Pharmacy White Paper - NPA Comments, UK
April 9, 2008
The NPA welcomes the Pharmacy in England White Paper as a statement of faith in community pharmacy. Subject to satisfactory follow-up negotiations and sufficient impetus to help pharmacy over the obstacles still in the way of an expanded clinical role is and, provided that momentum can be sustained, the sector can look forward to playing a greatly enhanced part in patient care.
NPA Chief Pharmacist, Colette McCreedy, comments: “The NPA has long asked Government to give community pharmacy a genuine chance to prove itself in the fields of public health and long term conditions. The White Paper’s proposals for pharmacy based vascular risk assessments and for supporting patients with newly prescribed medicines for long term conditions show that they have listened. It also seems that there is, at long last, progress towards a national roll out of a minor ailments scheme.
However, the precise nature of the mechanism to bring about these changes is still to be determined.
These matters must be considered carefully, yet promptly, in order to maintain momentum and to minimise uncertainty in the market place. In particular, the commitment to review the 100-hour exemption, although welcome, could lead to considerable disruption in the immediate term.
We want community pharmacy to take its place as a full and active partner in primary care, working with GPs not against them. New pharmacy services, from Medicines Use Reviews to supplementary prescribing, work best where there is communication and trust on all sides - GP, pharmacist and patient. We are ourselves currently working in partnership with the General Practitioners Committee on projects to improve working relationships. Our recent NPA and BMA-badged workbook Improving Communication between community pharmacy and general practice is an excellent example of collaboration between the two representative bodies and every pharmacist and GP that uses this resource will be furthering this joint working.”
NPA members can access a range of other services and resources to help them meet the emerging opportunities. These include guidance on MURs, minor ailments, long term conditions, vascular screening, sexual health, NHS commissioning, and a new, practical tool for developing relationships with GPs. The NPA’s field based professional services team can give hands-on support where appropriate.
National Pharmacy Association
