150 health centres on Government agenda for primary care provision
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Lord Darzi: new health centres will open at weekends |
Up to 150 health centres that make the most of opportunities for a range of services, including pharmacy, to be on the same site are to be developed by primary care trusts, Lord Darzi of Denham announced last week.
In the interim report of
his review of the NHS in England, entitled “Our
NHS, our future”, health minister Lord Darzi says that new resources
will be invested to enable primary care trusts to develop 150 health
centres, situated in easily accessible locations and reflecting local
needs.
The centres would allow access to GP services at any time between
8am and 8pm, seven days a week, and PCTs would be expected to commission
these new centres on “a level playing field” from existing
GP groups or other providers.
The centres would offer a range of services by appointment and on a walk-in
basis to all members of the local population, whether or not they choose
to be registered, and they would maximise the scope for co-location with
pharmacy services and other community services, such as physiotherapy
and social care.
Lord Darzi also says he will explore the introduction of a three-digit
telephone number (in addition to the emergency services number) to help
improve and simplify access to urgent health care. “We will also
identify how pharmacies can best support seamless care for patients,” he
adds. “We know that people continue to have concerns about prompt
and easy access to medicines, including access to urgent repeat medicines.”
In response to the report, the National Pharmacy Association has written
to Lord Darzi to urge him to take a broader view of pharmacy’s
potential. Stephen Fishwick, the NPA’s head of NHS service development,
commented: “We have emphasised that increased use of community
pharmacy would mark a shift to more equitable health provision by bringing
a wider range of services into the heart of neighbourhood communities
where they are within reach of the people who need them most, including
the most disadvantaged.”
The review also announced the creation of a number of national groups.
David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, will chair a national working
group exploring the possibility of introducing an NHS constitution. A
national working group of professional and representative groups will
identify how to improve collaboration between different professions.
A
spokesman for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said that the Society
is in contact with the Darzi review team in order to ensure it can provide
adequate input to the working group.
The Government will support the National Patient Safety Agency to build
on the National Reporting and Learning System and establish Patient Safety
Direct as a single point of access for frontline workers to report patient
safety incidents. In addition, a new Health Innovation Council will act
as guardian of “innovation, from discovery to adoption” and
receive £100m in funding over five years from the Government and
the Wellcome Trust.
The final report of Lord Darzi’s next stage review is due in June
2008. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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