The flexibilities were enacted in March 2020 when changes to the Pharmaceutical Services (Advanced and Enhanced Services and Emergency Declaration) Directions 2020 were made following a declaration of emergency at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since March 2020, the flexibilities have permitted temporary opening hours and closures during a specified period due to a genuine Covid-19 related emergency. NHS England and Improvement has advised pharmacy contractors that the emergency declaration will not be extended further and will expire on 31 March 2022.
Pharmacy contractors will therefore no longer have the option to close pharmacies within their agreed contracted hours with the NHS.
These measures were rightly introduced for extreme circumstances during the height of the early Covid-19 pandemic. However, the PDA also heard concerns from pharmacists during that period that some employers approached safety regulations inappropriately and were asking pharmacists to break the law.
Consequently, the GPhC had to issue a reminder to businesses about the critical need for a responsible pharmacist to maintain safety in each pharmacy.
The end of these temporary regulations should leave pharmacy businesses in no doubt about their obligations to deliver the pharmaceutical services that they have committed to provide.
Related link
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.