Focus on core business
Pharmacists must hope that a change of Government, if there is one after the election on 5 May, will make no difference to developments in pharmacy practice. A case in point is the document published last week “Choosing health through pharmacy: a programme for pharmaceutical public health 2005–2015”, which was put together by a consortium comprising the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Faculty of Public Health, the UK Public Health Association and PharmacyHealthLink. This is the guidance
for pharmacists in England produced on the back of the Government White
Paper “Choosing health: making healthy choices easier”.
A great deal in the guidance will not be new to pharmacists — particularly
community pharmacists working under the new contract with public health
as a key component. But the focus is not only on the community sector:
pharmacists and other staff in primary care trusts, strategic health
authorities and hospital trusts are all expected to play a part in improving
people’s health.
The impression created by the document, maybe deliberately, is that there
is no aspect of pharmacy practice that could not be construed as inextricably
linked with public health. The expectation in the guidance is that many
of the services that leading edge pharmacy practitioners offer now in
the name of public health will be provided by all pharmacists by 2015.
Certainly the document is at its most inspiring when it touches on practical
issues. For example, it says: “PCTs should integrate the six health
campaigns per year required by the new contractual framework for community
pharmacy with the health improvement element of their local delivery
plans.”
It could be argued that this does not go quite far enough: health campaigns
could be
co-ordinated across the whole health economy and into the education and
social services if they are to be really effective. That way, the target
population would have messages reinforced at every turn and be less dependent
on individuals engaging with the health service during the campaign period.
Although the bulk of the guidance is in similar vein, we question whether
all the suggestions are appropriate for pharmacists to take up. For example,
hospital pharmacy is encouraged to provide outreach services, telephone
help lines and health information support for other professionals, patients
and carers. The danger with recommendations such as these is that pharmacists
are urged to go way beyond their core business (as experts on medicines)
and are invited to stray into territories that may be rewarding at one
level but may not be the best use of their talents.
The challenge for pharmacists in delivering public health policy will
be to avoid falling into the trap of spreading themselves too thinly
and to ensure that what they focus on will really make a difference to
the long-term health of the local population.
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