Pharmacy teams in Forth Valley praised for efforts

The frontline workers have faced extreme challenges during the Covid-19 outbreak as they continued to provide medicines and support for those in care homes, hospitals and the community.

In the early days of the lockdown there were reports of pharmacy teams being verbally abused as increasing numbers sought help from their local chemists after the majority of GP practices stopped seeing patients in person.

This week, Laura Bryne, NHS Forth Valley’s Associate Director of Pharmacy for Primary Care, said their hard work and resilience in delivering key

pharmaceutical services for patients, and maintaining the medicines supply chain has been a source of pride across Forth Valley.

She said: “The professionalism, determination and resilience from all our pharmacy staff and services continues to be critical for the delivery of key health services to local people and for maintaining our medicines supply chain during the pandemic.”

Laura added this work has been widely acknowledged and recognised by both the Health Board and the wider public.

New ways of working in both community and hospital based services ensured that every patient in Forth Valley could get timely access to medicines they required.

This included the development of a daytime and out-of-hours urgent medicines supply process for care home residents.

NHS Forth Valley said this has been warmly received by local care home staff and the care home clinical team as an exceptional example of multidisciplinary working.

Community pharmacies have also been busy, opening every contracted day to provide access to critical medications and pharmaceutical care.

They have also been delivering the new Pharmacy First Scotland Service which enables the public to access personal consultations, healthcare

advice and treatment for many common health conditions.

It is available to anyone who is registered with a GP practice in Scotland or if you live in Scotland.

If you have a minor illness, a pharmacy is the first place you should go for advice. They can give help with a range of ailments from acne to athlete’s foot, backache to blocked noses.

You do not usually need an appointment and you can go to any pharmacy.

Your pharmacist can give you advice for a minor illness, and medicine if they think you need it.

In the hospital setting, pharmacy teams have become involved in a national co-ordination system to make sure that every health board in Scotland has an equal supply of medicines.

And NHS Forth Valley’s Mental Health Pharmacy Team has provided invaluable guidance in relation to high risk medicines such as clozapine.

Pharmacists working in GP practices across the Forth Valley area have been able to keep a close check on local supply levels and the local pharmacy team within substance services has worked closely with key workers to make sure patients can still access medicines in a way which both safeguards them and the public.