Escalating pharmacy closures forcing patients, who are being treated for addiction to illegal substances, to turn to the illegal market, warns PDA.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) recently provided written evidence to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry on reducing the harm from illegal drugs, specifically highlighting the impact of temporary pharmacy closures on patients.
As defined by the association, a temporary closure is “where the pharmacy business, despite being contracted to the NHS to be open and to provide services to the public decides instead to close the pharmacy for partial days or one or more consecutive full days.”
This creates a barrier for patients to access treatment supporting their recovery from the use of illegal drugs, it said.
The PDA drew the Committee’s attention to the failure of the health departments to address the issue of temporary pharmacy closures, which has escalated significantly in the recent past.
As evidence, the PDA provided the Committee with published information along with data obtained by the association from Freedom of Information requests that showed the wide scale and GB-wide nature of temporary pharmacy closures.
Responding to the inquiry, the PDA also outlined the role of pharmacists in helping patients being treated for addiction to illegal substances, including the supply of controlled drugs such as methadone.
“The supply of methadone from pharmacies, which is personally supervised by a pharmacist, ensures that these vulnerable patients have access to safe and legal medicines as a substitute to illegally obtained opioids,” the PDA said.
The association added that even the smallest disruption in accessing the treatment can force vulnerable patients to turn to the illegal market with all the consequential risks.
Hence, it concluded that the issue of temporary pharmacy closures and the wider issue of permanent pharmacy closures “must be considered” when patients are being supported to withdraw from buying drugs on the illegal market.
The PAC accepted and published 22 written submissions in their call for evidence on these issues, including the evidence submitted by the PDA.
