Lateral Flow Test Update – Friday 17 December PM Update

The unprecedented demand for lateral flow test kits from people testing due to the Omicron variant, combined with precautionary testing before the Christmas period continues. By Wednesday evening this week, Alliance Healthcare had almost delivered the entire weeks anticipated volume.

Please see below an important update regarding the lateral flow distribution as part of the Pharmacy Collect service Alliance Healthcare is supporting on behalf of UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

This update contains information specific to pharmacy customers in (1) England, and (2) Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

1. England 

Message on behalf of UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) 

A UKHSA spokesperson said: 

“We have issued a record number of rapid test kits to people across the country. There has been unprecedented demand for testing this week and around 400,000 test kits have been delivered to people’s homes each day to help combat the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). 
 

“Over 11 million tests have been distributed this week to pharmacies across the UK, which has doubled from last week.
 

“Today, Friday 17 December, we will be unable to provide some pharmacies with their test allocation and we are working hard to meet demand.
 

“If you have tests at home, we encourage people to use these or order for home delivery on gov.uk"

Further information: 

• – Due to exceptionally high demand, LFD tests are temporarily unavailable at pharmacies.

• – This is due to unprecedented demand from people testing due to the Omicron variant, combined with precautionary testing before the Christmas period.

• – You can find where to get a lateral flow tests kit on gov.uk.

• – We would encourage people to use any tests they may already have at home before ordering online at gov.uk

Posters to support pharmacy communications with patients 

The UKHSA has created a poster for pharmacies to download, print and display on premises, which you can find here. Zero tolerance posters are also available from the CRC as well which you can access here. 

Order information

You are advised to place orders as normal via their usual ordering systems. Orders may take up to three days from order placement to delivery.

Please use pip code 8943995 to place your order which will automatically defer to which ever product is in stock at the time.

You should only order 1 carton per day. Any orders above this quantity will not be supplied. Please continue to order via your normal ordering systems and the myahportal.

2. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland 

Due to the latest Government announcements, we have seen high demand for lateral flow tests. Our Coatbridge, Swansea and Belfast Service Centres may be experiencing delays on being able to supply orders. We have adjusted our order levels accordingly to meet any increased demand and stocks should be replenished regularly to meet the demand.

Order information

You are advised to place orders as normal via their usual ordering systems. Orders may take up to three days from order placement to delivery.

You should only order 1 carton per day. Any orders above this quantity will not be supplied. Please continue to order via your normal ordering systems and the myahportal (myahportal.co.uk).

3. Thank you

Alliance Healthcare would like to take this opportunity to thank community pharmacy and the NHS for its incredible efforts in the fight against COVID-19; to date, Alliance Healthcare UK has delivered over 200 million lateral flow kits to pharmacy across the UK. 

Message from the Pharmacy Collect team at UKHSA: 

"We would like to thank all staff at Alliance for their ongoing efforts to help distribute test kits on our behalf. We recognise that at times it can be challenging dealing with difficult calls and queries and want to acknowledge the hard work that all staff, such as people working in the warehouse, call centre and drivers, are doing to help the efforts in the fight against Covid." 

Lateral Flow Tests Update

Alliance Healthcare supports the Government's Pharmacy Collect scheme and its efforts to support UK patients in the fight against COVID-19. Due to the latest Government announcements we have seen high demand for lateral flow tests. We can confirm that some Alliance Healthcare Service Centres may be experiencing delays on being able to supply orders. 

We have adjusted our order levels accordingly to meet any increased demand and stocks should be replenished within the next 24-48 hours. Community pharmacy can only order 1 carton per day and should arrive within three days as part of normal Alliance Healthcare deliveries. In some areas, to alleviate the high volumes, some orders may arrive via Parcel Force, within a five day window. Pharmacy stores should continue to order in the same way via our ordering portal myahportal.

Christmas and New Year 2021/22 Bank Holiday Opening Hours now available

To help keep our customers informed of changes to our service, we have published our Christmas and New Year 2021/22 Bank Holiday opening hours.

Please click here for more information.

Full service offering maintained, in spite of absence challenges

COVID absence and ongoing driver shortages continue in certain areas across the UK. This has been well documented in the media across all industries at this time.

We continue to mitigate these issues with various initiatives. There are still challenges being felt in some areas but we have a continued recruitment drive which is helping to bring new colleagues into the business. We are also continuing to move some of our more experienced drivers from their home bases to hot spots around the UK. 

Our main aim, as ever, is to provide a stable service to our customers and, in turn, patients across the UK.

We will continue to keep you updated on the situation as it evolves.

