Health authorities have been told to issue written public guarantees by local pharmaceutical committee chairmen that community pharmacies will "open as usual" over the Christmas and New Year holiday period and that there will be special arrangements to cover holidays with an emergency service always available to dispense prescriptions.
The NHS Executive has said that HAs should arrange the preparation and publication of local guarantees using a standard form. The guarantees are to be signed by HA and trust chief executives, primary care group and LPC chairmen, and by local social services directors.
In addition to the pharmacy element, other aspects include the availability of family doctor services, with comprehensive out-of-hours cover, availability of social services for vulnerable people and a commitment to high quality hospital, emergency and primary care services.
"Final preparations for the winter and millennium holiday including incident reporting and millennium operating regimes for the Year 2000 problem", HSC 1999/239. Department of Health, PO Box 777, London SE1 6XH (fax 01623 724524, internet http://www.doh.gov.uk/coinh.htm).