How pharmacy can tackle obesity
Pharmacists can help tackle obesity, a recent meeting of the All-Party Pharmacy Group in Westminster was told.
Roger King, secretary of Dorset Local Pharmaceutical Committee, said
that in a successful project in community pharmacies in Dorset, pharmacists
assessed patients’ lifestyle risk on a touchscreen programme and
then offered further tests such as blood pressure and lipid profile measurement
for high-risk patients. They also offered patients counselling and advice.
Graham Phillips, a community pharmacist in Hertfordshire, suggested four
levels of service that pharmacists could provide. Providing advice and
health education could form the basic service. A second level could be
the addition of calculating body mass index and referring at-risk patients
to a general practitioner. A full weight management service with weekly
consultations could form the third level. Finally, using patient group
directions to supply anti-obesity drugs could become a fourth level of
service.
Dr Jim Smith, chief pharmaceutical officer for England, commented that
there is a “clear intention” to build these types of roles
into the new pharmacy contract. |
