Minister's address: Pharmacy now high on political agenda
Health Minister Rosie Winterton addressed the British Pharmaceutical
Conference in Harrogate on 17 September. She made announcements on medicines
management and technician training (see also p360). Clare Bellingham (on the staff of The Journal) reports
Improving medicines management services to deliver the Government’s
vision for pharmacy was at the centre of Health Minister Rosie Winterton’s
address. She said she wants to work in partnership with the profession
to achieve these goals.
Access to services has been improved in recent years. “We are providing
improved access through repeat dispensing schemes, making it easier for
people to get repeat prescriptions. This is, of course, particularly
important for older people or those with long term conditions,” said
the minister. “The first wave of pathfinder sites is now under
way, and I am pleased to announce today the opening of applications for
the second wave of 40 sites.” She added that the Government remains
committed to having repeat dispensing schemes nationwide by the end of
2004.
The Government set up medicines management programmes to ensure that
patients get maximum benefit from the medicines, she explained. “The
community pharmacy medicines management initiative is now in its final
stages with all patients having been seen for their initial interview.
It involves nine pilot areas, 65 trained pharmacists, 44 GP practices
and upwards of 700 patients. I await the results of this important study
with great interest.”
The minister added that the collaborative programme, managed by the National
Prescribing Centre in Liverpool, now covers 530 GP practices and 700
pharmacies, in 106 PCTs. “By spreading good practice in the use
of medicines, it already has the potential to benefit up to 19 million
people,” she said. “I am therefore particularly delighted
to announce today the fourth wave of 40 sites. This means that 146 PCTs — almost
half the total number — will have medicines management schemes
in place by early next year.”
Mrs Winterton described the introduction of supplementary prescribing
by pharmacists as a “watershed”. “I know that pharmacists
have long questioned why they are not able to prescribe in the NHS, particularly
as nurse prescribing has developed,” she said. “Supplementary
prescribing by pharmacists offers huge potential to improve patient care,
particularly for people with long-term conditions, by making much better
use of pharmacists’ skills.” She added that she would like
to visit sites where supplementary prescribing by pharmacists is happening
so that she can see it “in action”.
“I am also pleased to see the great strides that hospital pharmacists
and their staff have made in redesigning services around patients,” she
said. These include more patients using their own medicines, greater
use of patient packs, increased safety and reduced waste. “But
we need to do more to share and spread best practice in hospitals. We
have today published a revised medicines management framework for hospitals.
And I am pleased to announce a collaborative programme, initially involving
10 sites, building on the successful collaborative programme in primary
care.” She said that the Government would use this experience to
develop a unified primary and secondary care programme, focusing on joint
decision making and seamless care across local health communities.
Government’s vision for future
“I want to see community pharmacy firmly established as an integral
part of the NHS family, innovating in service delivery, supporting patient
choice and helping tackle health inequalities. Community pharmacy has
two huge assets in taking this vision forward: the skills and expertise
of its pharmacists and their staff, and its presence at the heart of
communities with a tradition of ready access to all,” she told
the conference.
The minister said that she wants to see pharmacists delivering a wider
range of services to patients, including repeat dispensing services in
all pharmacies, medication review, monitoring services, medicines management,
supplementary prescribing and as a public health resource.
“My officials will open discussions early next year with the professions,
NHS and patient groups on a framework for independent prescribing by
pharmacists,” she added.
Mrs Winterton acknowledged that the right infrastructure is needed to
make the Government’s vision for pharmacy happen. “As you
know, we are consulting on the reform and modernisation of the community
pharmacy regulations. I fully understand that this is probably the single
most important issue facing community pharmacy at the moment. And I can
assure you that I am sensitive to your concerns and strength of feeling,” she
said. “I can promise that we will continue to give full and careful
consideration to all the arguments — including those we are hearing,
put powerfully and well, from pharmacy organisations. I can assure you
that we will do nothing to jeopardise the vital role of pharmacies in
the community.”
The minister said that it is vital to make the best use of information
technology to deliver pharmacy services. “Despite what you may
have read in the press, I can assure you that we remain strongly committed
to building a strong IT infrastructure for pharmacy,” she said.
Evaluation of the electronic transmission of prescriptions (ETP) pilots
has shown that ETP is technically viable and can potentially provide
a range of benefits including improved patient choice and safety. The
results of this evaluation are published today, she said. ETP will now
be taken forward as part of the National Programme for IT — together
with the electronic patient record, electronic booking and the underpinning
IT infrastructure, she added.
“To be able to carry out some of the enhanced roles and services
set out in our vision, we believe that where possible, subject to patient
consent
and ensuring that confidentiality is maintained, pharmacists could have
access to relevant parts of patient records. And they should be able
to record their interventions,” the minister said. “Of course,
the sharing of patient information is sensitive. Patient consent will
be critical and data will need to be appropriately recorded, stored,
shared and communicated in a way that ensures confidentiality. We have
recently begun discussions with key stakeholders to discuss the sharing
of relevant information with community pharmacists. Informed by these
discussions, we will issue a consultation document shortly.”
Change is inevitable, particularly since pharmacy has been for so many
years low on successive governments’ health agendas, the minister
concluded. “This Government wants to turn that around.” She
added that she is looking forward to working with the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society and that although she could not promise to deliver all that pharmacy
wants, she could promise to work in partnership with the profession.
|
