RPS Scotland has today [Wednesday 18 March 2020] welcomed the announcement that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will be given access to the Emergency Care Summary (ECS) as part of the Scottish Government’s COVID-19 response.
Jonathan Burton, Chair of RPS Scotland, said: “RPS has been campaigning for a long time to get access to patient records for all pharmacists. Today’s announcement is a very welcome first step and is a positive move forward for patient care in these unprecedented times.
“Pharmacists and their teams are working flat out to support the public and the NHS. We want to ensure the government continues to support the vital role that pharmacy teams have in caring for their local communities. Yesterday we published 6 essential asks that we believe are vital to enabling pharmacy to cope with the workload they are facing.
“Pharmacy teams are often the first place the public go for health care and we are seeing a significant increase in the number of people attending their local pharmacy. It’s vital that staff should feel safe to continue looking after patients. We are calling for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to be made available to those pharmacy teams who need it. Frontline staff, including pharmacists and their staff, must be protected, and testing them for the virus should also be a priority.
“We expect to see an increased impact on pharmacy services, which are already under pressure. Pharmacists in both secondary and primary care settings are key to supporting medicines safety and providing frontline services to patients. It is essential that all pharmacists supporting the health service are given access to health and wellbeing support at this crucial time.”
