Pharmacy staff should not work if Covid positive, says RPS
The RPS has recommended that pharmacy staff do not attend their place of work if they test positive for Covid-19.
This comes after Well Pharmacy announced last month that it was their employees personal choice whether they report to work after testing positive for Covid, although staff are encouraged to ‘think of others’.
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In a statement, published on its website on Friday (6 May), RPS said pharmacists and pharmacy staff have a ‘professional responsibility’ to follow infection control procedures to ‘protect patients’.
‘This includes self-isolating if they have tested positive for Covid-19 or have symptoms of a respiratory infection and high temperature,’ it said.
The RPS added that pharmacies are often accessed by patients who may be vulnerable to Covid infection.
‘It is [therefore] essential that mitigations are observed to prevent the spread of Covid by both the public and by pharmacy staff in all health care environments, including community pharmacies and other patient-facing pharmacy services such as in general practices and hospitals,’ it explained.
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UK Health Security Agency data, published daily, has shown Covid rates are continuing to fall with 11,076 people testing positive over the last 24 hours, down by a tenth compared with last week.
However, public health experts have warned case numbers are becoming increasingly unreliable after free testing was stopped by the Government last month.
What does national NHS guidance say?
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The latest NHS guidance states that all healthcare staff - including pharmacy teams -- with a positive Covid-19 test result should stay at home for five days, and that patient-facing staff can only return to work after two consecutive negative results taken 24 hours apart.
It is strongly recommended that all public-facing health and social care staff should do an LFT twice a week.
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That's great advice, however a lot of us that don't work directly for the NHS do not get paid sick pay. My employer pays SSP at £95 a week! who can live on that in the current economic climate. I agree staying away is the responsible thing to do but it's not fair that we should be out of pocket for doing the right thing.