NHS should promote pharmacy as alternative to GP services
Most patients are satisfied with access to GP services in England, according to the results
of a survey commissioned by the Department of Health. However, 16 per cent of the 2.2 million respondents were not happy with their GPs' opening times, nearly half of whom would like practices to open on Saturdays and a quarter on a weekday evening.
Sue Sharpe, chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating
Committee, highlighted that community pharmacies provide an alternative
access point to GPs for many patients seeking urgent care, particularly
outside normal working hours. “The NHS should ensure it effectively
promotes the use of community pharmacies to the public, so that more
use is made of this valuable resource, and GP appointments are used only
where necessary,” she added.
Paul Bennett, chairman of the English Pharmacy Board of the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society, added: “More must be done by Government and PCTs to raise
public awareness about the range of health services available from community
pharmacies. Pharmacies … should be promoted and developed as the
front door to NHS care.”
The survey reveals that the level of satisfaction with access to GP services
varies throughout the country and is lower in areas of deprivation. In
response to the new data the Government has announced a package of measures
to tackle these inequalities, which includes encouraging primary care
trusts to invite new providers to offer high quality responsive services
for patients.
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