Published: 17/12/21

As we approach the festive period, we wanted to thank pharmacy teams for your hard work in the recent period of high demand.

To the Community Pharmacy Network from The Scottish Government

As we approach the festive period, we wanted to thank pharmacy teams for your hard work in the recent period of high demand. The community pharmacy network is a vital part of our public health response to COVID-19 and that is reflected in the impact the network has had on access to LFD test kits since the introduction of the Pharmacy Collect arrangements in June of this year. Community pharmacies in Scotland have distributed over 1.3 million packs – which is almost 10 million tests – helping to keep us all safe during this time.

Community pharmacies remain one of the quickest and most accessible routes to access test kits and the Scottish Government will continue to promote other routes that are available, including online. To support this, the Scottish Government have worked with the UK Government to double the capacity of the online ordering system for the public.

To help ease pressure on pharmacy teams in what is the busiest operational time of the year for you, we have reduced the data collection requirement until 9 January (inclusive), returning to the original operating procedure from 10 January. We will continue to monitor the demand through community pharmacies and consider any need to extend beyond the current agreement. We have provided updated data requirements and instructions on the recording process and this has been communicated to your teams through Community Pharmacy Scotland – details can be found at LFD Collect Service – Process Simplified — Community Pharmacy Scotland (cps.scot). For the period this means pharmacies only have to log the batch number of boxes distributed. This is also outlined in the attached SOP on page 6, point 3Ad.

We would encourage you to continue placing daily orders. This will ensure sufficient stock availability across the network. We would also encourage you to place the attached posters in your display windows to show that your pharmacy is participating in Pharmacy Collect. Colleagues at Community Pharmacy Scotland have also provided posters that can be displayed to show when you are in or out of stock to help minimise unnecessary footfall - Resource: LFD Test Kit Out of Stock Poster — Community Pharmacy Scotland (cps.scot).

Importantly, LFD test kits are available to everyone and do not require a prescription or the need to register for any form of community pharmacy services. It is also essential when distributing LFD test kits that we remind people that those who test positive should self-isolate and book a PCR test: around one in three people who have COVID-19 have no symptoms, and so can pass the virus to others without knowing. Evidence suggests lateral flow tests are as effective at identifying COVID-19 Omicron cases as they are for Delta cases.

By supporting the people of Scotland to undertake these tests regularly and especially before social gatherings, we can significantly reduce the risk of inadvertently passing the virus onto others. It is important to note that lateral flow tests are for people with no symptoms. The key cardinal symptoms of COVID-19 are a high temperature or fever, a new continuous cough or a loss of or change in sense of smell or taste.

Thank you for your ongoing support and we wish you a happy Christmas and New Year.

Best wishes,

Scottish Government
Pharmacy and Medicines Division
Directorate for Chief Medical Officer

Testing and Contact Tracing Policy Division
COVID Public Health Directorate