Pharmacists and GPs must co-operate, says Society
Retail aspects of pharmacy may be viewed with suspicion by GPs |
A fundamental change in the way in which community pharmacy and general practice work together is necessary to realise the potential of community pharmacy, says the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in its written
response to the All-Party
Pharmacy Group inquiry into the future of pharmacy
(PJ, 24 June 2006, p739).
A concerted effort to create links between the pharmacy and GP contracts
is needed to meet the Government’s aspirations of
supporting patients with long-term conditions, says the Society. “Exhortation
is not enough, a crucial factor will be to ensure that GPs and pharmacists
are able to share and access information about their patients and this
must be backed up by investment to facilitate change,” it warns.
Without active monitoring and practical encouragement for further integration,
the objectives of the White Paper on care closer to home cannot be met,
it adds.
Although the general public view pharmacists as trusted health care professionals,
there is a lack of understanding of their broader roles and the Society
believes that these perceptions are mirrored among GPs, who may view
the retail part of community pharmacy with some suspicion.
A lack of engagement between emerging practice-based commissioning (PBC)
structures and local community pharmacists is another area of concern
highlighted by the Society in its response. “There is a real risk
that the potential benefits to the population will be lost and that the
good work to date will be undone without proper local clinical engagement
involving community pharmacists,” it argues. It notes that there
is considerable variation between primary care trusts in what and how
many services are commissioned from community pharmacy and is concerned
that the NHS overspend has resulted in a reduction in the number of enhanced
services being commissioned at a time when it would expect an expansion
of such services.
The Society argues that senior figures in the Department of Health need
to promulgate, through commissioning networks, examples of how community
pharmacy can contribute to patient care. It proposes that a requirement
to involve community pharmacy in PBC is necessary in order for the issue
to be taken seriously.
The Society also says that the departments of health should play a key
role in working with the profession to support pharmacy through a significant
period of change, as they have done for general practice. “In England
and Wales, there is an opportunity to divert some of the money that is
likely to be underspent from the first year of the new community pharmacy
contract to provide this support,” it says.
Other issues raised
• The Society is concerned that the centralisation of general
practice and consequent loss of community pharmacies could leave
large areas devoid of local health care support.
• The Society would like to see the exemptions to the “necessary
and desirable” test removed.
• The Society believes that PCTs need to take ownership of medicines-related
problems at board level to manage the true cost of prescribing.
• The Society says that funding of the MPharm needs to be increased
to allow more clinical teaching. |
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