PJ Online | Prescribing & Medicines Management (November/December 2003)

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Prescribing & Medicines Management
Issue no 6, p3
November/December 2003

Comment

With the first supplementary prescribers due to be in action within a month, the relationship between pharmacists and doctors seems set to change. As Chris Town, chief executive of North Peterborough PCT, is quoted as saying (p9), doctors will need to learn that when a pharmacist rings it is not necessarily because the doctor has made a mistake writing a prescription.

Supplementary prescribing will make pharmacists much more a part of the health care team. There seem to be many opportunities for pharmacists to strengthen their role in primary care by providing medicines management services (p1) — an integral part of the new GP contract.

In hospitals, too, pharmacists can be part of the team that applies for funds just made available for secondary care to provide medicines management services under the scheme run by the National Prescribing Centre.

The idea behind these initiatives is to ensure that the patients’ needs are top of the care agenda. However, the service could become fragmented as more health care professionals get involved. Communication between professionals has never been more important.

If this is the first copy of Medicines Management you have seen and would like to join the mailing list, please send your details to pmm@rpsgb.org.uk. Free copies are available for all pharmacists (please include your registration number) and for nurses and doctors with a professional interest in medicines management.