The National Pharmacy Association has told the latest phase of the Covid inquiry that pharmacies were often overlooked by the last government and did not receive the support other frontline healthcare workers enjoyed during the pandemic.

Lawyer Lee John-Charles, speaking on behalf of the NPA, told the inquiry as it begins the 10 weeks of evidence-gathering into Covid’s impact on the NHS, that pharmacies played a crucial role but were “under-recognised.”

Using testimonies from pharmacists, he said the “most significant and demoralising” example of that was when pharmacy staff were initially excluded from the Life Assurance Scheme for frontline workers in England.

“That was despite being part of NHS primary care, risking their lives to treat patients, and dealing with a huge surge in demand and increase in working hours,” John-Charles said.

He urged the inquiry to “fully examine the circumstances that gave rise to this remarkable omission.”

John-Charles also reminded the inquiry that pharmacies did not initially have access to personal protective equipment when other healthcare professionals did.

He said many pharmacy teams had to source and fund their own PPE and were unable to get equipment through the NHS PPE portal until August 2020, five months into the pandemic.

“The supply of PPE was a challenge and pharmacy teams put themselves at risk to help patients stay well, often working in close proximity to others and reusing PPE repeatedly for days or even weeks,” John-Charles said.

He told the inquiry pharmacies were resilient and committed to serving the public despite facing severe challenges and urged the inquiry to consider those qualities when responding to a future pandemic.

“A strong community pharmacy network is an essential element of healthcare services in UK,” he said.

“The NPA invites the inquiry to consider the role of community pharmacy in pandemic planning and in the overall resilience of the UK’s healthcare system to respond to a future pandemic.”