Our August 2021 Bank Holiday Opening Hours

A reminder to our customers that our August 2021 Bank Holiday opening hours can be found by clicking here.

August 2021 Bank Holiday Opening Hours now available

To help keep our customers informed of changes to our service, we have published our August 2021 Bank Holiday opening hours. 

Click here

National Driver shortage

HGV drivers

It has been widely covered in the UK press that there is a shortage of HGV drivers available across the country.

As a business, Alliance Healthcare and all subsidiary companies have a strong network of HGV drivers. One third of our workforce have achieved long service awards, with more than ten years’ experience, and tremendous loyalty to the business. This gives us confidence that we are in a safe place with regard to employment in this sector and our role in supporting the UK patient.

Van drivers

With our daily driver population we are experiencing two main issues: COVID absence rates due to isolations and a recruitment shortage across the country. With one of these complications in isolation our service levels would be maintained, however with both at once, it does cause some difficulties.

You may have recently experienced some missing deliveries on occasion from certain service centres for which we apologise and hope this has not significantly impacted supply to your patients. Please be assured that where this has occurred, we have endeavoured to, and will continue to let you know as soon as possible and provide information through the myahprtal.

How we are mitigating the situation

On a day by day basis, teams across operations are working hard to ensure that these challenges impact service as little as possible. This includes dynamic route changing, prioritisation and altering staffing. There is also an ongoing recruitment drive to encourage drivers to join our business. We encourage you all to refer any individuals to us if they could be suitable for a role.

Committed to supporting our customers and patients

Despite these current challenges, maintaining a stable service to customers remains our priority and we thank you for your continued support. The UK patient is at the heart of everything we do and we appreciate your continued dedication.

We will continue to keep you updated on the situation as it evolves.

Monday 12 July 2021 Bank Holiday Opening Hours - Northern Ireland

Dear Customers

Please note that Belfast Service Centre will be closed on Monday 12 July and is offering full service on Tuesday 13 July.

Any orders placed over the weekend between 10-11 July will be delivered Tuesday 13 July AM.  If a customer is closed, delivery will be made on Wednesday 14 July.

Any orders placed on Monday 12 July, will be delivered on Tuesday 13 July.  If a customer is closed, delivery will be made on Wednesday 14 July.

In the event of an emergency (i.e., urgent CD lines being required) when Belfast Service Centre is open or closed, please call customer service on 0330 100 0448

Outside of normal opening hours, when you enter your account number, you will hear a message advising you of your supplying Service Centre which you will need to make a note of, you will then be directed to the out of hours security company who will handle your call and direct it to the appropriate service centre.

The previous numbers will no longer be in use, so please ensure you update your records with the number above to ensure there is no delay with your request.

Please note, all emergency call outs will incur a £100 charge, plus courier charges.

Late May 2021 Bank Holiday Opening Hours now available

To help keep our customers informed of changes to our service, we have published our Late May 2021 Bank Holiday opening hours.

Click here

We’re going paperless! Customer monthly statements available via myahportal

As part of our on-going commitment to reduce our impact on the environment as well as helping you self-serve, we would like to inform customers that Monthly Statements are available to access on myahportal and we will shortly stop sending customers printed copies.

From the July statement onwards, these will be online only via myahportal.co.uk.  From 5 August your monthly statements will no longer be posted.

Benefits to online statements:

1. Instant access to documents – no need to wait for the statement to arrive by post and you can also get access to a rolling 12 months’ of statements, which can be downloaded and stored on your local device

2. Quick, safe and secure – peace of mind that statements will only be accessible by authorised persons

3. Environmental impact – by reducing the need to print an average of four pages of paper per customer, we’ll save approximately 720,000 sheets of paper – that’s more than 50 trees a year, based on current statistics

4. Fuel Savings - help us and the Royal Mail reduce fuel consumption by removing approximately 180,000 statement delivered per year, thus reducing our carbon footprint - a major contributor to global climate change

The benefits don’t stop there! The portal provides you easy access to:

 - Ordering products with immediate access to AH Direct

 - Ordering all your surgical appliances fromNWOS

 - Reporting a missing product with instant access to E-Missings

 - Creating a returns note with access to ‘Returns’

 - View and access statements, invoices and credit notes through Your Docs (where applicable)

Here to Help

We would now like to encourage all customers to view their monthly statements on myahportal.co.uk and would be happy to support with any queries. If you experience any difficulties and require support please contact the Customer Portal Team on 0330 100 0448 – option 8 or email CustomerPortal@alliance-healthcare.co.uk with ‘Online Monthly Statements’ in the title of your email.

Thank you in advance for your support and co-operation with our move to online monthly statements.