Consideration for Carers

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, both our social and health systems have had to rapidly reconfigure to accommodate the ‘new normal’ whilst keeping staff and patients alike as safe as possible. One key group which has helped serve some of the most vulnerable members of our communities are carers, highlighted by The Carers Trust as having had some difficulties at times with the changes that have had to be brought in by community pharmacies over the course of the health crisis. The PSNC have developed a guide for carers to make the most out of their pharmacy teams in this difficult time:

https://carers.org/downloads/help-and-advice-section/getting-the-best-from-your-pharmacy-team-during-covid-19.pdf

In addition to this, these three bodies have jointly asked pharmacy teams to consider the following actions to support carers in the community:

  • Allowing 2 people into the premises when the carer has no choice but to take the person being cared for to the pharmacy with them;
  • Consider prioritising carers of vulnerable / shielding people for medicine delivery slots; and
  • Review the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s guidance on ‘Children collecting medicines from a pharmacy‘ and recognise that, for some families, young carers are the only people able to collect medicines in the household