The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7372 p501
22 October 2005

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Now is the time to be proactive, pharmacists told

With primary care trusts being reorganised, now is the time for pharmacists to be proactive in developing, and showing leadership in, primary care services at a local level, Michael Dixon, chairman of the NHS Alliance, told a meeting of the All-Party Pharmacy Group this week.

Dr Dixon argued that GPs did not want to run services provided through practice-based commissioning themselves and were keen to be involved with groups who wanted to run such services. Pharmacists could, therefore, easily step in as co-providers and use the skills they have that other health care professionals do not, he said.

However, primary care services will also need to take into account local communities’ needs in order to reduce health inequalities, Fiona Adshead, deputy chief medical officer with special responsibility for public health, explained. And service providers will need to think not just about the people who usually go to pharmacies and other primary care providers, but also about those who do not and who have trouble accessing such services, she said.

Under the topic “Health outside hospitals”, the meeting also heard pharmacists’ concerns and ideas about the future of primary care.

Duncan Petty, research pharmacist at the University of Leeds, queried how level the playing field would be — whether pharmacists would be able to compete with other health care providers wanting to offer public health services.

Georgina Craig, head of communications and partnership development at the Company Chemists’ Association, argued that pharmacists would need assistance to obtain funding for new primary care services. It was also important, she said, that there was support for pharmacists in geographical areas where primary care was in a bad state.

In addition, Graham Phillips, a community pharmacist and member of the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, described how well-placed he felt pharmacists were to give advice to people who want to improve their health, but might not know quite where to start.

The All-Party Pharmacy Group will be using the views put forward to inform its input into the consultation on plans for primary care and social care which the Government intends to publish early next year.