they ask me I would love to go back and
join them,” said Mr Sutherland.
The experience was “life changing” for Ms Youell. She said
she would love to go back next year. She also commented on the professional
way the pharmacy was run. “Mr Guest and the management team have
created a ‘pharmacy in a field’. Even though it is in a field
it feels like a pharmacy, and it is much easier to carry out your role
in an environment that you recognise — despite the fact that you
are wearing wellies!” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal