COVID SPECIAL
THe ResuLTs OF COMMuNITY PHARMACY NORTHeRN IReLAND’s COVID suRVeY CeRTAINLY MAKe FOR INTeResTING ReADING AND CLeARLY sHOW THe VITAL ROLe THAT THe PROFessION WILL PLAY IN THe COMMuNITY GOING FORWARD….
survey shines light on future role for pharmacy I
n May, Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI) carried out a survey of how the profession was
handling these challenging times. While many of the responses related to the increased stress, overwhelming workload and anxiety over the future situation, the survey also illustrated the agility and responsiveness of community pharmacy owners and their pharmacy teams in responding rapidly to the COVID crisis.
Of particular interest in the survey were the responses of pharmacists as to how they believe the entire profession can be of added value to the health service, as it moves to the next stage of the COVD-19 pandemic. The answers clearly show that community pharmacy has not only raised its profile in the community, but has left pharmacists across Northern Ireland with a more developed awareness of the vital role that they have to play going forward! Here are just a few of the responses….
‘We have the skills, ability and knowledge to support our community locally. We can support our local surgeries and A&e by being the first
point of contact for everyone with health concerns.’
‘Moving forward, the health service will become leaner as it embraces technological advancement thrust upon it by COVID.CP needs to position itself as the accessible bricks and mortar outpost of primary care while also embracing IT advancements as we develop proactive rather than reactive health strategy. I think we need to position ourselves strongly on diagnostic, immunisation and testing. Let’s get trained up now so that we can offer these skills as part of a commissioned service now and moving forward.’
‘Pharmacists should be allowed to become supplementary prescribers as a matter of urgency (independent further down the line), which again would free up GP time and reduce costs to the health service.’
‘Pharmacy is the open door of the health service. We didn’t close. We adapted very quickly as a profession, much faster than others. We didn’t wait to be given solutions. We sorted solutions ourselves. Pharmacy should be given control to manage patient repeat medications -this would have
BRITISH RED CROSS HELPS WITH VOLUNTEER PRESCRIPTION DELIVERY SCHEME
The British Red Cross has been supporting the new volunteer prescription delivery scheme in partnership with the Community Development and Health Network (CDHN) to ensure people, who are shielding or self-isolating with no social network during the COVID-19 pandemic could continue to get their prescription medicines.
The volunteers were all Access NI checked and had completed delivery training and COVID-19 sanitisation training to support the deliveries of prescriptions.
PiF spoke to one volunteer, Gary Nugent, who is based in Belfast.
greatly improved patient care and reduced the chaos that ensued with some GP practices closing doors, especially without a plan in place of how to manage and liaise with ourselves.’
Workmen erect partitions to keep everyone safe at McKay Pharmacy
The CPNI survey also showed that an amazing 96 per cent of respondents made premises modifications, such as introducing screens and partitions to minimise infection risk to both pharmacy teams and patients, while maintaining their essential service to local communities. A similar number of respondents also indicated that the physical modifications to their premises are being continuously reviewed according to pandemic risk.
10 - PHARMACY IN FOCus
‘We are an integral part of our communities and our pharmacy teams are a valuable community asset with local knowledge and expertise. We’ve demonstrated our adaptability and resilience in the most challenging conditions. As we move beyond the COVID surge and towards a new
‘I help out in the afternoon three days per week,’ Gary told PiF. ‘It really helps people, but some are so afraid of becoming infected. some have posters up in their windows telling everyone to go away and that they are shielding. I have met people that are too afraid to answer the front door to me even though I have gloves and a facemask on and I am standing two metres away. They ask me to pass the medication through their window instead. I can’t imagine how anxious they must feel about standing in a queue at a local pharmacy. The fact that our delivery service can help ease some of their fear and anxiety, if even just a tiny bit, is great!’
norm of service delivery, we bring a valuable skillset as a network. There is the potential to work collaboratively with the multi-disciplinary teams within primary care networks, focusing on the population health needs of an ICP/Federation area, which will have been exacerbated by the economic fallout from the COVID19 pandemic. service delivery and development should complement and support multi-disciplinary teams. We should be part of the provider partnerships being developed in the integrated prototype.’
Gary Nugent
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
