• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Education
  • Events
  • Interviews
    • Career spotlight
  • Opinion
    • Professional Dilemmas
    • Patient perspective
  • PIPcast
  • Jobs
  • Business Directory

Pharmacy in Practice

EDX/20/1154
Date of prep: December 2020

Prescribing information and
adverse events reporting

For healthcare professionals only

RPS & GPhC update statement on volunteers delivering medicines

16th April 2020 by PIP editor Leave a Comment

 

Yesterday we reported on the fact that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) had made a joint statement about the English community pharmacy delivery services which use volunteers.

 

The statement highlighted that ‘pharmacy professionals’ acting in accordance with the standards and using NHS Volunteer Responders in good faith in line with the service specifications of the Pandemic Delivery Service will not be regarded as responsible for actions of other people outside of their control.

 

Today, however, the joint statement has been updated to make it ‘clearer’. Both the GPhC and the RPS have thanked those that pointed out the potential issues with the previous statement.

 

The newly updated statement reads as follows:

 

“Pharmacy teams, as an essential part of the frontline response to COVID-19, are currently working under enormous pressure.

 

“There is unprecedented demand on pharmacy services, including the need to get medicines to extremely vulnerable people, including the “shielded” group who must stay at home. We, therefore, welcome the recently launched Pandemic Delivery Service and the COVID-19 NHS Volunteer Responders initiative as a means of supporting pharmacy teams with tasks such as delivering medicines.

 

“To help pharmacy teams and volunteers provide safe care to patients and the public, the RPS has produced volunteering guidance, which outlines what pharmacy professionals should consider when working with volunteers. The guidance includes a table of the key tasks and roles for volunteers.

 

“The RPS and GPhC would like to reassure pharmacy teams and pharmacy owners that we support the use of NHS volunteers as an option to get medicines to extremely vulnerable people when it’s not possible to use patient’s own representatives or pharmacy delivery services.

 

“Pharmacy professionals acting in accordance with the standards and using NHS Volunteer Responders in good faith in line with the service specifications of the Pandemic Delivery Service will not be regarded as responsible by us for actions of other people outside of their control.

 

“We would like to express our thanks to all pharmacy teams for their hard work and making sure that people continue to receive their medicines, and to the volunteers for offering to help pharmacy teams during the pandemic.”

 

 

 

Related

Next article  Pledge to vaccinate 400k Scots a week by end of February

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Coronavirus, PIP news

Register for our upcoming webinar and live Q&A

About PIP editor

Pharmacy in Practice is a UK pharmacy publication with its roots in Scotland.

Reader Interactions

Begin the discussion right here Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Categories

PIP business directory

Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor

Pharmacies should be allowed to supply rapid antibody tests

How 56 community pharmacies helped to eradicate hepatitis C

No national Scottish pharmacy flu service a missed opportunity

Admiration for community pharmacy in Scotland

More letters to the editor here...

Blogs

💊 PIP live pharmacy blog

Winter stresses must not ‘destabilise’ general practice

What is it like to depend on medicine to treat endometriosis?

Opinion

Why is pharmacy not integral to government mass vaccination plans?

Pharmacy Covid-19 vaccination involvement is a ‘no-brainer’

The great patient medication returns debacle

CPD Challenges

💊 CPD Challenge: How well do you understand pulmonary embolisms?

💊 CPD Challenge: Prescribing and dispensing clozapine

💊 CPD Challenge: Oral anticoagulants – Dabigatran

More CPD challenges here...

© 2021 · About Pharmacy In Practice · Site mantained by Mike

This site is for healthcare professionals, please confirm you are a healthcare professional to continue.

YES

Pharmacy In Practice uses cookies, by continuing to use this site we will assume you are ok with that Find out more.