Society and National Treatment Agency join forces to care for drug misusers
The Royal Pharmacutical Society has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, in a move to improve pharmaceutical services for patients or clients with drug misuse problems.
The NTA (www.nta.nhs.uk) is a special health authority which was created
by the Government in 2001 with a view to improving the availability,
capacity and effectiveness of treatment for drug misuse in England.
The two organisations have agreed a blueprint for working together that
will help achieve their common objectives. As Dr Gill Hawksworth, President
of the Society, explained: “The Society and the NTA both share
a common aim of ensuring that patients or clients involved with substance
misuse receive the best possible pharmaceutical service. We hope to achieve
this by ensuring that the highest standards are maintained in the provision
of pharmaceutical services and by encouraging the development of new
services for delivery by pharmacists.”
Representatives from the Society and the NTA will neet regularly to keep
each other informed of their respective work plans and they will share
draft documents on each other’s commissioning strategies.
The Society says it will assist the NTA with any secondments of pharmacists
it wishes to make and the two bodies will work jointly to develop practice-based
research focused on understanding and improving drug treatment services
offered by pharmacists.
Additionally, the two bodies will set up a pharmacy network of lead professionals
in the area of substance misuse to ensure that there are firm regional
links in place.
Annette Dale-Perera, director of quality at the NTA, said: “This
agreement is an important development for the National treatment agency
and for the drug treatment field generally. Pharmacists have a vital
tole to play in providing accessible, local treatment to drug misusers.
We believe that, by working closely with the Society, we can provide
individual pharmacists with the support and guidance they need to provide
and effective, safe service.”
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