Pharmacy

The Medicine Chest is our outpatient pharmacy and is open from 9.00am until 6.00pm, Monday to Friday. The Medicine Chest is situated on the left hand side of the main entrance to the hospital.

Contact: 0121 333 8936

The Medicine Chest opened in January 2013 and it is a bright, modern, child-friendly outpatient pharmacy that is also home to a high-tech automated dispensing robot.

If your child attends an outpatient clinic appointment here at the Children’s Hospital, their medicines will be supplied by the Medicine Chest. The Medicine Chest dispenses an average of more than 4000 medicines each month.

Each prescription is checked by a specialist paediatric pharmacist. The prescription will then be dispensed by one of our technicians and our robot. The medicines are then final checked, before being handed out to our patient.

Specialist paediatric pharmacists will also be on hand to answer any questions you may have or to give confidential advice about your child’s medicine(s).

The pharmacy can be found along the main corridor next to the neonatal unit. There is signposting within the hospital itself. The onsite pharmacy also includes a small retail area where mother and baby items and over the counter medicines can be purchased.

If you have a Boots Advantage card, collect points as you would in any other Boots store.

If you are a clinic patient with a prescription the average waiting time is only ten minutes. Please note that this Boots pharmacy cannot dispense any GP (green FP10) prescription forms you may have as it does not have the licence to do so.

You can also get advice on your medicines, as there is a fully-trained pharmacist always on duty and this includes the store manager.

Whilst you are waiting for your prescription you can browse the shop area or wait just outside in the dedicated seating area.

The average waiting time for a prescription is ten minutes.

Contact us in the dispensary:  0121 472 2053
Store manager: Ross Flavell

Prescription charges

If you are an NHS patient, then NHS prescription charges apply to your clinic prescription.

Please pay these charges by cash or card only. If you have no money or card, please speak to the pharmacist to see how this can be managed.

If you have an NHS exemption from prescription charges then complete the back of the prescription form to indicate the relevant exemption. NHS pharmacists are asked to seek reasonable evidence of each declaration. If such evidence is not available then you will still get your medicines but your declaration made be checked on later by NHS Protect.

If you are a private or self-funding patient then the pharmacist will explain all charges to you.

The Boots onsite pharmacy is only permitted to dispense private prescriptions for hospital registered patients.

Pharmacy opening hours

Monday to Friday: 9.00am to 6.00pm

Saturday: 9.00am to 1.00pm

Bank Holidays: 10.00am to 2.00pm

Please note: there is no service on Sundays or Christmas Day

Opening Hours

Monday to Friday: 8.45am - 6.00pm
Saturday and Sundays: 8.45am - 3.45pm
Bank Holidays: 10.00am - 3.00pm

Contact 

0121 333 9772

Please note, there is no service on Christmas Day. An on-call pharmacist is available, however they may only be contacted by senior hospital staff.

Our inpatient pharmacy provides a service to all medical and surgical teams and is responsible for managing patients' medicines while in hospital. We are organised into clinical teams of pharmacists, technicians and assistants and work closely with doctors and nurses to ensure medicines prescribed for our patients are safe and effective.

As every child is unique, we help ensure that medicines are suitable and the correct dose is used. We develop guidelines on how drugs should be used and provide information to support doctors in prescribing medicines.

Suitable formulations to allow easy administration to children are also provided. These may have to be specially prepared or obtained if they are not commercially available.

We organise the supply of medicines while in hospital and following discharge to make sure arrangements are made for continuing the supply of special medicines.

We have a Medicines Information department that provides information to our own and other units across the country and we also have specialist teams providing intravenous nutrition solutions and chemotherapy. 

You will see our staff on the wards, in outpatient clinics and in the main department. We are always available to offer advice and information, so please feel free to ask.