Staff at a Wirral pharmacy have been left "wary" of coming into work after it suffered fire damage and a robbery within two days.

Controlled drugs including Oxycontin, methadone, morphine and pethidine were stolen from Dale Pharmacy in Rock Ferry, Birkenhead sometime between Friday (August 29) night and Saturday morning, Merseyside Police said.

Pharmacist Nazma Hossain said staff had to contend with damage to their controlled drugs cabinets caused by the break-in as well as water damage that resulted from an unrelated fire in the apartment above the pharmacy the previous night.

The pharmacy had opened for business on Saturday despite staff still being "in shock" after the robbery, she told C+D yesterday (September 1).

The pharmacy team were "trying to get on" with their jobs and had nearly caught up with the backlog of work caused by both events, including the pharmacy closing for a couple of hours on Saturday to allow police officers to take forensic evidence, she said.

The fire brigade had used a whole tank of water to put out the fire on Thursday night, soaking the pharmacy's carpets and leaving the ceiling looking "quite bad", she added.

Following the break-in, inspector Georgie Minnery of Merseyside Police warned the public that taking medication that had not been properly prescribed could be fatal. "Many items that were stolen during the incident had expired, heightening those dangers still further," she said.

Inspector Minnery urged anyone who found the stolen medication to hand it in to a pharmacy or their local police station immediately.

Merseyside Police said the pharmacy was being examined for forensic evidence and CCTV of the area was being reviewed as part of an ongoing investigation.

Police asked anyone who could offer information about the robbery to phone 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

	Has your pharmacy ever been damaged in a fire?