Following on from the Prime Minister’s announcement yesterday that booster jabs will be offered to everyone over 18 in England from this week, Thorrun Govind, Chair of RPS in England said: “We’ve already seen an amazing response from pharmacists and pharmacy teams to support the national effort on COVID-19 and flu vaccinations.
“I know more pharmacists are keen to get involved and it’s vital they’re able to do this across all of England’s regions, and that future expressions of interest are processed as quickly as possible.
“Pharmacy teams across the health service have been giving their all and are already at risk of burnout, so the Government and NHS must ensure they commit the funding, resources and staffing to help meet this ambitious new target.
“Pharmacists are already delivering essential care for patients, so this renewed effort must include making best use of the pharmacy workforce across the health service and re-prioritising workload so that pharmacists across care settings can contribute to the booster campaign.
“This also means urgently agreeing flexibilities for teams in community pharmacy and the wider NHS, such as rest breaks and pharmacy opening hours, and cutting bureaucracy such as contract or audit requirements so they can focus on what’s needed most.”
This follows a meeting last week with Minister for Primary Care and Patient Safety Maria Caulfield MP, which discussed topics including the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination programme, the role of pharmacy to support the NHS recovery, and recommendations from the RPS/RCGP workshop on the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service.
Hear Thorrun speak about the booster programme on BBC Radio 4 The World Tonight:
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