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The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 264 No 7087 p392
March 11, 2000 News

Isle of Wight health authority to appoint nursing homes pharmacist

Isle of Wight health authority is to appoint a residential and nursing homes pharmacist, a move which has been opposed by community pharmacists on the island who are currently paid a total of £30,000 a year on the basis of visiting registered homes at least three times a year. The appointment was ratified by the authority at its meeting on March 6.
The holder of the new post will be expected to visit high dependency nursing homes to review medication used by patients and the need for repeat prescriptions. There are around 150 homes on the island. The pharmacist is to liaise with community pharmacists supplying the medication. Pharmacies have agreed to maintain the status quo on supplying medicines to homes, but, on April 1, they will be given four months notice that the advice service is to end.
Mr Noel Staunton (prescribing manager, Isle of Wight health authority) told The Journal on March 8: "We are replacing the community pharmacy service with a much more clinically orientated service to improve patient care." Mr Staunton quoted recent research which said that too little was known about what was happening in nursing homes and that patients were receiving too much medication, some of which was inappropriate. Unnecessary expenditure on medication was estimated to be around £30-£40 per patient per year.

IoW pharmacists could start charging for monitored dosage systems
IoW pharmacists could start charging for monitored dosage systems

Mr Staunton added that the health authority was extending the role of community pharmacists. For instance, seven of the 30 pharmacies on the island were paid to work with medical practices. No limit was placed on the amount of time which could be spent on this activity, subject only to available locum cover. The health authority had advocated a 28-day repeat prescribing cycle and this had been adopted by several large practices.
Mr Peter Bingham (chairman, Isle of Wight HA) said that the new service meant that patients' needs would be better served and the potential conflict of interest between pharmacists providing both the advice as well as the service would be ended.
The health authority's move has been opposed by local community pharmacists. Mr David Croucher (chairman, Isle of Wight local pharmaceutical committee) told The Journal on March 7 that if local pharmacies were no longer supplying medication to homes then there was the potential for the loss of one job. Pharmacies might also be forced to charge for packing medicines into monitored dosage systems.
"We are constantly available by telephone and most community pharmacists visit their local homes more like once a month than three times a year," he said.