Labour in favour of minor ailments schemes
Pharmacy-based treatment schemes for minor ailments are high on Labour’s agenda for the NHS if the party wins a further term of office.
Speaking to The Journal this week, both Rosie Winterton, Minister for
Health, and Melanie Johnson, Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State
for Public Health, said that they wanted to see more use made of minor
ailments schemes.
Ms Johnson commented on a minor ailments scheme operated by some primary
care trusts in Bradford and said: “This is working well for patients
and working well for pharmacists. It is also working well for GPs who
are seeing fewer patients with minor
ailments.”
Bradford GPs were now seeing 800 fewer patients with minor ailments every
week. Ms Johnson added: “We want to use pharmacy much more to be
a front line service.”
Ms Johnson also said that Labour wants to use community pharmacies for
processing tests for sexually transmitted infections.
“Pharmacy is a great health resource and we want to develop it,” she
said. “It’s in line with our feelings that people want a
more personalised offering of health care in a variety of ways, which
means having it more accessible in the high street.”
Ms Winterton said that the general direction of travel for pharmacy services
that had been set out over the past 18 months would continue. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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