In a statement published on the NHS England (NHSE) website on Tuesday (March 14), Professor Powis said that “emergency departments remained under severe pressure yesterday” but that “GP surgeries and pharmacies are largely unaffected”.

He added that 111 online “can help with many non-urgent needs”.

This came as some hospitals reported their “busiest Monday of the year so far for A&E attendance” on the same day that junior doctors began their 72-hour strike last week, Professor Powis said.

“As we see the impact of the most significant strike disruption in the history of the NHS, we’re really grateful to the public for using services appropriately,” he added.

Read more: NHSE: Pharmacies should be 'first point of call' during junior doctor strikes

Professor Powis stressed that those needing emergency care during strike action should “continue to call 999” and that patients should “attend any GP or hospital appointments unless contacted otherwise”.

The public should use 999 and A&E in life-threatening emergencies only and use NHS 111 online or call 111 for non-urgent needs, he added. 

Last week, Professor Powis said that patients should use pharmacies as one of their “first ports of call” during the junior doctor strikes.

 

“Astonishing statement”

 

Professor Powis’s words sparked outrage from the pharmacy sector.

CEO of the Association of Independent Multiple pharmacies (AIMp) Dr Leyla Hannbeck told C+D that it is “an astonishing statement to publicly denounce pharmacies as business as usual”.

She pointed to the more than 700 pharmacies that have closed since 2015, many of which are in areas of deprivation and therefore exacerbating healthcare inequalities.

Read more: Peak Pharmacy closes Derbyshire branch as funding calls intensify

“I refute the notion by the NHS national medical director Professor Sir Stephen Powis that pharmacies are in any state to absorb any further pressures without an immediate injection of relief funding,” she added.

 

“Come and spend a day here”

 

Locum pharmacist Iram Iqbal told C+D that pressures and daily workload in community pharmacies are “increasing” and “usually insanely manic”.

“As a locum, I am seeing it everywhere,” she said. “Even multiples are crumbling now.”

And she questioned the understanding of those who “don’t actually work in the setting themselves”.

Read more: All Lloydspharmacy branches reportedly ‘at risk’ of closure

“I feel like these individuals who sit in offices and just look in through the window don’t realise the pressures we are under,” Ms Iqbal told C+D.

“It’s so easy for them to say, ‘Oh, yeah, they’re not affected,’” she said. “But come and spend the day here. Then tell us what you think.”

Pressures are such that patient safety is suffering, she added, saying that she is “regularly” having to assess whether it is “safe to work or not” in a pharmacy.

Read more: ‘Concerning but unsurprising’: 10% say their pharmacy never has safe staffing levels

Ms Iqbal continued: “Before the pandemic, I could walk into a pharmacy and assume it would be safe but now…I have to ask what is going on, how many have we got working, who is confident, who is not, is it safe?”

“Unfortunately, there have been occasions where this has happened and it’s not been safe and I’ve had to call the area manager and either shut the shop down or close it for the lunch period,” she added.

“So how these people can say we are not under pressure and it’s OK to send patients, it’s beyond me,” she said.

 

“Unfair” comments

 

Meanwhile, community pharmacist and lecturer in pharmacy at Reading University Gurinder Singh told C+D that aside from normal pressures, pharmacies are also feeling the impact of strikes elsewhere in the NHS.

Pharmacies are only “unaffected in the sense that pharmacy staff are not striking”, he said.

“Naturally the work from one sector will always get shifted onto another and when funding and staffing are so stretched already, the ongoing strikes are not helping”, he added.

Read more: UPDATED: Halt PQS until pharmacy funded fairly, PSNC tells government

The phone lines “have never been busier” and patients “are walking into pharmacies more reaching out for advice", Mr Singh said.

Pharmacies are also seeing “a lot more” referrals from NHS 111 to the community pharmacist consultation service (CPCS), some of which “are not appropriate referrals for pharmacies to deal with and need onward referral”, he added.  

“Staff are going home stressed and at points it feels unsafe to continue delivering what we are without the right resources,” he told C+D.

Read more: Petition to 'save our pharmacies' tops 1.8k signatures in one day

“At a time when healthcare needs to pull together and support and respect our colleagues for choosing to strike, it is unfair to say the strikes will not have an effect on our workload,” he added.

C+D approached NHSE for further comment.

It comes as the pharmacy negotiator last week said that the government must press pause on the rollout of the upcoming Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) unless it invests more money into community pharmacies.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) said that community pharmacies in England are already in a "desperate position" and cannot cope with additional workload.