Storm Éowyn has shut down some Northern Irish pharmacies after the Met Office yesterday (January 23) announced that a red weather warning for wind is in place across the country until 2pm today.
Met Office chief meteorologist Paul Gundersen said the red weather warnings are issued “for the most severe weather that represents a likely danger to life and severe disruption, and that is the case with Storm Éowyn”.
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He added that the “strongest winds and most significant impacts are likely in Northern Ireland and central and southwestern parts of Scotland…where winds could gust 80-90 mph quite widely for a time and potentially up to 100 mph for exposed coasts in particular”.
The Met Office said this is the “first red warning issued for Northern Ireland since [it] moved to impact-based warnings in 2011” and there is the possibility of power cuts as well as impacted travel plans from the storm.
“Please be patient”
In an alert shared on X, Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI) yesterday told patients that they should only visit their pharmacy if they “need an urgent supply of prescription medicines” to “help pharmacy teams manage patient demand”.
“Please be patient with your local community pharmacy teams as they work to keep patients and staff safe,” it said, adding that pharmacies “may have reduced opening hours” due to the “extreme” weather.
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Sweeney’s Pharmacy in Holywood issued a Facebook post yesterday saying that it would “be closed…until 2pm” today due to the red weather warning and urging patients to only travel “if absolutely necessary”, adding that it “will be open as normal on Saturday”.
Another Northern Pharmacies branch in Craigavon also posted on Facebook yesterday saying it will be closed today due to the storm but “will aim to reopen at 2pm subject to weather conditions”.
And the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) yesterday said that it would close its offices today as “a precautionary measure in order to protect...colleagues from avoidable harm because of the risk-to-life element of the weather warning”.
“Severe disruption”
Northern Ireland’s health minister Mike Nesbitt yesterday urged the public to “follow the advice of the police and to stay home and stay safe until this major storm passes through”.
He said that the health system’s “key focus…is on maintaining safe services for acutely unwell patients within inpatient facilities and protecting urgent and emergency care”.
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The NI Department of Health added that it is expecting the “severe disruption” to “have an impact on services over the next few days”.
It comes after a Norfolk pharmacy was forced to ask patients to pick up their medicines from another collection point earlier this month after a tree smashed through its roof during a New Year’s Eve storm.