A pharmacy strategy conference was held by Barking and Havering local pharmaceutical committee on January 30, 2000
Now was a critical time in the relationship of pharmacy to the National Health Service, the meeting heard.
Ms Sue Osborne (joint chief executive, Barking and Havering health authority) said that the Government wanted to harness practitioners in its process of change and wanted a patient-centred holistic health service. Practice would be radically altered by clinical governance.
Barking and Havering health authority knew that it would only succeed through the work of the professionals who delivered the service. Failure in the NHS would not be tolerated, Ms Osborne said. If primary care failed to deliver the care demanded, the Government would find a different way.
Meantime, the HA would pursue a quality agenda through health improvement plans. The pharmacy profession would have to find a way of building itself into these plans.
The HA's role would be to regulate the local system for delivering health services, Ms Osborne went on. Within five years, the authority would be a licensing authority with responsibility for the accreditation of all practitioners within the NHS.
A major concern for the health authority was the possibility of unplanned collapse of the pharmaceutical service. This would hit the areas of greatest need.
Ms Osborne said that pharmacy had to embrace the quality and standards agenda that was driving the vision for the NHS and demonstrate the profession's relevance.
The pay structure for pharmacy was currently incompatible with that vision and needed to be changed, Ms Osborne concluded. Any replacement had to be affordable.
Other topics covered at the meeting |