Positive comments about pharmacists taking over repeat prescribing made by the Prime Minister (Mr Tony Blair) when he opened a National Health Service walk-in centre in Peterborough on April 11 have been welcomed by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee.
"We were delighted to hear that the Prime Minister has commended better use of community pharmacists," Mr Stephen Axon (general secretary, PSNC) told The Journal on April 14. "It emphasises the need to collaboration between pharmacists and general medical practitioners at walk-in centres."
However, Mr Axon was disappointed that the comments had not been reflected by the inclusion of pharmacy contractor input into working groups recently established to draw up modernisation plans for the NHS.
A press release issued by the Department of Health after the Prime Minister opened the walk-in centre, said that one of 10 key ideas Mr Blair wanted to discuss with GPs and the British Medical Association was the provision of repeat prescriptions.
"Instead of GPs carrying out this job, it could be done equally well by extending the role of pharmacists," was Mr Blair's view. He also suggested that nurses could have more of a role in GP surgeries dealing with coughs, colds and other minor health problems. Receptionists, too, could be trained to provide simply health advice.
Mr Blair also wanted a reduction in the amount of time GPs spent finding evidence for the effectiveness of different treatments and medicines.
Commenting on the Prime Minister's suggestions, the Minister for Health (Mr John Denham said: "We need to ensure that the skills of all health professionals are used in the most effective way." He said that doctors' time could be released for better use if proper use was made of other health professionals, for example, in pharmacies.