Around 200 Lloydspharmacy team members are currently absent from work as they have been “forced to self-isolate” due to COVID-19, a spokesperson told C+D last week (July 28).

“The majority of these are registrants, which is significantly contributing to temporary closures across our network,” the spokesperson added.

 

Updated guidance on self-isolation

 

The said it has multiple has applied the government’s updated guidance – which allows double-jabbed pharmacists to avoid self-isolation in exceptional circumstances.

“Unfortunately, this is having a minimal impact as most colleagues are isolating due a member of the household testing positive,” the spokesperson continued.

Lloydspharmacy is working to keep pharmacies open, “but predominantly this is by enacting multiple part closures elsewhere to ensure that every community has access to a community pharmacy, even if for restricted hours”, according to the spokesperson.

 

Lloydspharmacy: “We want to keep doors open”

 

The Lloydspharmacy spokesperson told C+D that the multiple thinks “vital workers should not be compelled to isolate unnecessarily”.

“We want to keep the doors of all our community pharmacies open, and to provide an uninterrupted service to the patients and customers that rely on us for their medicines and care,” they added.

In March, several pharmacists shared their concerns on Twitter, claiming that Lloydspharmacy was opting to provisionally close some of its branches rather than increase its locum pay rate to find pharmacist cover.

In a statement issued to C+D later that month, a Lloydspharmacy spokesperson said that the multiple's superintendent “had investigated the complaints raised via social media and is satisfied with the findings”.

Last month, Boots CEO Seb James told The Daily Mail that “a handful of branches” had had to close their doors temporarily due to staff shortages.

A spokesperson told C+D that Boots is also seeking exemptions from the requirement to self-isolate for its pharmacists.

 

PDA: Temporary closure worries older than “pingdemic”

 

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) director Paul Day told C+D that “concerns about pharmacies being closed when they are contracted to be open were rising before the current ‘pingdemic’”.

These occurrences are “particularly frequent in Scotland”, where two health boards have allegedly reminded contractors that “they must notify the relevant part of the NHS about any periods of closure”, Mr Day added.

Mr Day claimed that some pharmacies are reporting being pressured to close the branch they are working in during the middle of their shift so they can travel to open a different branch instead.

“This raises concerns for patient care at each branch, adds to the pharmacist workload and increases the overall amount of time which pharmacies are shut because when the responsible pharmacist is moving between branches, both must be closed in their absence,” he added.

Mr Day said that the PDA continues to receive reports from locums claiming they were available to work when their employer decided to temporarily close the branch.

 

Isolation rules changing

 

Responding to concerns around pharmacies having to close temporarily due to self-isolating staff, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) said: “We remain committed to supporting the pharmacy sector, which has played a vital role in the pandemic response and our vaccination programme.

“In exceptional circumstances – where there would otherwise be a major detrimental impact on essential services – a limited number of named workers may be able to leave self-isolation under specific controls for the purpose of undertaking critical work only.”

The DH also pointed out that from August 16, fully vaccinated individuals and those under the age of 18 will no longer need to self-isolate if they are identified as having had close contact with someone with COVID-19.