Community pharmacies have played a vital role the length and breadth of Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government has recognised this contribution and their commitment to expand NHS Pharmacy First is welcome. Parliamentary committees should investigate the success of this expansion and how community pharmacies are being supported. Committees should also investigate how community pharmacies can be supported in undertaking vaccinations and the role they could play in delivering the NHS flu vaccination programme. This would ease pressure on over-stretched GP surgeries and provide a friendly, professional service at a place that is convenient and accessible for people in towns and communities across the country. Similarly, the committee should investigate how community pharmacists can best be supported, e.g. through the expansion of independent prescribing rights or access to shared patient records, in their integration into multidisciplinary primary care teams that support local communities.
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