CBI points out faults in PCT commissioning
Primary care trusts in England have been criticised by the CBI for failing to use fully their new powers to commission innovative services from pharmacies. The CBI sees such new services as one way of reducing the UK's annual loss of 3.5 million working days due to ill health.
In a report this week (PDF 240K), the CBI says that alternatives
to the traditional model of GP services need to be encouraged so that
patients
can choose
a service that best meets their needs. “PCTs should create the
conditions in which providers from all sectors can see the scope for
improving services and for doing so more efficiently,” the report
states.
It adds that innovative use of contracts should lead to better integration
between GP services and other services, such as those provided by pharmacies.
“The new pharmacy contract has enabled pharmacists to widen their
health care role in collaboration with GPs who, in theory, can then focus
on
patients who are upstream in the clinical needs hierarchy. But PCTs are
not using their commissioning powers fully and pharmacy is, therefore,
underused,” the report says.
Welcoming the CBI report, pharmacist MP Sandra Gidley, vice-chairman
of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, said: “The report’s findings
reflect the recommendations we made in our recently published report ‘The
future of pharmacy’.”
APPG chairman, Howard Stoate, added: “Clearly there is an emerging
consensus in health care and business that community pharmacists are
well placed to provide solutions to our primary health care challenges.”
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Pharmaceutical Journal
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