North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson has praised the work of community pharmacies as they worked to support local residents throughout the COVID outbreak.
Justin recently met with pharmacist Gurinder Singh, and the owner of Taw Hill Pharmacy Charlie Wu to learn about how the COVID outbreak has impacted community pharmacies. He heard how staff had worked tirelessly to adapt to COVID conditions and meet the surge in demand, staying open later and even delivering prescriptions throughout lockdown.
Gurinder also highlighted to Justin the importance of flu jabs for the upcoming winter. Not only can flu jabs protect elderly and vulnerable people from flu but could also help COVID testing by reducing the number of people displaying the flu-like symptoms that might need to be tested. This year, for the first time anyone 50 to 64 years old will be able to get a flu jab for free as part of the second phase of vaccinations being rolled out later this year.
Justin Tomlinson said: “I'm a huge fan of community pharmacies, they are a key part of our fantastic health service and I want to do more to champion their role. As we saw during COVID, when access to GP services has been understandably challenging, the heroic efforts of our community pharmacies really made a massive difference. We need to make sure that these pharmacies remain an integrated part of our healthcare provision because we can see the clear demand for the services they provide."
