The chairman of the House of Commons Health Select Committee Mr David Hinchliffe (Lab, Wakefield) has backed extension of the community pharmacy role in the National Health Service (our Lobby correspondent writes).
Following a visit to Dr Gillian Hawksworth's Old Bank Chemist at Mirfield, West Yorkshire, and having met other pharmacists, Mr Hinchliffe said: "I am certainly aware of the contribution they are making at the present time and the further contributions they could make in the future. They have a range of ideas which the Government would do well to look at, including enhancement of community pharmacies to take some of the burden off general medical practitioners.
"We have barely begun to scratch the surface as to their role in health education, for example, given that they are an excellent contact point with the public."
During his visit to the Old Bank Chemist, Dr Hawksworth, a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council, told Mr Hinchliffe of the various services provided, such as blood pressure monitoring, smoking cessation, instalment methadone dispensing and supervision of administration, asthma, diabetes and cholesterol monitoring, along with the provision of back-up leaflets and advice.
The select committee chairman was also updated on such aspects of pharmacy practice as dispensing and medicines sales protocols, treatment of minor ailments, referrals to general medical practitioners, patient medication records and intervention monitoring systems.
Dr Hawksworth told The Journal: "I think I overwhelmed him with the diversity of pharmacy practice and services. We discussed many practical and political issues, such as the collection of waste medication, the extent of over-prescribing and also the extensive drug information and pharmaceutical reference sources at the pharmacy.
"I showed him the ongoing research and development involvement of the pharmacy with asthma patients and the provision of pharmaceutical services to local children's homes."
Other issues discussed included human resources, capital investment, premises and the provision of non-NHS services, such as prescription collection and delivery, which contribute to the NHS as a whole.