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The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has advised pharmacies to continue providing rota services on Easter after learning that many pharmacies are unwilling to provide the services on Easter holidays. "It is extremely regrettable that community pharmacy representatives have advised that access to rota pharmacies in some parts of Northern Ireland will be reduced over the Easter holidays," department said. They have also stated that despite a commitment of recurrent investment, support for new patients assessed by Trusts as requiring blister packs may be restricted. These actions have the potential to impact on patients and other parts of the Health and Social Care system. The department has also called the CPNI's demand to increase the funding up to 50 per cent in the sector "unrealistic" in the current financial climate. It said: "Financial pressures across the entire NI public sector are severe with an extremely challenging health budget anticipated for 2023/24." "The Department is therefore facing a significant funding gap just to maintain existing services and the whole Health and Social Care system is an extremely unpredictable and fragile position. The core funding envelope available to community pharmacies in NI has increased by 16% over the past three years."

People are advised to be prepared and order their repeat prescriptions in time so that they don't run out of their routine medicines over the Christmas and New Year break when services are likely to be busier than normal. As GP practices will be closed over the bank holidays and only some pharmacies will remain open, local NHS leaders have urged patients to plan ahead to avoid making last-minute requests for collecting repeat prescriptions, which can add avoidable pressure for doctors, pharmacies, and other NHS services. Sati Ubhi, Chief Pharmacist at NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, have cautioned patients that running out of their usual medication can have serious consequences. "By ordering medicines as soon as possible, it allows enough time for it to be processed and dispensed and helps avoid a last-minute rush," she told Fenland Citizen.

Dementia is an extremely deceptive disease that develops slowly and may go unnoticed in people, said NHS mental health director Claire Murdoch, while urging people to look out for the vital warning signs of this condition among family and friends over Christmas. Common early symptoms of dementia may include emotional change, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, struggling to follow a conversation or find the right word, being confused about time and place, the health service has cautioned. An increasing number of people have been diagnosed with dementia in England since the start of the pandemic, following a drive by the NHS England to increase diagnosis rates. In November 2023, NHS staff diagnosed 463,797 people aged over 65 with dementia, up more than 41,000 compared to the same period last year, according to the figures revealed by the health service.