Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Drew Hendry welcomes further £5.5m funding for local pharmacies during coronavirus pandemic

An additional £5.5 million of funding will be provided to community pharmacies across the Highlands and the rest of Scotland to help them cope with increased pressures arising from the coronavirus outbreak.

Across the country, pharmacy workloads almost doubled during March – with increased prescription orders, staff overtime and a higher level of consultations resulting in additional costs for the service – and the additional funding will be added to the network's March payments.

Drew Hendry, the MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said: "Through working with the Community Pharmacy Scotland, my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament have agreed this initial package of additional funding for community pharmacies to help them meet some of the costs of responding to Covid-19, and to allow them to continue to meet the increased demand on their crucial services.

"I wish to sincerely thank all community pharmacy teams across the Highlands for their dedication and the support they are providing to vulnerable people. They are doing an invaluable job to ensure people continue to receive vital medicines and care through this period of unprecedented challenge for the NHS, and their hard work should not go unnoticed.

"Additionally, given the exceptional situation we find ourselves in, I am pleased that community pharmacies are to remain open on Good Friday and Easter Monday – where it is possible to do so. This will help to alleviate some pressure from out-of-hours services while allowing people extra time to collect prescriptions and access services."

The additional funding is intended to help with costs including: additional staff hours and locum costs, the increased amount of medicine prescriptions, modifications to premises such as installation of protective screens, additional cleaning costs and increased phone consultations

Last month it was announced that community pharmacists would perform an enhanced role during the Covid-19 outbreak.

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