VIDEO FIRST
REMOTE WORKING HAS NEVER BEEN AS VITAL AS DURING THE CURRENT PANDEMIC. RPS DIRECTOR FOR SCOTLAND, CLARE MORRISON, TELLS SP HOW PHARMACY IS UNDERESTIMATING THE POWER OF VIDEO CONSULTATION…
By John Macgill C
OVID-19 has changed the pharmacy profession forever. That was the view of several speakers at last month’s Pharmacy Management National Forum for Scotland – ‘COVID-19, looking back and moving forward’.
For Clare Morrison who, before her recent appointment as Director for Scotland of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, was the Scottish
Government’s lead for NHS Scotland’s Near Me video consultation system, one of the biggest changes to the model of patient care is much greater use of digital tools.
Speaking ahead of the conference, Clare told SP that she believes many areas of pharmacy are
underestimating how valuable video 6 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
consultation can be – and how popular it is with patients.
‘The Scottish Government is clear in its Programme for Government that the pandemic has changed how the NHS is working and that there will be a transition to a new model of care that is much more about community-based services and digitisation of services.
‘So, the question is, how does pharmacy fit into that?
‘Internationally, care has become much more digital. We are seeing much more use of online tools, things like digital forms to access care, online information and also remote consulting and remote monitoring – and all very much with a focus on care being delivered close to or at home. And some of that is happening
now, but I think we need to address the question of how pharmacy becomes more digital and how pharmacy delivers care closer to people’s homes. In addition, over the next few years, I think there will also be a much bigger focus on prevention of ill health, both physical and mental ill-health.
‘If we look at remote consulting, and to a certain extent other parts of digitalisation, the digital offering is being embraced most among pharmacists who work in secondary care and pharmacists who work in GP practices. And I think that is because, in community pharmacy, pharmacists are focusing on the value – the essential part of the interaction with patients – as the physical handing over of medicines and how you do that. So pharmacists are querying the value of a digital
consultation if there isn’t the physical handing over of medicines.
‘However, one thing that I think is really interesting is how pharmacists, and community pharmacists in particular - in a time of COVID - have been asking how can we minimise the time that a patient is in a pharmacy, but still give them full access to the professional advice of pharmacy. You can do that through remote consulting.
‘You can have the consultation and then the patient or patient’s representative can come and collect the medicine which can, to help the person supplying the medicine, be marked as the advice having already been given. That can be a very fast transaction in the pharmacy that minimises that contact time for the pharmacy team. And, in some cases,
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
