Systems for the electronic transmission of data between prescribers and pharmacies that are compatible across primary and secondary care have been called for by Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists. The call is made in the guild's response to the National Health Service pharmacy plan "Pharmacy in the future".
The guild says that hospital pharmacy needs to be included in plans for the electronic transfer of prescriptions and that there should be more work on developing electronic prescribing in hospitals.
The response also sees room for overlap between the community and hospital sectors with regard to out-of-hours services. The guild says that it might be appropriate for these to be provided in some areas by hospitals, but that this would require a change to the Ministerial direction which prohibits the provision of community pharmacy services by NHS trusts.
Medicines management is another area in which the guild believes hospital pharmacists could help the Government achieve its aims for community pharmacy. Hospital pharmacists already have expertise in the role, the guild says, and could contribute to the medicines management action team and the joint task force on partnership in medicines taking.
The guild also wishes to be at the forefront of pharmacist prescribing. It says that many of its members are already involved in training nurse prescribers, so the learning curve for these pharmacists to become prescribers would be shallow. In the meantime, hospital pharmacists are being encouraged to exploit the opportunities presented by patient group directions.
Disappointment is expressed in the guild's response at the fact that the pharmacy plan offers little hope of any reduction in hospital pharmacy staff shortages. In its initial response to the NHS plan, the guild had hoped that pharmacy staff would be included in the 6,500 more therapists and other health professionals to be employed. Now, it says that there is no mention of additional pharmacy staff for the hospital sector, other than preregistration places. It describes this as a mixed blessing, since training requires considerable input of time and effort on the part of experienced staff.
On professional regulation, the guild calls for input into the development of new disciplinary procedures for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. It says that complaints and disciplinary incidents involving guild members are rare, but that it is important to ensure that the interests of hospital pharmacists and their patients are represented.