Protective equipment ran out within days, says top Shropshire pharmacist

Yogesh Kumar, vice-chairman of the Shropshire Local Pharmaceutical Committee, said dispensing chemists in the county had been left with little choice but to buy their own equipment due to the lack of it being supplied by the NHS.

Mr Kumar added that staff shortages and increased demand had stretched some pharmacies to breaking point.

He said that all pharmacy shops were issued with a standard pack of aprons, gloves and masks about three weeks ago.

"We have still got some aprons, but we got through the gloves and the masks in about a week-and-a-half to two weeks." said Mr Kumar.

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He said he was not expecting any more deliveries from the NHS, and was resigned to the fact that he would have to source it and pay for it himself.

Mr Kumar added that the Government had given each pharmacy just £300 for safety equipment such as protective screens and social distancing barriers, while his shop had spent between £800 and £1,000 on such measures.

He added that fears about lockdown had led to patients requesting extra prescriptions in advance, causing a shortage of vital medicines for those who needed them most.

Mr Kumar said the crisis had seen a 30-40 per cent increase in the number of patients coming into his shop, but there had been no extra funding from the NHS.

He said staffing levels were also suffering as a result of people being forced into isolation, while there had been a significant increase in demand for delivery services.

Mr Kumar said he normally used one of two regular locum pharmacists when he was not in the shop, but at the moment both of these were in self-isolation.

"If I needed to go off, that would be a concern, although pharmacies will have contingency plans."

Mr Kumar said his shop had extended its opening hours to cope with the extra demand, but added that the extra pressures were increasing the amount of time it was taking to process prescriptions.

"These are unprecedented times which are affecting all sectors of the NHS," said Mr Kumar.

"Many services are stretched to breaking point and this includes some community pharmacies, due to increased workload and staff shortages.

"It will be a challenging time across the NHS, however community pharmacies will continue to play their important role doing their upmost to meet the challenges as they arise."

He said his staff were doing an excellent job in ensuring that the public received a good service, adding that the sector was providing most people's only face-to-face contact with the National Health Service.

Mr Kumar believed one reason for the shortage of protective equipment was down to the fact that priority was being given, quite rightly, to hospitals and care homes.

He said the £300 budget for safety equipment was nowhere near enough what was needed for many pharmacies.

"Many pharmacies including myself have already spent over double this amount on these kinds of measures at our pharmacy since very little has been provided by the NHS even though we are in the NHS front line serving the public and many vulnerable patient groups," he said.

Mr Kumar said the past month had been the busiest he had seen in his 25 years in the profession, with about 300 patients coming into his shop every day, and also handling about 150 telephone inquiries.

He said while most doctors' surgeries had closed their doors, pharmacies were still on-hand to provide advice, relieving pressures on GPs, hospitals and the NHS 111 service.

Mr Kumar said he had to take on temporary staff to cope with the extra pressures, but had received no extra money from the Government.

He said the Chancellor's recent announcement of £300 million for the pharmacy sector was not extra money.

"The £300 million community pharmacies will receive over April and May is not additional funding but in fact a cash advance to help meet the additional wholesaler bills for purchased medicines to fulfil the 25 per cent to 30 per cent increase in prescriptions written in March," he said.

"NHS England has made it clear that this money will need to be repaid later in the year."

He said pharmacies had seen their NHS funding frozen for the past two years, despite facing rising costs.

Mr Kumar said the drug shortages caused by people bringing in advanced prescriptions resulted in him spending up to two hours each day trying to source alternative drugs to the ones that had run out.

He said social distancing rules meant pharmacies had been forced to suspend some of the services they provided to the public, such as blood pressure monitoring and ear, nose and throat services.

"Despite this, I believe the community pharmacy sector is resilient, and I would like to congratulate my team for providing the service that patients deserve," said Mr Kumar.