Pandemic demand will need to be managed
Surges in demand for health services during an influenza pandemic will require a co-ordinated response from primary care organisations, local pharmaceutical committees and community pharmacies, the pharmacy sector has agreed.
During a pandemic many people who would normally be treated in hospital
will need to be cared for in the community, and community pharmacy is
likely to bear a considerable burden of expectation and demand from patients
and the public, six national pharmacy bodies argue in a joint response
to provisional UK guidance on surge capacity and prioritisation in health
services during an influenza pandemic.
This means that primary care organisations will need to develop response
plans involving local pharmaceutical committees and to ensure there is
adequate communication with, and between, pharmacy organisations, they
say.
Community pharmacy staff will be directly exposed to those seeking treatment
for influenza and so must be a priority for antiviral treatment and vaccination.
There might also be civil unrest in a pandemic so, as repositories of
vital medicines, community pharmacies should be included in pre-surge
planning with local police.
Thought should also be given, the response says, to deploying pharmacy
students in community pharmacies during a pandemic, either in the dispensary
or as medicines counter assistants.
The joint response comes from the Association of Independent Multiple
Pharmacies, Community Pharmacy Wales, the Company Chemists’ Association,
the National Pharmacy Association, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating
Committee and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
(PDF 160K)
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader