Medicine Supply

Medicines supply during Covid-19 and beyond

Many of us rely on our community pharmacy to provide a consistent supply of prescription medicines. It's good to know what services your chemist provides at the moment - from delivery to health advice and useful products.

This will continue throughout the Covid-19 recovery period, as pharmacies and chemist shops remain an essential service.

Some of these additional services may change, but your medicine supply will remain, as will other key services such as the influenza vaccination clinics many pharmacies now offer.

Maintaining your relationship with your community pharmacist helps to ensure any new medicines are carefully checked against the current list of medicines they have on your file.

What you may notice is a change in the way your pharmacy looks and the way you may be required to interact with your pharmacist.

These changes are important to minimise Covid-19 risks; pharmacy staff

The area in blue highlights pharmacies who responded to the survey and provide free delivery services, while the red shows those who deliver for a cost of $5 or less.

have been planning and adjusting their services to best ensure they can provide you with the right support throughout the pandemic.

Changes during Covid-19 An increase in barriers and markings to keep a safe physical distance from one another is something we’re adjusting to.

We’re also seeing an increase in the placement of perspex screens and the wearing of gloves and masks at some retailers. You may see some of these features in your community pharmacy, but you may also notice even more substantial changes to enable physical distancing.

Some pharmacies are completely adjusting their entrances to provide a service desk system, and recently we’ve sought to understand how many pharmacies are enabling their patients and customers to receive medicines from within the comforts of their own home.

This is particularly important to those over 70 years of age or who have otherwise identified as a vulnerable person during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Of 158 responses to a rapid online survey, 99% of pharmacists said they have developed home delivery services for prescription medicines.

Two thirds indicated this would be a free service and a quarter were able to provide delivery for $5 or less (in addition to the Government’s $5 co-payment required for each prescription for the first 20 prescriptions each year).

While not all pharmacies took part in this survey, it does indicate a promising sign that many Kiwis want their medicines to be home delivered as the country emerges from Covid-19 lockdown.

If home delivery is a service you’d like to explore further, I recommend you contact your regular community pharmacy in the first instance to see what kind of service they can provide to suit your needs.

If your regular community pharmacy doesn’t offer a delivery service and this is essential to you, it is important to explore alternatives to ensure your medicine supply can continue.

This may include support from a recognised volunteer agency, or you may consider an alternative community pharmacy that does offer home delivery, or an online pharmacy such as Zoom or PillDrop.

Dan Bernal, Associate Director of Allied Health in the Quality Improvement and Patient Safety team at Capital & Coast DHB, is also a pharmacist. He was previously Chief Pharmacist in Hawke's Bay. Keeping patients on top of their medications is a key focus of his work.