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Letters to the Editor
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New contract
Is it worth the candle?
From Mr A. J. T. Low, MRPharmS
The new community pharmacy contract presents opportunities and provides
a framework on which further activities can be built. I do not doubt that
in some pharmacies this may be accomplished but in most cases how are these
extra activities going to be incorporated into a day when prescription
volumes are on the increase?
Also of concern to me is something which appears under the guidelines for
promotion of healthy lifestyles. We now need to record any “opportunistic
advice” we give to patients on their medication records. Say we advise
someone with type 2 diabetes to lose weight or advise someone on anti-hypertensive
medication both to lose weight and to stop smoking. We now have to record
this advice on the patient medication record. This takes time and so may
influence how often and when we give advice. We may think twice now, especially
at busy times, or we may just not bother at all, thinking the game is not
worth the candle.
I know we have to be accountable to primary care trusts and provide evidence
to PCT inspectors that we are doing our bit, but I think this measure may
be counter-productive. It may mean we are even less likely to leave the
dispensary to venture into dialogue with a patient or customer.
It may just further confine us to our dispensary role, which I suppose
was going to happen with the increasing prescription traffic anyway. Would
there ever be any chance that we could be paid for making this “opportunistic
advice” to make it more worth our while?
Andrew Low
Harrow, Middlesex |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal