As the coronavirus spreads, so our understanding grows that those providing health services must be protected from contracting the virus at their places of work – a pharmacy being no exception.
However, argues Professor Parastou Donyai, director of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Reading, some community pharmacists feel they have been left to fend for themselves when it comes to COVID-19 shielding arrangements. She examines the case, and some of the official guidance that those running such establishments in the UK have been given to date to help minimise infection risk to themselves and their staff.
Community pharmacies are an integral part of the health landscape, but have a funding arrangement that is complex, and is perhaps most easily comparable with some general practices that are also funded through independent contracts for providing NHS services. Yet unlike the GP contract, which acknowledges the need for a ‘fit-for-purpose future estate’, 1 capital funding has not been a feature of the community pharmacy contract to date
For GPs, NHS England’s Estates and Technology Transformation Fund (ETTF), a multi-million pound investment in facilities and technology across England, has been available between 2015/16 and 2019/20, paying for a range of upgrades to selected practices, including new consulting and treatment rooms, reception and waiting areas, facilities for treating minor injuries, and extensions built to house more staff and even new health centres. 2
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