The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7240 p354
15 March 2003

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"Still a long way to go" for NHS plan, according to NHS Modernisation Board

Delivery of the National Health Service plan in England is on schedule, but there is still a long way to go, according to the NHS Modernisation Board.

In its second annual report on the NHS plan, the board says: "The resources going into the NHS are paying dividends for patients but there is a still a long way to go. Capacity problems remain. The building blocks are there and the culture of the NHS is changing. With extra resources about to come on stream we feel confident that fast and effective progress can be made. The patient-centred NHS, once a distant ambition, is now drawing visibly closer." The report covers the year to October 2002.

The report highlights two main areas where more progress needs to be made. The first is in increasing capacity in terms of staff, equipment and premises. In primary care, where demand is rising, it says: "With the right level of investment and additional capacity, for example, greater use could be made of the skills of pharmacists, optometrists and dentists to improve patient access to local NHS services."

The second area of concern is mental health where the report says "progress has been slower than in other parts of the NHS".

Beth Taylor, principal regional pharmacist at Southwark Primary Care Trust, is a member of the NHS Modernisation Board. In the report she says: "In the past year, we have seen huge rises in both the number of prescriptions and the money spent on NHS medicines. This reflects the excellent progress we have made in ensuring people get the medicines they need, especially within coronary heart disease, cancer and mental health. But this has also placed pressure on budgets and pharmacy services."

An increase in the number of prescriptions for statins (from 12.2 million to 16.5 million a year) is said to be saving 6,000 lives. It forecasts 19 million prescriptions for 2002–03.

Ms Taylor says that nurses and pharmacists will be taking on prescribing responsibilities, especially in the management of chronic illnesses, and welcomes the renewed emphasis on medicines management. "We have also made a start at using information technology better, although there will remain barriers to its wider use until everyone involved in medication gets access to NHSnet," she adds.

The board presented its report to Prime Minister Tony Blair on 10 March. Ms Taylor told The Journal that the meeting had lasted around half an hour. "It was helpful and it shows that the Prime Minister is committed to this," she said. She added that the fact that increased medicines use features as a success in the report will give pharmacists an opportunity to work with primary care trusts. The highlighted shortage of general practitioners allows pharmacists to show the services they can offer.

The report also includes a case study on the changing role of pharmacy technicians. Technician Dawn Oliver, of St George's Hospital, Morpeth, now spends much of her time working on discharge planning and patient counselling for acute psychiatric patients. The report says that changing her role has given her more job satisfaction and has helped the hospital recruit "much-needed" clinical pharmacists.