April 2020

Like many of you in pharmacies, I have found the past few weeks exhausting, unsettling, and as of 23 March, overwhelming and rather frightening

Pharmacists were still crying out for guidance from their sector leaders and the Government on the same day prime minister Jacinda Ardern announced they would stay open while the rest of New Zealand shut for a month. 

Staff and customers at Otahuhu 7 Day Chemist are happier now that owner Gavin Pitt has erected a large plastic screen to prevent transmission of COVID-19. 

As New Zealanders’ COVID-19 concerns climbed and with the economic impact hitting businesses, dollars were rapidly accumulating in the tills of pharmacies last month as customer numbers soared. 

We’ve all heard about panic buying at the supermarkets in response to the COVID-19 pandemic but pharmacies are now struggling to keep popular medicines in stock thanks to widespread medicines stockpiling.  

The Pharmacy Council is getting ready to recall former pharmacists if a larger pharmacy workforce is needed to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. 

There is still no firm date on when DHBs will progress the potential minor ailments scheme for New Zealand pharmacy but a report detailing the scheme will be presented this year. 

This month, Pharmacy Today launches a new feature – On the front line – where we talk to a staff member on the pharmacy front line. From retail sales superstars to dispensary managers, we get to know the luminaries at ground zero who make the sector tick. This month, community pharmacist and president of the Independent Pharmacists Association Danni Yu answers our questions

Pharmac has announced an extension to the feedback submission deadline for its proposal to add 31 medications that can be supplied under stat dispensing. 

The Pharmacy Guild has announced a partnership with Pharmacy Sleep Services which offers participating pharmacies an in-pharmacy programme for the testing, diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea.