English Pharmacy Board follow pharmacy roadmap
The first half of 2008 has seen a series of NHS policy developments that, when implemented, will change the way pharmacists practice in England.
Foremost of these is
the White Paper, Pharmacy in England:
Building on strengths – delivering the future, published in April, followed
in July by Lord Darzi’s NHS Next Stage
Review Final Report, and the workforce and primary and community care
strategies.
Seen together, these provide a ‘roadmap’ for pharmacy over the next
few years.
The English Pharmacy
Board (EPB) represents all aspects of pharmacy practice in England as part of
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB). In our remit to
provide strategic leadership and support for pharmacy practice in England we
have taken up the roadmap and are working closely with other pharmacy bodies to
move forward in a co-ordinated way.
Many of the points
made by the Darzi report in relation to pharmacy build upon elements of the
Pharmacy White Paper.
Our four main ‘Darzi’
priorities are:
Staying Healthy
Local and convenient
access means that pharmacy is central to meet the challenges of public health.
There are opportunities for community pharmacy to build on current services
such as obesity management, substance misuse, sexual health and smoking cessation
and play a larger role in alcohol misuse. The recent switch of Azithromycin (for
diagnosed Chlamydia infections), which becomes an over-the-counter product
later this year, highlights the increasing use of pharmacists expertise.
Vascular health
checks and the supporting public health campaign mentioned in Darzi are a big
priority for the EPB. It will be beneficial for the community pharmacy network
to be involved alongside other primary care professionals in a nationally
organised service.
Provision of support
for patients with long-term conditions (LTCs) and care plans are areas in which
pharmacists can add value to patient’s lives. While this was not a strong theme
of Darzi it was clearly expressed in the White Paper where pharmacists will
have a role in the planned care of LTC’s, particularly soon after diagnosis.
Streamlining local commissioning of community pharmacy
services
The Primary and Community Care Strategy
reiterates the commitment in the Pharmacy White Paper, to the growing role of
community pharmacies in the treatment of minor ailments. The EPB believes that
pharmacists should be providing a national minor ailments scheme, instead of
relying on local commissioning decisions. Such a service could relieve GPs of
18% of all consultations, allowing them to focus on more complex illnesses. Some
pharmacists can also contribute to more of the specialist care pathways moving
into primary care settings.
The Board is also
supporting the cross-recognition of accreditation for pharmacists providing
local enhanced services between PCTs. This will lead to a more robust and
flexible use of the pharmacy workforce and remove one of the barriers to commissioning.
Practice based
commissioning is a continuing issue for community pharmacists who feel that
local consortia are not yet in tune with world class commissioning principles
and are missing the opportunity to commission services through pharmacies.
Primary Care Centres
Impact assessments
must be carried out before the introduction of a primary care centre into a
locality. The EPB supports the novel integration of services, but this may be
achieved through more intelligent commissioning and not necessarily co-location.
Patients and the public should be able to choose the healthcare services they
need, be that visiting a pharmacy, polyclinic or GP surgery.
Quality
The EPB welcomes the
further embedding of quality principles at all levels and areas of the NHS and
the commitment to evidence based research. This, along with the rewarding of
innovation will play to the strengths of pharmacists who have for years been
willing and able to take on new roles.
These developments
relate to primary care, hospital pharmacy, academia and the pharmaceutical
industry, as well as community pharmacy. A recurring theme of Darzi’s final
report is that integrated working is the key for future success. The EPB agrees
and is working with RPSGB staff and Council to put this into practice.