Pharmacist prescribing increasing but still at low levels
Prescribing by community pharmacists is on the increase, but numbers of prescriptions are still relatively low, according to new data.
Speaking at a recent conference, Tony Avery, head of the division of
primary care, University of Nottingham, presented data that form part
of a Department of Health-funded study into the volume and type of pharmacist
prescribing. In the last quarter of 2005 just under 4,000 prescriptions
dispensed in England were written by pharmacist supplementary prescribers
in the community. Putting this into context, Professor Avery said that
prescribing volume in his own 10,000-patient practice alone is greater
than the whole of community pharmacist prescribing in England.
The data show a predominance of cardiovascular system drugs for pharmacists’ prescriptions,
including antihypertensives, diuretics, nitrates, anticoagulants and
beta-blockers. “Pharmacists who are [prescribing] in the community
are getting involved in the range of cardiovascular prescribing and not
just doing lipid-lowering clinics,” Professor Avery explained.
Other BNF categories prescribed by community pharmacists include the
central nervous system (substance misuse clinics), the respiratory system
(focusing on asthma), the endocrine system (diabetes, thyroid disease
and osteoporosis) and gastrointestinal system (ulcer healing and dyspepsia).
Professor Avery was speaking at the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists and
United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association joint conference held in
London last week. |
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