Clear Pharmacy Aberdeen is a well-trusted family-run community pharmacy service established in 2005. It has 35 branches across the UK, and it has become one of the go-to pharmacies in Aberdeen.

This pharmacy offers a wide range of National Health Service (NHS) pharmacy services, which is great for those who mainly depend on NHS coverage.

One special service they offer is the Medicines: Care and Repeat (MCR) service, which is available only in their Scotland branches. This service is geared for patients with long-term conditions, allowing them to have their prescription continuously refilled.

Unlike other pharmacies, they also offer nursing home services. This includes support and advice from their experienced Pharmacy Care Manager, designated staff member to look after your care setting, and customised service level agreements.

For those travelling to other countries, they also provide travel advice and essentials. Customers would learn the latest recommended travel vaccination programmes and can stock up on sun cream, travel adaptors, and insect repellent as well.

However, even though they offer travel advice, they do not offer the actual travel vaccines unlike other pharmacies.

Also, unlike those who are open all week including weekends, they are only open half-days during Saturdays, and they are closed on Sundays. 

Lastly, we heard reports of rude pharmacists, and customers were taken aback by their apparent impatience while handling their orders.

Alpha Pharmacy & Clinic has around 30 years of experience in pharmacy practice, making them a pharmacy that the local community trusts.

Unlike other pharmacies, they are open all week. This is great for customers who have work during the week and can only pick up prescriptions during the weekend.

They also offer Rapid & PCR COVID-19 tests. Customers can get the results within an hour, which is very convenient.

A unique service that we like is their infant feeding and sleep consultation. For new or young parents, they’d help you solve and treat your baby’s colic or sleep problems, and they give advice on how to breast latch or choose the right formula.

They also offer travel health services such as vaccinations, which is great for those travelling alone or with their families. Do note that this service needs to be booked at least six to eight weeks before your travel plans.

Additionally, we appreciate the various female health services they offer. These include Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC) consultation and supply, period delay medication, and female hygiene counselling.

Since they are also a clinic, one can also pop on over for minor cryotherapy services. Some of these are wart, verruca, and blemish removal.

However, we are a tad disappointed that their entrance is not wheelchair accessible. 

Also, we heard reports of misplaced medical prescriptions from their GPs, which highly-inconvenienced customers since they had to procure the prescriptions again.

Boots is the UK’s leading health and beauty retailer, and Boots Pharmacy is under their umbrella of shops and services. This well-known, massive brand of 170 years now caters to thousands of customers per day.

We like their prescription text message service that not all pharmacies offer. Once you sign up, you just need to wait for their text and you can conveniently collect your prescription.

They also offer an NHS Stop Smoking service which is not offered in other shops. For those who would like to kick this habit, they’ll be given access to on-going support such as consultations with a trained advisor.

We also appreciate their free Winter Flu jab NHS service, which will help protect customers against the flu.

In addition, they have a unique Boots for Business service for corporate trips or events. This is suitable for business owners since you can arrange your workers to have the necessary vaccinations all in one go, for a seamless event or trip.

Another unique service they have is their Substance Dependency services, which we think is quite civic-minded. They offer a range of services for people who use drugs & want to stay safe such as needle exchange and supervised consumption services.

One downside is several of their other NHS services are only available in England. These are their NHS Blood Pressure Checking, NHS New Medicine Service, and NHS Discharge Medicines Service.

Also, since they carry mostly premium and luxury items, they can be a bit pricier compared to the items sold in other pharmacies.

Lastly, they are closed on Sundays, which is not convenient for those only available during the weekend.

Having had a solid 10 years of experience under their belt, Baird’s Pharmacy seems to be one of the most popular pharmacies in Aberdeen.

First, we like their spacious and well-lit shop. Unlike other shops which are tinier and a bit cluttered, theirs is bright and roomy, which we think customers would enjoy.

What sets them apart is that they use robotic pill dispensing. Meaning, a machine would be able to dispense your medication with more accuracy and efficiency, and their staff would have more time engaging with you.

They also have a Repeat Prescription service, which can be set up via text message. Not all pharmacies offer this, and we think this is convenient since it will save customers unnecessary calls or trips to the pharmacy to check if their meds have arrived.

If you have impetigo or a urinary tract infection, you don’t need to go to your GP for a prescription, which will save you time and money. You can just pop in their shop, and they can provide you with the necessary meds.

They also offer travel vaccine services, and what sets them apart is that the prices of these vaccines are posted on their website. This will let customers know who much they need to spend.

Compared to other pharmacies, however, their range of services is more limited.

Also, they have no parking spots, which would be inconvenient for some customers who require cars to get around town.

Lastly, they do not have prescription delivery. You would need to go to their shop to pick up your meds once they arrive.

We think Rosemount Pharmacy is another top Aberdeen-based pharmacy service. One thing that sets them apart is their free delivery services within Aberdeen.

Another unique feature of this pharmacy is their 24/7 online reorder medication service. Those who are very busy or homebound will greatly benefit from this.

We also think that their free Blister Pack delivery is quite thoughtful. This service provides those with poor memories that are on several medications with free blister packs/tablet boxes, making it easier for them to remember taking their meds.

They also offer a number of free NHS products and services unlike other pharmacies that might charge a small fee. These include free treatment for chlamydia and free “Morning After” pills.

We are really impressed with the Lipotrim program that they offer, which is not being offered elsewhere. This service is for overweight people (with a BMI of 25 or more) who want to lose weight under the supervision of a trained pharmacist.

Also, if you have three of the symptoms they list on their website, you can pop in and buy cystitis medication without a prescription from your GP. This is definitely a time-saving offer.

However, we were dismayed to hear about some of their staff members being rude to customers. One even reported an incident wherein they laughed upon reading his foreign-sounding name, which we agree was quite rude.

Also, this pharmacy is not for clients looking for corporate services. For those planning corporate or business trips/events, you’d need to go to another pharmacy.