The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7318 p408
25 September 2004

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Hospital pharmacists may not recognise public health role

Hospital pharmacists in England should recognise the contributions they make to improving public health, according to Catherine Dewsbury, of the Department of Health pharmaceutical public health strategy team.

The team has sent out a survey and questionnaires and is organising a conference later in the year on pharmaceutical public health, but has received little interest from pharmacists working in hospitals.

A strategy is currently being developed but examples of good practice from the hospital sector to inform the process have not been forthcoming. “Hospital pharmacists are probably doing work classed as public health but just do not realise it,” said Veronica Wray, communications manager for the project team. Examples of public health areas where hospital pharmacists are already engaged include the prevention of infection and coronary heart disease.

Hospital pharmacists with examples of good practice can e-mail Ms Dewsbury at catherine.dewsbury@btinternet.com