Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure that housebound patients can access a free community pharmacy medicines delivery service once the covid-19 lockdown restrictions have ended.

A National Health Service medicine delivery service has been available to clinically extremally vulnerable patients since April 2020 when shielding advice has been in place. The medicine delivery service for clinically extremely vulnerable patients will stop at the end of March. However, from 16 March to 30 June initially, a medicine delivery service for people who are required to self-isolate is in place.

Anyone, who is unable to collect medicines or does not have anyone to do so on their behalf continue to make use of volunteers. Some pharmacies offer a medicine delivery service to all patients, though this may come at a charge as it is not a NHS service or alternatively patients can use an online pharmacy.