Supporting released prisoners: NHS England and NHS improvement guidance

NHS England and NHS Improvement has sent a letter to community pharmacies in England, providing information about how pharmacies can support people who have recently been released from prison or other detention settings to ensure that they have access to medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key points include:

· Because of the pandemic, it is likely that more patients will leave detention without the usual seven days’ supply of medicines or a prescription, and so will need urgent supplies of their medicines

· Pharmacies may be contacted by a released person’s probation officer to ask for advice on accessing medicines

· Patients taking methadone or buprenorphine in custody will have had all doses supervised and this will need to be continued on their release

· If newly released prisoners are self-isolating, they will need to have their medicines collected by someone else

The letter provides guidance on how to deal with these issues, as well as extra information for pharmacies that supply medicines to health and justice services. Read the full letter here