Scottish survey to assess impact of out-of-hours changes
The impact of GPs opting out of out-of-hours care is being assessed by a survey sent to community pharmacists in Scotland this week.
The Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council believes that the withdrawal
of GP practices from providing out-of-hours services at weekends, evenings
and bank holidays has had a considerable impact on community pharmacy
and NHS24.
Anecdotal evidence shows that pharmacists are experiencing an increasing
demand for emergency supplies when patients have run out of routine medicines,
with one contractor reporting that he had 143 requests for emergency
supplies over the Easter weekend.
“Community pharmacy is ideally situated to play a major role in
filling the gap left behind by the new General Medical Services arrangements.
However, we cannot be expected to continue to do so unsupported,” said
Frank Owens, SPGC chairman. He explained that the increased workload
for pharmacists is not funded through existing arrangements.
“The time has come to collate the experience of individual pharmacists
so that SPGC might present its case to Government both for infrastructure support
and for the additional funding necessary in meeting, in a safe and efficient
manner, this latest and unexpected demand for pharmaceutical care services,” he
added. |
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