Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) risk of the latest wave of covid-19 cases to the health of frontline pharmacy staff and (b) additional support that those staff require to ensure that they remain safe.

Guidance on working safely is available on GOV.UK for people who work in community pharmacies and a COVID-19 standard operating procedure for community pharmacy has been published by NHS England and NHS Improvement.

The first part of this year’s Pharmacy Quality Scheme focuses on activities to support the response to COVID-19, including the requirement to complete individual COVID-19 risk assessments for all community pharmacy staff, particularly those already known to be in an ‘at risk’ group or from a black, Asian and minority ethnic background.

We have supported community pharmacies and their staff in other ways to adopt COVID-19 secure working practices, such as free personal protective equipment (PPE) and reimbursement for PPE previously purchased and £300 towards premises adjustments.