The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7444 p350
24 March 2007

Society summary

Scottish manifesto calls for better use of pharmacists' expertise

A manifesto for Scottish pharmacy calls on politicians to let pharmacists fully use their skills to improve the health and well-being of the people of Scotland. Produced by the Scottish Pharmacy Board of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the manifesto includes giving pharmacists the responsibility to prescribe medicines and treatments to patients after diagnosis by a doctor.

The manifesto says that the SPB is committed to campaign on four key aims that would ensure pharmacists are empowered to make better use of their skills and expertise for the benefit of patients. It calls on policy makers to:

• Use pharmacists as public health practitioners and advisers

• Make more use of pharmacists as first line health care professionals

• Further integrate pharmacists into the NHS health care team

• Support pharmacists to deliver new roles and responsibilities

Behind each of these aims are specific priority areas. These include calls to support a model in which doctors diagnose and pharmacists prescribe, to recognise that appropriate access to electronic health care records is essential for patients to derive maximum benefit from pharmacists’ expertise and to ensure equitable access to pharmacy-based smoking cessation and emergency contraception services across Scotland.

Introducing the manifesto at a launch event for the new board at the Scottish Parliament on 20 March, the board’s chairman, Rose Marie Parr, said that, equipped with the right tools and given political support, pharmacists could do much more to improve the health and well-being of the people of Scotland.

Guests at the board’s launch event included politicians, other NHS professionals, representatives of patient interest groups and pharmacists from throughout Scotland.