Beaminster Pharmacy has stepped onto the front line of the fight against swine flu as we are now a fully operational antiviral collection point. I had always been in favour of becoming a collection point, not because it is another source of income but because I felt the people of the town were being a little ignored by the powers that be.

One in six people in our town has no access to a car, according to the most up to date government statistics. A trek across the county to access another collection point was in my view discriminatory. Finally the call has come, and I am able to perform a useful function in a pandemic which for me has yielded more paper than patients.

On our first day as a live collection point we were asked by the local surgery to supply antivirals for a one-year-old child. The pharmacy was just about to close but I agreed to stay open. Fortunately the supply was a relatively straightforward process, which was a relief because mum was anxious and I felt that my time was best spent advising her about controlling her child’s temperature and other symptoms.

We are told that the Department of Health is planning for a peak of cases in October; we can only hope that we are now ready to deal with any influx of cases, but for the moment it is the calm before the storm.