Despite this
week. s nation-wide disruption of fuel supplies,
Lord Hunt (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health) came to the
British Pharmaceutical Conference in Birmingham to put a tiger in pharmacy. s
tank. In a detailed speech, he set out a clear route forward for pharmacy in
England over the next five years. No longer is the profession stuck at the
crossroads.
The speech contained most of the things which the profession has been
asking for, in one form or another, since it started on the Pharmacy in a New
Age exercise. There was something for everyone . medicines management, electronic
prescriptions, extended prescribing rights, money for clinical governance,
repeat dispensing, inclusion in NHS Direct, electronic pharmacy, contracts
with individual pharmacists, more preregistration places in hospitals, and
approval for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. s plans for upgrading its
disciplinary machinery.
Some of these plans had been announced before, it is true, and
in many cases the details are only sketchy or are still to be negotiated or
the proposals require new legislation . as Parliamentary time allows.
. However, the rough shape of what pharmacy services in England will look
like in five years time can now be discerned. Scotland and Wales will take their
own high or low roads but are expected to move along roughly parallel
routes.
The profession has been asking for a national pharmacy strategy to be
published since the former Secretary of State for Health (Mr Frank Dobson)
promised one two years ago. Now it has one. All the professional organisations
must now start working towards seeing it implemented. Detailed discussions will
be required in many areas and it is imperative that a united front is presented.
The members of the profession deserve to be represented by their leaders in the
strongest way. Discussions with the Government must be conducted so that all
will benefit from the new proposals. Negotiating with one eye on
maintaining the status quo would not be acceptable to the profession, to the
Government or to patients, whom all these changes are intended to
benefit.
The
President of the Society called Lord Hunt. s speech . a watershed for
the profession. . It is. The profession will not be given a second chance to
improve its practices, its effectiveness and, ultimately, its status.
Lord Hunt has shown us the way. Let us get
going.
News item, p384; conference report,
p397