The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7194 p521-527
20 April 2002

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Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (www.ghp.org.uk)

"Pharmacists are unsung heroes"

Health Minister Hazel Blears described hospital pharmacists as unsung heroes and heroines for their work on medicines management. Ms Blears was speaking at the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists conference in Manchester on 12 April.

She said that although more work needs to be done to gain recognition for the medicines management agenda with trust chief executives and senior managers across local health communities, the performance management framework, as well as the Audit Commission report on medicines management had helped to identify where pharmacists should be directing their attention. "I can give an assurance that the [Audit Commission] report will not be gathering dust on the shelves," she said.

The minister said that the task for the Government will be to raise the profile of the profession and put the clinical and cost effective use of medicines on the agenda of everyone in the health service. Patient safety is also high on the Government's agenda and Ms Blears announced that a guidance document is due to be published in the summer that will highlight the risks associated with the use of medicines. The guidance will propose the action to take so as to reduce the risk of particular errors occurring.

Although Ms Blears believes that pharmacist prescribing will improve patient access to medicines, she is keen to point out that the promotion of pharmacist prescribing should involve patients, and not just general practitioners and pharmacists.