The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7434 p38
13 January 2007

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Call for action to educate public about self-care

National action is needed to educate the public about self-care, the Pharmacy Modernisation Group has argued.

Responding to the Department of Health’s consultation on urgent care services in England, “Direction of travel for urgent care”, the group says that the DoH should undertake “a national action to educate the public about how to self-care for common conditions”. The Pharmacy Modernisation Group, formed in 2000, has representation from the College of Pharmacy Practice, the Company Chemists’ Association, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, the National Patient Safety Agency, the National Pharmacy Association, NHS Direct, the Pharmaceutical Advisers’ Group, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

The group also suggests in its response that information about pharmacy services provided locally should be available from one central point, such as from primary care trusts’ websites or NHS Direct. And continued self-management should be encouraged by promoting the availability, through community pharmacies, of the NHS Direct self-help guide. However, to allow community pharmacy to participate fully in the provision of urgent NHS care services, national guidance needs to be developed on joint commissioning, practice-based commissioning and tariffs, the group argues.

In a separate joint response, the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, the CCA, the NPA and the PSNC describe NHS Scotland’s national patient group direction for emergency supply of medicines, arguing that the DoH should look into NHS support for a similar scheme in England. “Although we recognise that the Scottish approach to this issue may be inappropriate for England, the principle of NHS-supported emergency supply of medicines is one we would wish to be pursued with urgency,” they say.

Nonetheless, a shift in the relationship between pharmacists and other health care professionals will be needed to facilitate referral to, and accept referral from, pharmacists, they argue. “At present community pharmacy sits largely outside the NHS family and there could be greater appreciation and recognition of the expertise of community pharmacists,” they say. In addition, there is a need for a national standard for urgent care services and a co-ordinated urgent care strategy, encompassing all health care providers, along with an algorithmic approach to assessment common to all health care practitioners.