Joe Brogan The future for community pharmacy
DuRINg THe ReCeNT LOCKDOWN, COMMuNITy pHaRMaCIeS aCROSS THe pROvINCe ReMaINeD OpeN, pROvIDINg CONTINuITy OF SeRvICe. JOe BROgaN, HeaD OF pHaRMaCy aND MeDICINeS MaNageMeNT aT HeaLTH & SOCIaL CaRe BOaRD, payS TRIBuTe…
W
hile many shops and businesses across Northern Ireland were
forced to close during the recent lockdown, community pharmacies in neighbourhoods and high streets across the province remained open, providing patients with medicine and health advice.
I want to thank each and every one of you - and put on record my deepest appreciation - of the staff of community pharmacies for how you not only reacted, but adapted in such challenging times.
as you know, during the initial pandemic surge, community pharmacies inadvertently found themselves facing a huge, unprecedented demand for pharmacy services. prescription volumes, for example, rose by fifteen per cent - an extra half a million items - in March this year compared with last year.
There was also a reduction in physical access to general Medical Services, with an expectation of prescriptions being collected by pharmacies. Community pharmacy services
6 - pHaRMaCy IN FOCuS
reacted valiantly to responding to patient need and, thankfully, our pharmacy services were sufficiently resilient to withstand the first surge.
Social distancing and queue management measures were quickly introduced to ensure continuity of service delivery. access to pharmacies was also adjusted to allow time for cleaning, restocking and staff breaks.
Opening time was delayed until 10am with lunchtime closure introduced from 1pm to 2pm. although lockdown restrictions have now been eased somewhat, lunchtime closure for health and social care services has remained and is something that I entirely support given the need for staff breaks and cleaning.
Medicines supply One issue that emerged in the surge was patients running out of medicines despite the publicity issued to order well in advance. an emergency Supply service was commissioned from community pharmacies for the quarter april to June 2020. The service has been reviewed and is being commissioned for the remainder of 2020/21.
One very important issue that emerged was delivery of medicines to the most vulnerable and isolated and so Health & Social Care Board (HSCB) worked with the Community Development Health Network to establish a volunteer delivery service. This service has been successful in addressing some of the capacity issues in pharmacies and utilised the fantastic network of volunteers that came forward to support their local communities.
I know that, in many areas, a legacy is emerging in the relationships established between volunteers, pharmacies and their local communities. It was, however, quickly recognised that a volunteer service is not sustainable for the long term and so HSCB has just commissioned a medicines delivery service from pharmacies with effect from this month.
access to medicines in out of hours and particularly for those requiring palliative care or end-of-life care was a particular issue, which was addressed through enhanced community pharmacy rota opening
over public holidays, thereby increasing the coverage of dedicated palliative care community pharmacies; and, for a temporary period, putting in place an on-call arrangement for palliative care pharmacies linking to Trust pharmacies for access to palliative care medicines until end June 2020. Review of these arrangements will take place during the coming months to inform further commissioning arrangements for the remainder of the year.
In addition to the added pressure of increased deliveries, pharmacies were also faced with adjustments to their buildings, enhanced cleaning and training of staff. There is no doubt that the entire profession was put under immense pressure. yet every community pharmacy simply faced the challenges and adapted.
various arrangements emerged during the surge in relation to the ordering and collection of prescriptions by patients from general practice to the point where it was agreed that, in order to reduce footfall through gp surgeries, it was preferable to have community
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