NEWS Aren’t cuts a minor inconvenience?


As we all know, the great benefit of social media is it ensures that everyone can chip in and comment instantly after the headline has being printed / posted, often causing them to post what they really think and not what they would say if they were given time for a measured response.


Referring to the A&E backlog, one respondent commented, “Surely triage can sift out those with a cold and send them on their way?”


A valid point, you must agree. The response to this post by another reader was more eye opening: “A runny nose can be a symptom of something a lot more serious.”


And for me, therein lies our problem in one sentence. Today, the public don’t see pharmacy having a Government funded nationally promoted pharmacy service for ailments like cold, flu, diarrhoea or vomiting. So why would they consider putting all of their trust in this system when the Government isn’t?


Wayne Harrison, Numark Membership Services Manager


In recent years, it hasn’t been very often that Northern Ireland pharmacies have taken a look over the water and thought, “At least it’s not us”.


But that’s exactly what many will have done when they heard the Department of Health (DH) announcement on the 17th December that funding for community pharmacy 2016/17 in England will be cut by £170m.


The cut (from £2.8bn to £2.63bn) is a reduction of more than 6% in cash terms, whilst some commentators are suggesting that this could be the equivalent to a 12% net loss over the next six months.


It makes for tough reading whichever country you have a business in.


Of course, this isn’t anything new. Many NI contractors will be thinking “been there, done that” and some will point to the fact that a 6% reduction maybe a very conservative estimate as to what has been lost in recent times in the province due to cuts by stealth and reduction in fees.


Whilst the DHSSPS news of the funding cuts will quite rightly grab the headlines, I read on with interest as the letter also states that there is “the potential for far greater use of community pharmacy and pharmacists in the prevention of ill


health, support for healthy living and minor ailments.”


In short, isn’t this letter just another case of take with one hand and promise with another?


Pharmacies in England are already beginning to ask questions that will ring true with many. “Should I be doing a free blood pressure service?” “How much does it cost to fill these trays?” “Can I charge for deliveries?”


Coincidently, within days of the announcement, there has been a raft of new stories and comments on what is happening in the other related areas of the health care sector. The BMA announced they are at ‘breaking point’ throughout various A&E departments UK-wide.


When discussing the crisis, Dr Deryth Stevens, Chairman of NHS Warwickshire North CCG, commented, “The kind of serious accidents and emergencies that should been treated at A&E include unconsciousness, heavy blood loss, suspected heart attacks and strokes, and broken bones. Those with a cold or flu or symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting, should visit their pharmacist, who will be able to advise and offer appropriate medication.”


Closer to home, we had a consistent message from Dermot Hughes in the Western Trust stating, “There is a


significant number of people attending our Emergency Departments with minor conditions, and they are diverting highly trained doctors and nurses away from the job of helping people who are real emergencies. Minor ailments such as colds and sore throats do not require treatment in an emergency department."


So what’s the answer?


Sure, enable pharmacy to carry out a national minor ailments service to ease these burdens on secondary care. Let pharmacy treat coughs and cold and other conditions that are clogging up our GP surgeries and A&E departments. Pretty simple.


Invest in pharmacy and help keep people in primary care and away from secondary care. Clearly it’s not as straightforward as that and much work has to be done.


The pay masters need to recognise that they must lead from the top and have a consistent message that rings true not only within our industry, but most importantly, to the public and our customers.


To put this argument into context, when Mr Hughes’ comments about patients visiting A&E with a simple cold were published in the Belfast Telegraph, within minutes the public began to have their say.


Whilst pharmacy in the UK is entrusted with dispensing over 1.2 billion prescriptions a year, we are yet to be nationally entrusted and endorsed to provide a minor ailments service, so why would the patient consider putting their trust in the system?


Currently, they can go to A&E, be treated and then be referred should there be further complications. What part of that can’t pharmacy do?


We could become the patients’ first port of call, save clogging up GP surgeries and secondary care and ensuring healthcare is kept in the community, maximising the skills and training that pharmacists have undertaken whilst capitalising on the accessibility of pharmacies through the UK.


Pharmacy is screaming out to Governments to offer more support with minor ailments. We shouldn’t be looking at cutting pharmacies’ income, we should be looking at investing in them.


By supporting pharmacy maybe, just maybe, one day, the headlines wouldn’t be “cuts” and “full to capacity”, the national headlines will be “think pharmacy first, for all of your minor ailments.”


In times of austerity when all public funded bodies are looking at ways to cuts costs, I would encourage all of our paymasters to concentrate on what pharmacies can do for them, not what they can take away from pharmacies.


pharmacyinfocus.co.uk 13


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