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Easter Opening Hours- Reminder
Easter Bank Holidays
Good Friday (10th April 2009) and Easter Monday (13th April 2009) are considered included as if the pharmacy was ordinarily open on that day of the week and therefore are days which the pharmacy is not required to open, unless the PCT has issued directions for the pharmacy to open (for reasonable payment) or the pharmacy has agreed to open.
It is good practice for pharmacies to notify PCTs of their intentions to open over Bank Holiday periods. This allows pharmacies to be transparent to the PCT and give indication of what services will be available to patients over these periods so that PCTs are able to plan out-of-hours pharmacy provision during holiday periods.
Pharmacies can choose whether they want to open on Easter Monday and Good Friday. PSNC are urging pharmacies to act now if they want to make a change to their opening hours on these days and some PCTs are already contacting pharmacies to check their opening hours over this period.
Easter Sunday
Contractors should note that Easter Sunday is not a Bank Holiday, and therefore a pharmacy providing core opening hours on Easter Sunday would be required to keep the pharmacy open during all their declared hours. If a pharmacy wishes to change their core hours on this day they should apply to the PCT for consent to change their contractual hours at least 90 days in advance. As the PCT may refuse applications for amendment of core contractual hours, additional time should be allowed in case an appeal is to be considered.
The PCT cannot give consent to a ‘100 hour' pharmacy to reduce its core contracted hours below 100 hours, so the Sunday hours that form part of the core contracted 100 hours would need to be distributed to other days of that week, to ensure the total remains not less than 100.
If the hours they open on Easter Sunday are all supplementary hours and the pharmacy wants to change these hours for this day, then they should notify the PCT giving at least 90 days notice.
Sunday Trading Act
This Acts prevents large retail shops (greater than 280 square metres) from opening on Sundays. Under normal circumstances pharmacies can open if the following conditions can be met:
1. Small pharmacies (i.e. not exceeding 280 sq m.)
2. Large pharmacies that are not open for the retail sale of any goods other than medicinal products and medical and surgical appliances;
3. Large pharmacies that have notified the local authority that they are to open on Sunday for a total of not more than 6 hours (opening not earlier than 10am and closing not later than 6pm)
However, on Easter Sunday, option 3 is not available. Therefore with regards to Easter Sunday, a large pharmacy that cannot conduct its pharmacy business so that only medicinal products and medical and surgical appliances are sold is prevented from opening. Therefore if a large pharmacy has core hours on Easter Sunday, and cannot make arrangements to enable it to comply with the Sunday Trading Acts, it should apply to the PCT at least 90 days in advance of Easter Sunday to see if the PCT will consent to the core hours being changed and covered on other days that week. If such a pharmacy has supplementary hours on a Sunday, it must notify the PCT with at least 90 days notice of its intention not to open.
Deadlines for notification of change to supplementary hours to PCT
Easter Sunday 12th January 2009
If an application is needed for amendment to core contractual hours, this should be done at least 90 days in advance, and should allow time for appeals if necessary.
Posted 23 December 2008