England’s chief pharmaceutical officer has promised more help for community pharmacists caught in the grip of the Covid-19 crisis and praised pharmacies for doing “an amazing job”.

Endorsing yesterday’s statement from GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin condemning the abuse directed at pharmacy teams, Dr Keith Ridge said on Twitter: “We’re developing more public facing communications and support to help community pharmacies asap. Community pharmacies are part of the NHS team and doing an amazing job.”

Dr Ridge and NHS England director of primary care strategy and NHS contracts, Ed Waller, will be holding the first of fortnightly webinars on Covid-19 community pharmacy preparedness on Wednesday (March 25) between 7-8pm. Due to numbers, participants will be unable to speak but comments and questions can be submitted via the chat function. Connect shortly before it starts.