CONSTANCE WELCOMES FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY PHARMACIES

£5.5m to ease coronavirus pressures

Angela Constance MSP has welcomed the announcement of £5.5 million funding which has been provided to community pharmacies to help them cope with increased pressures from coronavirus (COVID-19).

Pharmacy workloads almost doubled during March - with an increase in prescriptions, staff overtime and a higher level of consultations all resulting in additional costs for the service.The additional funding will be added to the network’s March payments.

Ms Constance said:

“I want to thank all community pharmacy teams across my constituency for their incredible hard work throughout this pandemic. They are doing an invaluable job to ensure people continue to receive vital medicines and care through this period of unprecedented challenge for the NHS.

This followed the announcement by the Health Secretary Jeane Freeman MSP that given the exceptional situation the country is currently in, she asked community pharmacies to remain open on Good Friday and Easter Monday – where it was possible to do so - to help to alleviate some pressure from out-of-hours services.

Ms Freeman said “Working with the Community Pharmacy Scotland we have agreed this initial package of additional funding for community pharmacies to help them meet some of the costs of responding to COVID-19 and to allow them to continue to meet the increased demand on their crucial services.”

Background

The additional funding is intended to help with costs including:
• additional staff hours and locum costs
• the increased amount of medicine prescriptions
• modifications to premises such as installation of protective screens
• additional cleaning costs
• increased phone consultations

Last month it was announced that community pharmacists would perform an enhanced role during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Ends.