The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7260 p139
2 August 2003

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Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council (www.spgc.org.uk)

Pharmacists told to get involved in community health partnerships

Pharmacists in Scotland are being called upon to get involved in the new bodies being established under National Health Service reforms. Frank Owens, chairman of the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council, told The Journal: "Pharmacists across Scotland must insist on appropriate representation on the new bodies from an early stage. Only then will we be able to maximise our contribution to a modern, patient-focused health service."

The NHS Reform (Scotland) Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 26 June (see PJ, 5 July, p6). The proposed reforms will include abolishing NHS trusts, establishing community health partnerships (CHPs) and ensuring that health boards involve the public in planning health services.

Since then, the Scottish Executive has issued more specific consultation plans about CHPs. These organisations will be devolved from local health care co-operatives (LHCCs) and will be responsible for the delivery of a wide range of community health services, including pharmacy.

According to Mr Owens, the introduction of CHPs will be of particular interest to pharmacists. "CHPs will be expected to co-ordinate the planning, development and provision of those services provided by health boards, the intention being to improve such services. CHPs will therefore be of significant strategic importance in determining the shape of local health care provision," he said.

"Pharmacists have previously been conspicuously absent from LHCC boards. If we are serious about maximising the use of pharmacists' skills in the future, then we cannot afford to repeat that mistake," Mr Owens stressed. He added that it will be critical that pharmacy locality groups operate effectively and feed into the decision making process within the CHP. "Success within pharmacy locality groups should facilitate better working relationships between pharmacy and other disciplines and ultimately lead to greater acceptance of pharmacy within an integrated health care team," he said.

The NHS reforms bill will be considered by the Scottish Parliament in September.

See CPD, p149 (PDF 80K)