Hospital pharmacists asked to promote public health work
Hospital pharmacists are being urged to come forward with any work they have done in the area of public health care. The call comes from the team involved in developing the Departments of Health’s pharmaceutical public health strategy for pharmacists in England. The strategy is expected
to be developed by the end of the year.
Project manager, Catherine Dewsbury, said that although the team has
been trying to get ideas of projects and innovations that are taking
place across pharmacy as a whole, there has been little interest so far
from pharmacists working in the hospital sector. The problem, she said,
may be that there are hospital pharmacists who do not consider themselves
to be involved in public health work. However, “we know there are
people out there who are doing work that could fit in within the area
of public health,” she said. Pharmacists may, for example, be working
in rehabilitation clinics with patients who have had heart attacks or
strokes, or they may be working on interface services for patients moving
from primary to secondary care. Pharmacists may also be working with
outreach teams in clinical areas such as mental health or HIV/AIDS. In
addition, pharmacists working in hospital pharmacy departments selling
over-the-counter medicines also have the opportunity for health promotion
work.
Mrs Dewsbury is asking pharmacists to provide examples of work they are
doing in the area of public health. In addition, she would like to hear
ideas for developing new roles to enable pharmacists to contribute to
improving and maintaining the health of the public, either directly through
health promotion or strategically through population work, such as immunisation
and vaccination campaigns or as part of a drug and therapeutics committee.
Jenny Griffiths, project director, added: “We believe strongly
that, although there is not such a strong evidence base in published
literature for hospital pharmacists’ role in public health, compared
with that for community pharmacists, they will in the future have an
important role to play.”
The strategy is being developed as a joint contract by Pharmacy HealthLink,
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Faculty of Public Health and the
UK Public Health Association. A conference on developing the pharmaceutical
health strategy is being held at the Society on 15 November. For details
about the conference or to submit examples of local work, both strategic
and operational, pharmacists should contact: Catherine Dewsbury (tel
020 7592 0065, e-mail catherine.dewsbury@btinternet.com) or Anna Pinheiro,
charity administrator, Pharmacy HealthLink (tel 020 7572 2265)
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Hospital Pharmacist