Pharmacists to have new powers during pandemic
Routine services may be curtailed in a pandemic |
New powers are likely to be given to community pharmacists during an influenza pandemic to allow them to supply medicines and provide services in a more flexible manner.
A Department of Health consultation published last week details possible
amendments to legislation, including proposals to extend powers for emergency
supplies and to make minor ailment schemes widely available (see p617).
Increased measures to prepare for a possible pandemic, including doubling
the Government’s stockpile of antivirals and buying 14.7 million
courses of antibiotics, were also announced by health secretary Alan
Johnson last week. The new clinical countermeasures strategy was revealed
as the Government published its UK framework for responding to a pandemic.
The increased stockpile of antivirals will offer protection against flu
in a worst case scenario for 50 per cent of the population. Although
previous pandemics have seen clinical attack rates of around 25 per cent,
the Government’s planning assumption has been raised as a precautionary
measure to ensure its arrangements are robust and resilient, said Mr
Johnson.
The antibiotics will be used to protect at-risk groups against the complications
of flu. The strategy also includes buying 350 million surgical masks
and 34 million respirators for NHS and social care staff who are caring
for infected patients.
A stockpile of 3.3 million doses of H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccine for health
care workers already exists and advance supply contracts have been awarded
to GSK and Baxter to provide pandemic-specific vaccine as soon as the
pandemic strain is identified.
Catch it, bin
it, kill it Raising awareness of the need for good respiratory
and hand hygiene to help combat viral transmission is the aim
of a campaign launched by the DoH this week.
The “Catch
it, bin it, kill it” campaign, which forms an important
part of the Government’s pre-pandemic flu preparedness
planning, encourages people to use a tissue when coughing or
sneezing, dispose of it as soon as possible and to wash their
hands.
Posters are being sent to hospital and community
pharmacies in England.
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A section on pharmacy in the new framework
highlights the important role that both community and hospital pharmacists
will play during a pandemic.
It says: “As the pandemic escalates, some of the routine functions
and services provided by pharmacies may have to be reduced, or stopped
for short or longer periods, as demands increase elsewhere. Specialist
clinical pharmacists may be able to support doctors and other health
care professionals in all settings, including primary care, hospitals
and the community.”
“A national framework for responding to an influenza pandemic”,
which was first issued
for consultation in March 2007 (PJ, 24
March 2007, p331), updates and expands on health advice and information
contained in previous
plans issued by UK health departments.
Plans for the devolved administrations will take into account differences
in organisational structures, responsibilities and operational arrangements.
But the strategic aims, scientific advice and key planning assumptions
are the same throughout the UK.
Details of the frameworks, supporting
guidance and further consultations on related issues are available
online
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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