Forum Topic

Pharmacies and deliveries

Have encountered several local residents locally who are waiting for medicines to be delivered for days on end.All are saying they cannot cope with extra deliveries.My understanding is all pharmacies handling NHS prescriptions have had extra payments to fund extra deliveries.If so, what's happening?  But if not the case why are pharmacies not making use of the many NHS/RVS volunteers who are doing almost nothing?

Raymond Havelock ● 1826d11 Comments

HI,  Apologies this is a somewhat long response below. I too have now read the article and can maybe add some more context and hope this helps.As I previously explained our pharmacy (Mattock Lane Pharmacy - Ealing) - We will use volunteers when patients set up and access them directly (We refer to these as patients representatives). We can provide volunteer information too. We can not access them and set up them ourselves easily due to difficulty an obligation to ensure that the individual is appropriate for the role, in skills and competence, and that other checks have been made, such as the individual having had a recent Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. I know this is the same for many other pharmacies both locally and nationally.We welcome the fact the volunteers are generously offering to support the fight against coronavirus. This is unchartered territory for community pharmacy. Community pharmacists have a legal, professional and ethical duty to deliver a safe, effective and confidential service to the public. These standards are also in line with regulatory requirements set by the General Pharmaceutical Council. Unfortunately some of these requirements are incompatible with the use of the volunteers service. However these requirements do not apply to patient’s own representatives.Some specific difficulties include delivery of controlled drugs, fridge lines, consideration for example what happens if nobody answers the door, social distancing training, insurance liabilities , GDPR and confidentiality to name a few. Furthermore understanding the pharmacy’s Standard Operating Procedure for delivering medication is a requirement for us to be covered by insurance.We are thankful to all volunteers however it is a complex and unprecedented situation. I know many pharmacies are managing well now that the peak of the demand has passed too.I hope above additional context helps answer the questions asked.

Sanjay Patel ● 1817d

I found the article. It said pharmacies are reluctant to use volunteers who are not FULLY security checked. I dont know what fully means but that is what it said. The article was in the Guardian.

Nicholas Beard ● 1818d

I read about these voluteers and your question was asked. It turns out the pharmacies are very reluctant to use them. About 150000 of these volunteers were not suitable it added.

Nicholas Beard ● 1818d

Hi Raymond,Pleased my reply helped. Happy for you to call me directly on my mobile if you want to discuss the situation further or need any support with medicines.ThanksSanjay - 07930 442651

Sanjay Patel ● 1819d

Thank you so much for a detailed reply, more than the authorities have managed following enquiries.Obviously it seems odd that some pharmacies are on top of additional deliveries due to this who are on regular medication but over 70 and supposed to not be going out.But the help is out there in terms of volunteers and seems not to being used where needed.I understand to that steps are now in place to allow those not online and isolated to access help direct.

Raymond Havelock ● 1823d

Dear Raymond,I am one of the pharmacists at Mattock Lane Pharmacy in West Ealing (on Mattock Lane near St Johns Church). I work with two other pharmacists Rajan & Priya and we can help readers as needed.We currently have no issues with deliveries for vulnerable patients and are delivering to everyone as needed every day and have no backlog at all. Please contact us at mattocklanepharmacy@nhs.net or 020 8567 9153 for any support needed. We will help today.

Pharmacies have had confirmed on 10 Apr very limited support to help with deliveries from the government. This was specifically for a tiny number of very high risk patients (known as shielded patients) eg Patients on chemotherapy / immunosuppression  and few a other complex / severe illnesses.
The payment helps a bit but the trouble for many pharmacies is the demand has been so high and they are trying very hard to help out and have limited resources. Some have been experiencing staff shortages due to illness / or the need to isolate. I am sure many pharmacies will support you too when they can.
We will use volunteers when patients set up and access them directly. We can provide volunteer information too. We can not access them and set up them ourselves due to difficulty an obligation to ensure that the individual is appropriate for the role, in skills and competence, and that other checks have been made, such as the individual having had a recent Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.That said be assured we are on track and able to help any vulnerable patients and are often helping patients outside that group too. We do need patients who are not vulnerable to ensure they continue to collect medication themselves to ensure we can use the resources we have for the patients with the most need.I hope this helps clarify the situation. Please do contact me if you need any further support.Regards, Sanjay, Rajan & PriyaMattock Lane Pharmacy8 St Johns Parade, Ealing , London, W13 9LL mattocklanepharmacy@nhs.net020 8567 9153

Sanjay Patel ● 1824d

Raymond, my apologies, it was after the first 20,000 applications went into the system that the computer system fell apart NOT after 20 percent had been processed. I do not know the status of the system now, however, given that there are highly-qualified professionals sitting around waiting for a response in Ealing and you are being sent all-over-the-place something is wrong

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1825d

Raymond, interesting, they do not seem to be providing a universal front, perhaps you are one of the twenty percent that got processed before the computer system went down to begin with?

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1825d

I'm afraid what you have been told is not entirely true. I'm a volunteer and have been since day one. All my credentials were checked and approved but for areas that do not require special checks. It is only certain aspects that require extra checks.They do not ask for much unless you hold medicine or care specific qualifications or have additional registered skills.Most tasks are simple and straightforward and the instructions are OK.What is odd is that I've had respond alerts for 30 miles away and some hours after they have been actioned.I have delivered meds for a few chemists but in Fulham and Barnes and Ruislip but nothing much locally.  Not enough to obstruct my work.

Raymond Havelock ● 1826d

Oh, and Raymond, the word is that the new extended background check system for NHS Volunteers is NOT SECURE, too many compromises to get it up and running, so be careful what you give  them

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1826d

Raymond, a friend of mine who volunteered straight off for the NHS has been sitting around and still waiting to hear, so far they have demanded her passsport for Extended Background Checks and heard nothing. Said friend asks around through her extensive contacts and discovers that all 750,000 are having to go through Extended Background Checks (carrying bedpans or greeting people in a hospital now requires an Extended Deep Background Check. What is more it turns out that a big international player in the digital identity business volunteered to do ALL 750,checks FOR FREE, but was told to go fly a kite. Instead Boris had a new computer system commissioned that crashed on DAY ONE. So, FUBAR, Boris  Blunder, NO NHS Volunteers (sounds a bit like the PPE scandal, No?). So much for the Brtish Blitz Volunteer Spirit, it's all paranoia and 'Not invented here'

Mark Julian Raymond ● 1826d