DURING THE PANDEMIC OUR MEMBERS WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND TO ENSURE THAT SERVICE WAS UNINTERRUPTED AND, IN SOME CASES, ACTUALLY EXPANDED
CPS is asking for resources to explore an even bigger role for community pharmacy in sexual health – perhaps even becoming the first port of call for regular contraception.
eHealth CPS believes that a strong digital framework – with community pharmacy at its heart – is required, and is seeking funding for this expanded eHealth infrastructure, which would include access to records and electronic referral pathways.
‘During the pandemic,’ says CPS Chief Executive, Harry McQuillan, ‘our members went above and beyond to ensure that service was uninterrupted and, in some cases, actually expanded – all the while adapting ways of working to ensure both patient and pharmacy team safety.
‘Our pharmacies became the ‘front door’ of the NHS, with patients telling us that other services were becoming less accessible.
‘The role that community pharmacy has played throughout the pandemic has been rewarded
with increased patient awareness of what we can provide.
‘Indeed, initial results from recent research commissioned by CPS demonstrates in part the considerable contribution that the community pharmacy network makes to the functioning of the NHS in Scotland, and the value that the people we serve place on our services. Over 2,100 people in Scotland, for example, are provided with advice-only treatment from community pharmacy every hour – that’s an amazing 84,000 patients a week. We anticipate that the embedding of Pharmacy First Scotland will increase this number even further.
‘Despite the positive results of our research, however, we firmly believe that we can do more – hence our manifesto – but, in order to be able to increase our services and expand our role, we need both funding and resources.
‘For a start, we need to double the number of fully-funded independent prescribing course places and funding to support community
pharmacy prescribing services. This will be particularly important as the Pharmacy First Plus model progresses since pharmacist prescribers can assess and treat a wider range of conditions under this model, further shifting the balance of care into the community.
‘We also need a clear place for community pharmacy in NHS vaccination programmes. Community pharmacies have provided – and continue to provide - a flexible option to complement NHS vaccination services, as evidenced in some NHS Boards in winter 2020/21 and across all other UK nations over the last few years.
‘Funding is, of course, vital to the expansion of our services. Adequate funding is, for example, necessary to enable us to support a bigger role in sexual health – notably the provision of long-term contraception. Access to sexual health services is becoming more difficult – plans are already in place to build on the success of our emergency contraception service, but with the right support this could go further.
‘Resources are also required to support the exploration of community pharmacy’s contribution to the eHealth agenda. Community pharmacy is the partner of choice when supporting patients to manage their health as close to home as possible. We are exploring new ways of working in this arena using digital monitoring and intervention tools and would welcome resource to continue and support this work.
‘Community pharmacy’s response to the challenges posed by the pandemic have highlighted the resilience that comes from having a diverse, dedicated network of professionals with a clear purpose embedded in the heart of all communities.’
OUR PHARMACIES BECAME THE ‘FRONT DOOR’ OF THE NHS
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