Boots plans to house outpatient services for primary care trusts
GPs raise concerns
Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical
Association’s
GPs Committee, expressed concerns about Boots’s plans: “We
have concerns this is symptomatic of the Government’s agenda
to increase the amount of private sector involvement in the NHS.
That may lead to increasing fragmentation of the health service
and adversely affect the well liked and respected continuity of
care
that is so much an integral part of UK general practice.”
Dr Meldrum added: “If Boots merely intends to rent out spare
space in its stores to NHS doctors, we [the BMA] have far fewer
concerns than if the company intends to directly employ GPs and
other doctors
and run the surgeries itself for the NHS.” |
Some NHS health care services that would normally be offered in hospital outpatient clinics may soon be available in a Boots pharmacy. A spokeswoman
for Boots Healthcare has confirmed that the company is in discussions
with a number of primary care trusts and in detailed discussions with
Poole PCT. “We believe that offering NHS services within a Boots
store fits the aim of making health care more accessible,” she
said.
The exact nature of the services to be offered is subject to negotiation,
and contracts have yet to be signed, but the spokeswoman told The
Journal that the services will be provided by the PCT and could include clinics
for physiotherapy, back pain, podiatry and blood testing.
“We see this as very promising for the future of pharmacy. It underlines
the increasing recognition of pharmacy as a provider of health care services
beyond the dispensing of prescriptions,” she added.
A spokesman for Poole PCT said that the plans to establish an NHS health
centre within a local Boots branch are expected to deliver considerable
benefits to local patients. The PCT expects these negotiations to be
concluded in the near future; the plans will then need to be approved
by the PCT board.
He said: “The purpose of renting floor space within the local branch
of Boots would be to provide as many as nine consulting rooms from which
a wide range of NHS services can be provided.
“Such clinics would be wholly managed and staffed by the NHS. Patients
would receive free treatment just as they do now from any other NHS service.
Access to such clinics would, in most cases, be by referral from a GP
or NHS health professional,” he explained.
Boots said that it is also looking to introduce GP services, such as
those for out of hours or weekends, into its stores in the future.
Commenting on the Boots initiative, a Department of Health spokesman
said: “We need to extend access to GP services, and use of the
private sector, including supermarkets and [pharmacies], is just one
of the ways that this could be done. This is entirely in line with our
recent White Paper, which included proposals for making GP services easier
to access and more responsive to patients, and we will be looking with
interest at other innovative ideas about how to achieve this.”
Stephen Fishwick, National Pharmacy Association head of NHS service development,
commented: “We shouldn’t be surprised at this development.
There is a Government approved drive towards co-location of health services
that also encompasses one-stop primary care centres and the reshaping
of community hospitals into multidisciplinary centres. We can only expect
more of this type of movement. PCOs need to ensure that service relocation
and particularly co-location do not disrupt existing methods of care,
such that access is in fact reduced and health inequalities increase.”
David Pruce, director of practice and quality improvement, Royal Pharmaceutical
Society, said: “This is an interesting development and we will
keep a close eye on the success of the scheme.”
Sainsbury’s has also voiced its commitment to adding GP services
to its supermarkets. Earlier this year the company said that it would
be working on “delivering at least one GP surgery in store”. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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