Some pharmacies are placing fewer orders for lateral flow device test kits, PSNC wrote in on its website yesterday (January 25).

As a result, Pharmacy Collect will work with Alliance Healthcare – the UK’s sole distributor of these tests under the pharmacy service – “to supply extra stock to pharmacies still experiencing higher demand for kits”, PSNC added.

Up to three extra cartons

Pharmacies could previously only order one carton of tests per day, each containing about 55 packs of seven tests, depending on the brand.

As demand has decreased, contractors can now request up to three additional cartons to replenish their stock levels, PSNC said.

To do so, they will need to send their pharmacy name, address, ODS code, Alliance Healthcare customer account number and the number of cartons they want to order in an email to the Pharmacy Collect team ([email protected]).

Orders “will be dealt with on a first come, first served basis”, PSNC noted, and will be additional to the one carton they are currently able to order per day.

Contractors can only place one additional stock order via the Pharmacy Collect mailbox, PSNC advised.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will supply Alliance Healthcare with the list of additional contractor orders placed each day, which Alliance will process to deliver the test kits.

PSNC underlined that “this does not mean that contractors will receive the extra stock within three days of their email to the Pharmacy Collect team”.

The UKHSA “will review supplies on February 2”, it wrote, and “work with PSNC to confirm and communicate if further additional orders can be accepted from contractors”.

After a hectic Christmas period, PSNC director of NHS services Alastair Buxton told C+D that the UKHSA's test kit deliveries were “still falling short of demand” at the start of the month (January 5).

12 million lateral flow device tests delivered to pharmacies each week

The UKHSA distributed more than “14.5 million tests to Alliance Healthcare” last week, PSNC wrote in its update, which amounts to “2 million individual packs of seven tests and just over 35,500 cartons”.

The Department of Health and Social Care expects to deliver 90 million tests a week in the UK, vaccines and public health minister Maggie Throup wrote in response to a parliamentary question yesterday.

About 12 million of these will go to pharmacies in England, she said.