This article was created on 24th March 2020
Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s televised address on 23rd March, the country is on lockdown. As movement has been restricted with only a handful of exceptions, Pharmacy2U would like to update our patients on the steps we’re taking to limit disruption to our service.
Pharmacy2U continuing to help patients
Pharmacies provide essential NHS services so the Pharmacy2U team are classed as ‘critical sector workers’. This means that we’re able to operate fully to dispense your prescriptions throughout the pandemic. Your medication will still be delivered using Royal Mail, which is another essential service and is currently operating in the normal way. You can keep updated on any service announcements from Royal Mail here: Coronavirus update.
Expect delays due to unprecedented demand
Understandably, the demand for our service has increased significantly in a short period of time. As such, orders are now taking approximately 5 working days longer to process than usual, once a prescription has been issued by your GP.
Please only order medication when you need it. We’re working hard with GPs to ensure that patients get the right medication at the right time but stockpiling of medication should be avoided to protect the rest of the population.
What we are doing for you
Our team is working around the clock to support our patients and we have recruited over 100 additional people for our customer care, clinical and logistics departments with further recruitment under way. We’re also working hard with our suppliers to ensure a continuous supply of medication and have good availability across the majority of medicines.
Our logistics teams are working tirelessly to get your medication to you and through new recruits, extending shifts to 24/7 and continuing to streamline our processes we have increased our capacity by over 25%.
We are in regular contact with organisations including NHS England, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, other pharmacy companies, and our regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council, following the latest guidance, sharing best practices, and continuing to operate to the highest levels of care under these exceptional circumstances.
We have implemented a social distancing policy within our business to ensure that our staff remain healthy and able to work, and those staff who are able to do so are working from home.
What you can do to help our teams
Please only contact Pharmacy2U:
- If you have less than 4 days before your medication supply runs out
- If you cannot get online for help or cannot find the answer to your query on our website
- If your query is urgent
Please have your account number ready to help us answer your questions as quickly as possible. We do understand these are stressful times but please be considerate of our staff. They are doing everything they can to support you and so we kindly ask that you treat them with respect, so they can be as quick and efficient as possible in answering your queries.
Before you contact us, please visit our dedicated coronavirus hub for the latest news and information on our service levels:
Please visit your online account if you have a query regarding the status of your order.
What to do if you have a query specifically about the coronavirus
We ask that you visit the NHS coronavirus website if you have any questions about social distancing or you’re looking for general advice. We are also following their guidelines.
NHS.UK Coronavirus information
Use the NHS 111 Coronavirus service
These are extraordinary and difficult times for everyone, but once again, we urge our patients to follow the government and NHS guidelines to ensure the most vulnerable in our communities and our amazing healthcare workers can be protected from this virus. Our NHS is under unimaginable pressure and everyone at Pharmacy2U would like to thank all the dedicated NHS staff for looking after us and our loved ones at this time. We, and all pharmacies, are working tirelessly to help our patients and reduce the strain on other NHS front line services and we will all continue to do so.
Phil Day
Superintendent Pharmacist
