Coping with civil unrest or other local emergencies (August 2024): NPA advice

5th August 2024

Protecting your staff and pharmacy premises, actions to take, reporting crime and considerations.
At the first signs of your pharmacy business being affected ensure you take action to keep your pharmacy, staff and patients/customers safe. Lock your doors, put shutters down and call the police on 999/101.

NPA statement: https://www.inpharmacy.co.uk/2024/08/05/npa-condemns-riots-and-anti-immigrant-intimidation

In this update:

Protecting your pharmacy tips

  • Ensure your CCTV system is fully operational
  • Ensure premises is alarmed and alarm system is fully operational
  • Ensure staff know how to raise an alarm if they identify any threats
  • Consider whether engaging security guards temporarily may help, if possible
  • Ensure any suspicious activity is reported to security and/or police
  • Check the building and surrounding areas regularly – use CCTV
  • Identify areas on premises that may be vulnerable to forced entry and take action to secure these areas
  • Check and make sure all service doors are kept locked and secure including when not in use
  • Move high value goods away from display windows overnight
  • Keep minimum cash / valuables on the premises, keep secured and locked away where possible

Assessing risk to pharmacy

  • Risk assess to situation based on local knowledge and any information/guidance issued by the local council and police locally to determine if it is safe or not to open the pharmacy, or to keep it open.
  • This is a constantly changeable situation; there have been reports of unrest in various areas around the country.
  • Consider the local situation and whether you have been asked to close; for example, by the police or local NHS team.
  • Consider drawing up contingency plans in the event your pharmacy is asked to close in the event of crime, unrest or other local emergency.
  • Based on your risk assessment, decide if it is safe to keep the pharmacy open, or to not open it.
  • Determine risk to staff travelling to and from home – see below.
  • At the first signs of your pharmacy business being affected ensure you take action to keep your pharmacy, staff and patients/customers safe. Lock your doors, put shutters down and call the police on 999/101.
  • Activate your business plan for unplanned/ emergency /pharmacy closure due to circumstances beyond your control.
  • Keep a robust record of your risk assessment and actions taken.

Assessing risk to staff travelling to and from work

  • Risk assess to situation based on local knowledge and any information/guidance issued by the local council and police locally to determine whether it is safe for your staff to travel to the pharmacy or not. Considerations can include:
    • Distance to travel
    • Mode of transportation
    • Vulnerabilities
    • Threat level
    • Any alerts in your area or their area
    • Has police advised not to travel
    • Safety measures in place locally
  • Based on the risk assessment, decide if it is or is not safe for your staff to travel to work, or travel home from work.
  • Raise awareness with staff on actions to take if they get caught up in any accidents or civil unrest while travelling to/from work – this includes informing staff about the RUN, HIDE, TELL approach: https://www.protectuk.police.uk/advice-and-guidance/response/run-hide-tell.
  • If it is not possible to keep the pharmacy open due to safety concerns for you, your staff, patients – activate your business plan for unplanned/emergency pharmacy closure due to circumstances beyond your control.
  • Keep a robust record of your risk assessment and actions taken.

Contacting police

What to do if you have experienced damage to your pharmacy?

Reporting crime – violence against staff / damage to pharmacy: https://www.police.uk/pu/contact-us/what-and-how-to-report/how-to-report/

Considerations

  • Have the police asked you to shut your pharmacy if so, consider the length of time the pharmacy is expected to remain shut and contact your local NHS team to inform them of the instruction to do so.
  • If police have not yet instructed closure of your pharmacy, consider the safety of your staff and customers if a riot does break out in your area.
  • Check with your local NHS team / LPC if they have information on which pharmacies in your locality are still trading and which ones are forced closures.
  • Put a notice outside your pharmacy informing customers of the closure with details of the nearby pharmacies which may still be open.
  • Liaise closely with your local GP practices and inform them of your closure. Advise them to direct patients to non-affected pharmacies to have any urgent medicines dispensed. For all non-urgent requests, patients may be advised to wait until the pharmacy can re-open safely.
  • Liaise with your wholesalers to try and re-arrange deliveries outside of the expected closure times.
  • Consider substance misuse prescriptions (methadone and buprenorphine). Advise clinics to inform clients of your closure times and to try and pick up their supplies outside of these. Clinics may wish to issue single supply prescriptions in the event clients are unable to have supplies dispensed at their usual pharmacy. There is no ‘legal’ way in which a part dispensed prescription can be transferred to another pharmacy for the remaining instalments to be dispensed. Critically affected pharmacies could speak to their local CD Accountable Office for their views on maintaining services locally.
  • Inform the local NHS team of the damage to your premises and your ability to provide pharmacy services to the community. You may have to decide whether you are able to provide basic NHS services such as the dispensing of prescriptions only.
  • Consider closure of the pharmacy if the security of your customers, staff, and the business are severely compromised, you will need to inform your local NHS team if you choose to do this.
  • Are any medicines waiting to be delivered? How will patients be contacted? Supplied their medicines? Are any deliveries waiting to be made?

Refusal to provide medicines, appliances or services

If a customer/patient is behaving badly, and there is dread/fear of abusive and/or physical behaviour towards you/your team, the pharmacy can refuse to provide a particular pharmacy services (including the dispensing of a prescription). All employers have a health and safety responsibility to ensure the well-being of their staff in both a physical and mental capacity – whether this is the pharmacy team as a whole, or one individual.

All individuals refused a service should be signposted appropriately. If a prescription has been refused, then the prescriber should be made aware and all necessary records made on the patient’s medication record, and pharmacy log, if applicable.

Looking after your and your team’s health and wellbeing

NPA support

Tel: 03301230558 / email: employmentadvice@npa.co.uk

Signposting

 

CRN 24-08-SU09
First published: 5/08/2024