Brown and Johnson highlight pharmacy roles
PAPhotos
Alan Johnson and Gordon Brown highlighed pharmacy’s role in
making health care accessible |
Pharmacies are to have an expanded role in providing medical services and tackling health inequalities, Gordon
Brown and Alan Johnson told the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth this week.
In his first conference speech as Prime Minister, Mr Brown said that
being unwell was not a nine-to-five problem “so we will make GP
hours more friendly to families, open up opportunities to see a GP near
your place of work as well as your home, expand walk in centres, medical
services at pharmacies and ensure a better service from NHS Direct”.
Mr Brown also said that his aim for the next stage of a “personal” NHS
was a regular check-up on the NHS for every adult.
In his speech, Mr Johnson, Secretary of State for Health, said that although
the NHS has made health care accessible to everyone, regardless of their
background or income, unacceptable inequalities remain.
“Tackling
these inequalities is my priority for the NHS and over the coming months
I will set out a plan to fight these injustices,” he said.
As well as more GPs in deprived communities and surgeries open at times
and locations to suit the patient, pharmacies could play a role in tackling
inequalities, he added. “Pharmacies, sports centres and high street
walk-in centres can do much more to provide primary care effectively
and conveniently,” he said.
In addition, Mr Johnson said that, to tackle the problem of hospital-acquired
infections, he wanted “a regulator with the power to close, clean
and then reopen wards if necessary”. |
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