Jeremy Holmes admires Scottish community pharmacy services
Community pharmacy services were show-cased on 18 September 2007during the first visit by Jeremy
Holmes, Chief Executive and Registrar of the Society, to the society's headquarters in Edinburgh.
During his visit, Mr Holmes visited a local pharmacy to see how the Minor
Ailment Service offered under the Scottish community pharmacy contract
is transforming delivery of health services. Edinburgh-based Lindsay & Gilmour
(Stockbridge) is just one local community pharmacy delivering a range
of services that are benefiting local patients and cutting down on the
number of people needing to visit their GP. Extended opening hours also
mean that patients working throughout the day can easily access the services.
Mr Holmes, who met local pharmacist Alan Berrie and representatives of
Lindsay & Gilmour, was impressed with the work carried out by the
team. He said: “The Lindsay and Gilmour team have obviously invested
heavily in ensuring that pharmacy meets the aspirations of the new contract
in Scotland. It’s great to see these services first hand
and to learn that so many members of the community are using them. We
look forward to seeing similar services being rolled out across the rest
of Scotland.”
Following a recent refurbishment programme, the pharmacy was designed
with a consultation room and two treatment rooms. A variety of practitioners
use the rooms to provide complementary treatments.
During the visit Andrea Smith, principal policy adviser at the Society,
added: “This is an excellent example of a community pharmacy as
a walk-in healthy living centre.”
While in Edinburgh Mr Holmes also met Bill Scott, Chief Pharmaceutical
Officer, Rose Marie Parr, chairman of the Scottish Pharmacy Board, and
representatives from Community Pharmacy Scotland and the Directors of
Pharmacy group.
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