Dear Mr/Mrs xxx (note this is Rt Honourable if the MP is a minister or has been a minister),
As my local MP for [xxx], you will, no doubt, be well aware of the impact the pandemic situation is having on NHS services. I wish to draw your attention to the problems we have, as community pharmacists, to the current expectations placed on
us.
Community pharmacists and their staff are on the frontline and risking their lives for the good of the community. The vast majority of patients understand the dilemma that the country is going through and have been very supportive. However, I would like to
draw your attention to the following points.
As frontline, community pharmacy is in a unique position to support the community. We have had issues with keeping our practices open and GP practices referring large numbers of patients to us directly as they take on more telephone
consultations.
Furthermore, we are taking on an enormous amount of extra work with staff who are themselves at risk of becoming sick despite all efforts to keep them safe. Patients also require deliveries of medication as the lockdown continues, and this puts us in even
more pressure to ensure that your constituents are kept safe and secure. The volunteer army who the government have asked to support deliveries will require extensive training and this will take time and effort. For example, how safe is it for a patient to be delivered the wrong medication by mistake?
Wholesale prices of medicines have shot up, which means that medication and general essential purchases such as hand sanitiser and baby formula have increased in price. The result is shortages of essential items that people require to keep healthy. I have
lost count with the number of pharmacies who have reached the credit limit with wholesalers and are unable to purchase more to support their patients.
The workload for prescriptions, deliveries for medicines, queries from patients, assessing patients, and so on, has shot through the roof. It is simply unsustainable to continue to ask our staff to work at the current pace without respite and financial
support for their families.
We are now required to open during the Easter break at minimal reimbursement by the government. We are required to open our practices with minimal staff. Our staff exhausted. They have taken their own time and risked their own lives and that of their
families for this country. Surely, the government can recognise this effort and sacrifice workers at community pharmacies have made by providing adequate remuneration to support them and their families?
I hope you can help us by encouraging the government to understand that it is not just frontline workers in hospital roles that are suffering. The workers in the primary health sector, including community pharmacy, have propped up the NHS. The workers in
this sector have put both themselves and their loved ones at risk for their country. Workers need to be recognised, not just by words, but by a reasonable funding formula that allows the sector to support the NHS and the patients it serves.
I would be very interested in hearing from you with regards to your views on this matter and what you might be able to do about it.
Thank you in anticipation of your help.
Yours sincerely,
xxx
