Many pharmacies across Kent will close for extended lunch hours each day to clean, restock and give staff a break as demand for medicines soars.

Shilpa Shah, chief officer of the Kent and Medway Local Pharmaceutical Committee, said services were operating under "immense pressure" around the clock and may now have to reduce hours.

The pharmacist said practices would remain open wherever possible but some may shut intermittently and in some cases for longer than an hour.

Boots is among those chemists affected and said its stores' opening hours were being determined on a case-by-case basis.

It added they may take the local decision to "flex" their hours to manage unforeseen circumstances, such as "additional cleaning requirements, catching up with the high volume of prescriptions or reduced staffing."

Ms Shah said longer lunch time closures were essential to ensure vital tasks were carried out safely.

She added: “Community pharmacy teams are a really important part of the NHS and, like all other NHS workers, they are under immense pressure at the moment."

It comes after pharmacists were snubbed in the government's published list of key workers, listed as "distributors of medicine".

With GPs now operating online and over the phone only, they are now the only recognised medical service still open on the high streets.

She said: "It should be noted that, frustratingly, the hard work and dedication of pharmacists and their teams seems to be going unrecognized.

"We are seeing lots of posts on social media thanking doctors, nurses, paramedics, etc but nothing thanking pharmacists and their teams."
The chief officer is now urging people to be patient and take some simple steps to ensure pharmacies can continue doing their job.

This includes avoiding pharmacies if you are showing symptoms of Covid-19 and refraining from stockpiling.

Barrie Smith, who leads the Paydens Pharmacy in Larkfield, near West Malling, said his staff were truly "unsung NHS heroes" after their workload tripled in the last few days.

He said: "The pressure on pharmacy staff to keep essential services going has been relentless and emotionally draining.

"Trying to make sense of what is happening outside and what it means to them and their families is torn against their conscience of the need to be at work in the pharmacy and continue to ensure the supply chain of essential medicines.

"To meet the unprecedented demand, many pharmacies have had to stop non-NHS funded services so that staff time can be redeployed into essential services, to ensure asthmatics have their inhalers and diabetics have their insulin."

He added: "Many pharmacies are now closing for lunch to allow for staff rest and for catch up of workload."

One pharmacist made a heartfelt plea to people who were physically and abusing his staff during the coronavirus.

Dr Sohail Karim, a director at Hempstead Pharmacy in Gillingham, posted on social media that bad behaviour towards his hard-working team would not be tolerated and, if necessary, he would have culprits removed.

He wrote: "It has saddened me that we have had recent incidents where many patients and certain members of the public are placing unfair stress, pressurising with impatience and uncalled-for attitude as well as being unnecessarily rude to my staff who are working tirelessly for the entire day and early part of the evening to help our community and beyond.

"By the end of our working session, we are physically and mentally exhausted and I need everyone who visits us to understand that we are only human; we have feelings, have families who we are also worried for (and now cannot be with) and many of us are ‘patients’ ourselves, yet we are still here to look after you as best we can and to the best of our ability under the current situation.

"Working together during this difficult time will help us keep the flow of medicines reasonable and fair for all."

Other chemists have been blasted on social media for selling products such as hand gel for higher prices.

A Swanley pharmacist, who did not wish to be named, said such claims were deeply misleading and a result of "wholesalers shooting up their prices".

He explained this only related to anti-bacterial gel which had more than 70% alcohol content, making price comparisons with supermarkets selling regular sanitizer below that volume unfair.

"What the average Joe Bloggs does not realise is the circumstances staff are working in", he said, adding: "I myself am going to deliver medicines after work".

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