Minister praises pharmacists for oxygen role
Chairman and guests: left to right, Patricia Hewitt, Hemant Patel,
Carol Lange, Mary Draycott (Lord Mayor of Leicester) |
Community pharmacists' efforts to ensure that no patient went without oxygen during the recent changeover of supply were praised by the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt, when she spoke at the recent annual dinner of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Leicestershire and Rutland branch.
Mrs Hewitt was attending the dinner as member of Parliament for Leicester
West. Responding to a toast to the guests, she thanked the profession,
particularly community pharmacists, for their contribution to public
health through a wide range of health care support and advice. She spoke
of opportunities to be grasped in the new contract for community pharmacy
and went on to say that the Government’s new White Paper, “Our
health, our care, our say”, would present further opportunities
for pharmacists to exercise their profession input.
Mrs Hewitt also acknowledged that, until that evening, she had been unaware
of the role of pharmacists in prison health care, which was the occupation
of the branch chairman, Carol Lange.
Another speaker at the dinner was the President of the Society, Hemant
Patel, who said that the work of the branch in the local community was
a shining example of what could be achieved by pharmacists fully engaged
in their locality, working to enhance their professional knowledge for
the benefit of the people they served.
He added: “Pharmacists in primary and secondary care are deeply
embedded in the local community. Community pharmacists provide a vital
front-line link between the public and the NHS from a position that is
part of the fabric of daily life at the local level. From this position,
community pharmacists are well placed to engage with the health needs
of their patients and customers, case by case, but also taking into account
the needs of the community as a whole as well.”
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal