Missing infrastructure
On the surface, progress towards supplementary prescribing by pharmacists looks good. Several training courses have now been accredited and are set to accept the first intake of students shortly. And this week, we report on a pharmacist's
successful experience of using a clinical management plan in practice (p143).
Dig a little deeper, however, and a worrying picture emerges. Without
a supporting infrastructure in place, supplementary prescribing will
founder. Yet this infrastructure is simply not there.
The fact that access to medical records is necessary for supplementary
prescribing (PDF 100K) is widely accepted (p152). But little has been done to establish
how this will happen. Although hospital pharmacists and pharmacists working
within general practice surgeries might be able to gain access, most
community pharmacists are not so lucky.
Better use of information technology is the obvious answer. Scotland
is leading the way in this field, with the announcement this week that
all community pharmacies in Scotland will be connected to the NHSnet
within the next two years (p139). That the ongoing costs of connection
will be funded is excellent news and the Scottish Executive should be
applauded for this decision. Let us hope that Westminster will follow
suit. It is true that any advances in the electronic agenda will cost
money but, without them, pharmacists will be unable to develop roles
such as supplementary prescribing.
Another issue is that little has been done to promote this new role to
the general public. People accept change, but only gradually. An awareness
campaign is needed so that the public understands what supplementary
prescribing by pharmacists will mean to them.
It would be a sad day for pharmacy if supplementary prescribers were
left on the starting blocks, unable to run with the role they are trained
for, because of a lack of investment in the infrastructure. Pharmacists
can offer a great deal of benefit for patients and for the health service
as a whole by becoming supplementary prescribers. So the message for
the Government is simple: an infrastructure is needed, and it is needed
now.
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