Medicines Partnership to become part of NPC in 2006
Medicines Partnership is to become part of the National Prescribing Centre, health minister Jane Kennedy announced earlier this week.
Set up under the Pharmacy in the Future programme, Medicines
Partnership helps patients get the most out of medicines by promoting the concept
of concordance.
Speaking at the first learning workshop of the Community Pharmacy Framework
Collaborative in Hinkley, hosted by the NPC, Ms Kennedy said: “From
April next year, Medicines Partnership will become part of the NPC. We
are providing an additional £0.5m funding to support the transition.”
The additional money brings total Government funding to £2.3m over
four years. From April 2006, Medicines Partnership will be expected to
be self-funding and will market its services to NHS organisations and
other customers.
Ms Kennedy added that Medicines Partnership, in collaboration with the
NPC, will develop training workshops for pharmacists. It will also release
support material for pharmacists conducting medicines use reviews under
the new pharmacy contract.
Joanne Shaw, director of Medicines Partnership, told The Journal she
was delighted that the organisation was being repositioned within the
NPC. “It has been encouraging to see how successful a small organisation
has been, working with others, to get such an important message across.”
She added that initiatives such as Ask
About Medicines Week and the Medicines Information Project, which produces Medicine Guides, will continue to
run independently, with support from a range of stakeholders. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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