The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7436 p94
27 January 2007

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A sign of things to come more
New service for the community sector more

A sign of things to come

Although there are examples of pharmacists who own health centre premises that include GP practices alongside their own facilities, the initiative at the Boots store at Poole in Dorset that we cover this week (p101) seems to be pointing in a new direction. In this instance, the local primary care trust has rented the space from a Boots store with surplus capacity, has put in a GP surgery — together with a nurse practitioner and physiotherapist among other health professionals — and, as a result, is able to offer a range of easily accessible services.

The advantages to Boots of patients having to walk past cosmetics counters, toothpaste and shampoos on their way to their appointment with a GP and having their prescriptions dispensed afterwards are obvious. Similarly, the benefits to patients who can do their shopping at the same time as they visit their GP or have a session with a physiotherapist are clear.

Boots had an advantage over many other pharmacies — it had spare space. However, the possibility of pharmacies opening their doors to GPs, albeit on a smaller scale, could well become a reality in years to come.

Currently, more movement takes place in the opposite direction: community pharmacists are the ones who go to GP surgeries to provide services. But there is nothing to stop pharmacists working with their primary care organisations and inviting a local GP to come into their premises and run a clinic.

This may seem unusual at the moment, but the Government is determined to make health services easily accessible. And the only limit to the reconfiguring of such services should be people’s imagination. Once an idea is formulated and the local primary care organisation appreciates the benefits — and when electronic communications work across the health service — everyone will learn that there is no “right” place to see a doctor.

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New service for the community sector

Following the successful launch of newsletters for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's special interest groups last year, we are turning our attention to the business side of community pharmacy. This week you can find a four-page centre pull-out Retail Pharmacy supplement which will appear monthly but which will soon become a stand-alone publication for community pharmacists.

Pharmacy practice, clinical practice and associated developments are well covered in The Journal but we have not focused on developments that may impact on the whole community pharmacy team. If there is a topic that you would like us to investigate — particularly the benefits (or otherwise) of the impact of the new community contracts on pharmacy business — let us know via editor@pharmj.org.uk

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