Through this arrangement, the details of more than 1100 locums in England were passed on to the NHS, and those individuals should have been contacted about getting the vaccination. The PDA was also able to provide information on how to book or pass details to relevant health boards in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland to support members based there when they registered details through the portal.
The PDA is issuing a very short questionnaire to assess how the process worked so both they and the NHS can learn from pharmacists’ experience, should a similar process be needed in the future.
As NHS England have now created their own portal for all health professionals, the PDA has closed their arrangement and is encouraging any members who still need to organise a vaccination to book online at www.nhs.uk/covid-vaccination. Different schemes are in operation in other UK nations. Anyone working in frontline healthcare roles, yet to have a vaccination should contact their local health board.
Alison Jones, Director of Stakeholder Engagement at the PDA said: “Because we are concerned about the interests of all pharmacists, we provided the portal for any locum, whether already a PDA member or not, to support them to access a Covid-19 vaccination as a priority.
Throughout this pandemic, the PDA has taken action to help the profession, as well as providing support to our members, in what has been a period of unprecedented challenges. We are really pleased that so many locum pharmacists were helped by our portal and would like to thank NHS England for agreeing to our offer of providing the service.”