This afternoon I met again with representatives from our incredible local pharmacies in Carshalton and Wallington following my recent contribution to the Westminster Hall debate on community pharmacies and the effect of COVID-19.
I was pleased to speak with community pharmacists Reena, Sanjay and Ravi, as well as Jessica from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) following widespread parliamentary agreement that more needs to be done to support our pharmacies following an incredibly difficult 12 months.
Reena, Sanjay and Ravi shared the lengths that pharmacists and their staff have gone to throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering prescriptions after-hours to patients and dealing with an increased influx of prescription requests and telephone calls. However, despite this additional workload, pharmacists have not been recompensed for their efforts. The COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted the opportunity for pharmacists to play an even greater role in our local communities and share the responsibility with GPs for being the first point of call for minor ailment consultations; easing the pressure on our A&E.
The pharmacists and I also discussed the role they could play in the COVID-19 vaccine roll out, providing local and accessible sites for residents unable to travel to the larger vaccine sites in Sutton and beyond. This is something I am keen with raise with Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi when I next meet with him, as well as with our local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
Now that we have seen such fantastic support for pharmacists from the public and my colleagues, it is vital we keep the momentum going to achieve a ‘pharmacy first’ culture within the UK. I look forward to continuing to work with local pharmacies, the PSNC and the All-Party Pharmacy Group to achieve these aims. Thank you again to Reena, Sanjay, Ravi and Jessica for joining me on Zoom today, and to all the other pharmacists locally and nationally who have been the unsung heroes of this pandemic.
You can read my contribution to the Westminster Hall debate here.