Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support pharmacies during the covid-19 pandemic.

The Government has reprioritised services within the community pharmacy contractual arrangements to release capacity to deliver support to patients and, since March, made available £350 million in extra advance payments to alleviate cash flow pressures. Additional funding has been provided to cover the costs of Bank Holiday opening, a new medicine delivery service for shielded patients, and to contribute to measures taken by community pharmacy to support social distancing. From June, reimbursement prices of the most commonly prescribed generic medicines were increased by £15 million per month. More generally, an unprecedented financial package is supporting all businesses, including community pharmacies, such as tax deferrals and cash grants of up to £25,000 for small businesses.

We continue to work with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee to assess what further support community pharmacy may require to continue to supply medicines and to help their communities stay well.