Parliamentary briefing to inform opinion on hospital pharmacy
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has issued a pharmacy briefing document. “Hospital
pharmacy in the 21st century” (PDF 150K), for key opinion formers
and parliamentarians in England.
The briefing has been sent to MPs and peers with an interest in health
with the aim of bringing key issues in hospital pharmacy to their attention.
Briefings for Scotland and Wales are under development.
The document highlights a number of key issues affecting hospital pharmacies
and needing urgent attention from parliamentarians. These include reductions
in resources as a result of Agenda for Change, a shortage of hospital
preregistration training placements, delays in implementing the NHS information
technology programme, staffing problems in pharmacy manufacturing facilities
and the need to reinstate central funding for the Hospital Pharmacy Antibiotic
Initiative.
In addition, the briefing looks at new
ways of working in hospital pharmacy,
giving outline descriptions of skill mix
development, the modernisation of ward medication systems, pharmacist
prescribing, medicines management at the primary-secondary interface
and governance.
The briefing concludes with a look at the contribution of new technologies.
It summarises the benefits of automated dispensing systems and explains
how patient care could be improved with better use of IT and ,particularly,
electronic prescribing.
Ray Fitzpatrick, chairman of the Hospital Pharmacists Group, said: “I
am delighted that the Hospital Pharmacists Group has had the opportunity
to work with the Society on this document, as hospital pharmacy is a
particularly complex and less well known sector of the profession.
“This paper gives parliamentarians an insight into how hospital
pharmacy is modernising the medicines management process in secondary
care and
working with our primary care colleagues to ensure seamless medicines
management at the interface. It alerts parliamentarians to the key issues
facing hospital pharmacy at a time when the NHS as a whole and hospitals
in particular are facing major challenges.”
Graham Phillips, chairman of the Society’s Public Affairs Planning
Group and a Council member who sits on the HPG committee, said: “As
a community-based pharmacist I have been delighted to see the work of
and collaborate with hospital colleagues on this project. This briefing
document is just
one example of the work that the Society undertakes to raise the profile
of the different sectors of the pharmacy profession.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal