The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has called for pharmacy employers to put plans in place for the possibility of power cuts, following the National Grid’s warning earlier this month that the UK will be more likely to experience power cuts this winter if Russia shuts off gas supplies.

The PDA said that it had heard concerns from some pharmacists that their employer seemed to have not yet planned for the possibility of power cuts, leading to worries that frontline pharmacists would have to deal with the situation without an agreed contingency action prepared. The PDA said that pharmacists are considering what potential power cuts may mean for patients, for the operation of a pharmacy, and for the safe and secure management of medicines.

The PDA called for all pharmacy employers, including NHS, community pharmacy, and GP practices, ‘to consider this possibility now and consider their business continuity plans for such an event’, and communicate these plans to reassure pharmacists and other staff.

The PDA said that the National Grid would protect hospitals from the impact of power cuts, but that other locations, such as community pharmacies, might be affected by power cuts impacting their local area.

The Department of Health and Social Care confirmed that businesses, including primary care contractors and pharmacies, should have business continuity plans in place for the possibility of power supply disruption, to ensure that they can continue to deliver services to patients and customers with as minimal disruption as possible.

It added that while the government does have plans in place to respond to potential power cuts this winter, including the long-standing National Emergency Plan for Downstream Gas and Electricity and the Electricity Supply Emergency Code, this did not mean that the government was expecting these scenarios to occur.

A government spokesperson said: ‘DHSC works closely with organisations across the whole health and care sector to plan for a range of scenarios that could pose a risk to health and care services, including the risk of disruption to power supplies.

‘We have also put plans in place to secure energy supply and the National Grid, working alongside energy suppliers and Ofgem, will launch a voluntary service to reward users who reduce demand at peak times.’

The PDA said that following its enquiries, the Scottish government had confirmed that in the event of a power outage, the overall responsibility for the NHS is with the Scottish Government Health Resilience group, who were working with all parts of the Health and Social Care Directorate to put plans in place for the NHS in Scotland, including a review of the civil contingencies list.

It said that the Scottish Government had said that primary care contractors ‘should, as a matter of course have business continuity plans and be engaging locally with their Health Boards as appropriate.’

The PDA shared guidance from the National Grid on its website which proposed paying people and businesses to change their electricity use to off-peak times. The scheme is expected to launch in November.