Pharmacy: Coronavirus

(asked on 29th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release of 5 June 2020 stating that all staff in hospitals in England will be provided with surgical masks which they will be expected to wear from 15 June 2020, whether his Department has (a) made an assessment of the potential merits of applying that policy to the pharmacy sector (b) plans to extend that policy to include community pharmacy teams.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 21st July 2020

The Government has detailed clear policy on the kind of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used in the pharmacy sector, including community pharmacy teams. The latest PPE guidance from Public Health England recommends sessional use of fluid resistant surgical masks (FRSM) in a pharmacy setting only where social distancing of two metres from patients cannot be maintained. If required, further supplies of FRSM can be ordered through their usual wholesalers and distributor networks that supply to community pharmacies. If these wholesaler routes are unable to provide enough PPE, community pharmacies should turn to their Local Resilience Forums (LRFs), who can provide supplies to respond to local spikes in need. LRFs will continue to receive enough PPE stock to support other sectors, including community pharmacies.

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