I WAS looking after an ill friend in Bircher who wasn’t improving and rang 111 for advice on Sunday, March 29.

We were given an appointment at Leominster Community Hospital at noon and the doctor there diagnosed a chest infection and prescribed penicillin.

He said there were no pharmacies open in Leominster or Bromyard that day and we would have to go to one of the supermarkets in Hereford.

So we drove off to Sainsbury’s but they couldn’t give me the medicine as the doctor had not dated the prescription. I was told I would have to take it back to the doctor in Leominster.

With a sick person waiting outside in the car, I asked if they could telephone the hospital but they said they couldn’t but the young lady then suggested I take it to Hereford County Hospital for verification.

I did this and they dated it and signed it for me. I then took the prescription to the nearby Morrisons where they gave me the medicine with no trouble.

We finally arrived back home at 2.30pm and I would like to make two points.

Firstly, if Leominster Hospital kept the most common drugs on site, we could have been saved the journey to Hereford.

And out of four pharmacies in Leominster, why wasn’t one of them open on a Sunday?

DIANE BOONE Leominster