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Integrating pharmacy with general practice

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Integrating pharmacy with general practice

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the National Association of Primary Care (NAPC) have announced proposals on how community pharmacy and general practice could work closer together.

The proposals are aimed at developing programmes that could increase collaboration between GPs and community pharmacists including:

  • Considering community pharmacy as an NHS access point for minor self-limiting conditions
  • Making sure pharmacists and GPs prioritise support for high risk patients, such as frail older people or those with multiple long-term conditions
  • Encouraging patient-led access to health records by community pharmacy
  • Using the opportunity of pharmacists employed by general practice to link in with community pharmacy
  • Developing an approach that aligns financial incentives for community pharmacies and general practices to work together as part of a new joint population health framework.

Ash Soni, RPS president and NAPC board member, in a press statement, commented: “For too long community pharmacy has been straight-jacketed with a ‘top down’ contract that does not allow practitioners like me to redesign local services in line with the population’s needs.”

It is time to end the “one size fits all” approach and allow services to be designed around the needs of patients rather than healthcare providers, he said. “Working with NAPC we are suggesting that there is a different way of approaching healthcare, where skills and access are designed to meet patient demand.”

Sandra Gidley, chair of the RPS English Pharmacy Board, added: “People have [said] the EPB hasn’t done enough to promote the potential for community pharmacy and general practice to work together. However this means pharmacy will need to accept change. I know this is tough – we are working incredibly hard just to stand still.”

Gidley - time to change

If pharmacists are to move away from the treadmill of dispensing to a role where their clinical skills are recognised and valued by the public, then payment structures will need to change, she said. “These proposals are designed to test the appetite for [change]. Do we want to stay as we are or do we want a different role in the reformed NHS?”

The consultation closes on October 9. Respond to the consultation using this form and send to Heidi.Wright@rpharms.com

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