Specialised wholesaler services designed to ensure community pharmacies and hospitals continue to receive medicine deliveries throughout the Olympic games are being put into operation today, the British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (BAPW) has reported.

The move will see more than 40 pharmacies in London receiving deliveries in the middle of the night because of road restrictions in place during the games.

And about 600 pharmacies are set to see a reduction in the number of deliveries made to their businesses, going from the usual twice daily down to one.

The special service arrangements will be in place for a total of seven weeks, starting today [July 23] and ending on September 11.

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	As the BAPW published its action plan for the games, the association's executive director Martin Sawer said: "The BAPW and our members have worked tirelessly over the past nine months with key stakeholders, including NHS London and Transport for London, to engage with and create a unique service programme for over 1,500 pharmacies that could be affected by the Olympic and Paralympic games."

"Our members will do everything to ensure that the supply chain provides medicines to patients quickly and efficiently," he pledged.

News that a reduced medicines delivery service was likely to be in place during the games broke in May, when it was revealed that pharmacies in east London could be forced to keep a pharmacist on the premises during the night to accept deliveries.

The suggestion was branded "unreasonable" and "ridiculous" by both Mr Sawer and contractors in the area.

The BAPW also assured pharmacists in its Olympics action plan that each wholesale provider would be monitoring delivery situations on a daily basis and that all stakeholders would be in regular communications in order to resolve issues as quickly as possible.   

Details of the roads affected by the Olympics are available on the Transport for London website and for further coverage of the Olympics click here.