Some well-earned respite will soon be available for community pharmacy teams who have been at the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic response since it started in March.
Many community pharmacists continue to be under tremendous pressure and have not been able to take sufficient time off from work to maintain their well-being.
A fund of $1.7 million (the Fund), enabling workload relief for overstretched community pharmacy teams, has been set up. The Ministry of Health (the Ministry) has made the Fund available and asked the Pharmacy Council (the Council) to administer it, in alignment with key policy criteria and outcomes.
The Fund is targeted to community pharmacy teams that meet criteria such as: working in a community pharmacy, providing services to Māori and/or Pacific peoples, possibly working as a sole practitioner, and those in independent, or independent franchise-held pharmacies.
The Council is confident that actions taken to separate the administration of the fund from the Council’s regulatory arm, will allay any concerns in the sector about the Council’s role in bringing relief to over-stretched community pharmacy teams.
Our message to you is two-fold; applications for pharmacy team relief are open, and if you have work availability to provide relief, please let us know.
Applications to the Pharmacy Team Relief Fund
The fund will be administered in three tranches in order to ensure the fund is targeted to those most in need. One application per licensed pharmacy, per tranche, will be reviewed and put into priority order. Once a pharmacy has a successful application, no further application for that pharmacy should be made.
The initial tranche of funding of $500,000 is now available for applications received before 5pm Sunday 18 October 2020. Please note, applications will be prioritised according to criteria outlined in the Pharmacy Team Relief Fund Policy and Process.
Community pharmacists and community pharmacy employers are encouraged to apply to the Fund, for the benefit of their pharmacy teams.
Offers to provide pharmacist or technician services
We are seeking pharmacists and technicians (with level 5 certificate and above), who have some work availability, to offer to provide their services to pharmacy teams needing workload relief.
If you have work availability from now until Friday 18 December 2020, in the first instance, and beyond into early 2021, please let us know.
We would greatly appreciate early offers, in order to establish the resources that are available. Please send us your offer form, with a current C.V., by Friday 16 October 2020 where at all possible, although, the final date for offers is Thursday 26 November 2020.
If this email does not apply to you, but you know of a pharmacist who may be in need of relief, or could provide services, please forward this email to them.
Thank you
Pharmacy Council
Click the link for more information on
applying to the Pharmacy Team Relief Fund
(Includes links to the Fund Policy and Process and the Application Form)
Click the link for more information on
offering to provide pharmacist or technician services
(Includes links to the Fund Policy and Process, Pharmacist Offer of Assistance form and the Technician Offer of Assistance form)