Local pharmacies now stocking COVID tests

Community pharmacy teams in Peterborough are this month starting to offer free coronavirus (COVID-19) test kits as they help to support the lifting of national restrictions and the pandemic recovery.

The new ‘Pharmacy Collect’ service will make coronavirus test kits – known as lateral flow devices – readily available to people without symptoms free of charge from local NHS pharmacies.

Pharmacy Collect offers a convenient location to collect these test kits from. NHS Test and Trace research found that people prefer to access testing close to home, with pharmacists trusted by their local communities. The consumer healthcare association, Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB), also found that since the start of the pandemic, almost one in three people ​are now more likely to visit a pharmacy for advice before seeking help elsewhere.

Anyone can request a box of test kits from the pharmacy counter for regular testing at home or elsewhere.

The test distribution service from pharmacies, along with other locations, sits under NHS Test and Trace and forms part of the Government’s COVID-19 roadmap plan. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Easter Monday that everyone in England would be given access to two free coronavirus tests a week. It is hoped that widening the offer of tests will help to identify COVID-positive cases in the community and break the chain of transmission, avoiding the need for further lockdowns.

You can use the NHS Test and Trace Site Finder map to locate participating pharmacies in your area: https://maps.test-and-trace.nhs.uk/