Sir, although dentistry is currently developing its own new 'normal' practice, remote prescribing for emergency supply using AAA (advice, analgesia and antibiotics) is still important, especially for vulnerable and shielded patients.

Our pharmacy colleagues have been flexible in their approach to accept and dispense medication from remote prescriptions. The protocol outlines that we should email scanned prescriptions via nhs.net secure accounts. Following this, we are obliged to post the paper prescription within 72 hours recorded delivery.

Pharmacies are dispensing medications upon receipt of scanned prescriptions, but they can only get paid if they obtain the hard copies. The pharmacist's decision to dispense is reliant on trust between the two professions. From personal experience, in recent weeks, there has been more resistance from our pharmacy colleagues to accept dental prescriptions. At some pharmacies this has escalated to a blanket ban. This is due to physical copies not being posted and therefore, the pharmacies not getting paid.

We should ensure hard copies of prescriptions are posted within 72 hours of sending the remote versions and strive to maintain the mutual trust between dentists and pharmacists.