Get more involved with primary care trusts, says AAH
Pharmacists should be more pro-active in gaining a voice within primary care trusts, according to Steve Dunn, group managing director of AAH Pharmaceuticals.
The signs are encouraging: around 170 pharmacists now have places on
the
professional executive committees of PCTs, and pharmacists are now the
most represented health professional after doctors and nurses.
However, in Mr Dunn’s opinion, too many pharmacists are marking
time waiting for the introduction of the new pharmacy contract rather
than getting involved with PCTs now. “With the devolution to PCTs
of budgets for additional pharmaceutical
services, [pharmacists] must make the most of any delay in the contract’s
implementation to get their feet firmly planted under the table.”
Meanwhile, Mr Dunn wants full-line wholesalers to have more influence
over pharmacy in both primary and secondary care. He said that wholesalers
should match the size of their input to health care with high-impact
lobbying to cement their place at the top table.
Political pressures and imperatives for pharmacy mean that the British
Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers needs a louder voice in more
places to stress the essential role full-line wholesalers played in the
wellbeing of community and secondary care pharmacy. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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