More than one in five people in the UK say they have a greater appreciation of community pharmacy as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

Research by YouGov published today (April 20) commissioned by Stada, German owner of Thornton & Ross, also found that just under a fifth of respondents are trying to avoid visiting pharmacies for fear of infection. This may come as a surprise to those pharmacists who have been swamped by patients requiring their services.

Encouragingly for community pharmacy, online ordering of OTC medicines has not proven popular, while people claim not to be stockpiling OTC medicines, according to the research.

Around 19 per cent of people in the Midlands and 20 per cent in the South (excluding London) said they now had more respect for pharmacists as a result of Covid-19. This rose to 27 per cent in Scotland and 49 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Although 57 per cent said they would not do anything differently in relation to their own health as a result of the coronavirus crisis, just under a quarter said they would eat more healthily or take more exercise in the future. Only 9 per cent said they would take more single- or multivitamins.

• Thornton & Ross have created a ‘thank you’ video to the UK’s community pharmacy teams. It is available here.