COVID-19 – Terminal for community pharmacy?

There is no doubt that community pharmacists and their teams have been heroes since the COVID pandemic broke and we have saluted them for their work in this blog .

The problem is that it could mark the last stand of community pharmacy as we know it.

Why could the heroics mark the end?

Community pharmacy have proved an invaluable service in communities when many other businesses have been forced to close. People have been able to buy products they haven’t bought for years from their local pharmacy but pharmacies have also seen a massive increase in anti-social behaviour by customers towards pharmacy teams. It’s also hard to argue against the fact that higher use of internet pharmacies would have enabled more social distancing.

The other concern is that the current pandemic has not focused on the clinical input of pharmacists in the pandemic but on their supply function. My worry is that, when the dust settles on the pandemic, community pharmacies will be hailed as heroes (much lower down on the list than GPs and nurses as always.) However, when they look at planning for future Pandemics – both SARS and MERS have been within the last 20 years remember, community pharmacies may be seen as a high risk area for transmission and the online option preferred.

So what should community pharmacy, pharmacies and pharmacists do?

For years I have been arguing that community pharmacy’s obsession on buildings rather than professionals is it’s Achilles heal. The Government and more importantly the Public will never get emotionally attached or engage with a community pharmacy. A  pharmacy will not improve outcomes for patients through medication but a pharmacist could and should. Cries of a lack of funding when multinational companies invest heavily in community pharmacy don’t ring true.

In my view we need to separate supply or medicines and medicines optimisation. Allow contractors to supply medication and make their usual profits from good purchasing but contract with individual pharmacists for the provision of medicines optimisation and medicines management services.

I realise this would mark a fundamental change in the practice of pharmacy but who would argue that this would allow pharmacists to flourish? Do we want pharmacy in the community to stay as it is now? Most I’m sure don’t so this may be the death knell for  pharmacy as it’s practiced now but maybe also an opportunity to drag it kicking and screaming into becoming a fully-fledged member of the primary care community. Thoughts?