The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7471 p339
29 September 2007

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Conference event focuses on interprofessional working

Socialist think-tank the Fabian Society organised a roundtable event during the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth entitled: “Bringing care closer to patients; but can pharmacists, GPs and commissioners work together to achieve it?”

On the panel were health minister Dawn Primarolo, Howard Stoate, chairman of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, and David Taylor of the University of London School of Pharmacy. The event was supported by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Alliance Boots.

Paul Bennett, chairman of the Society’s English Pharmacy Board, said there was agreement that pharmacists and their teams contribute significantly towards improving people’s health and bringing care closer to patients.

“There was recognition that there are a number of key challenges to overcome if the fantastic examples of new and novel pharmacy services are to increase in number and become more than just examples of innovation,” he said.

“Whatever framework the new minister develops (perhaps by way of the White Paper expected in the autumn) to meet the challenge of local health inequalities, it must incorporate the potential for pharmacists to contribute to improvements in care.”