Pharmacy and public health: the perfect partnership?
In July, the government set up a forum to look at "how best to utilise" pharmacy in the public health agenda. The forum's chair, Richard Parish, went on to say the group would promote "evidence-based care" in public health issues.
The issue was also highlighted by Ash Soni, pharmacy's representative on the NHS Future Forum. "The sector must keep pushing the messages about its role in the public's health and its role in optimising the use of medicines," he told C+D in August.
But it's not just political rhetoric. C+D Senators have repeatedly come back to the issue of public health, including Lloydspharmacy's Ronan Brett. His latest blog highlights that pharmacists' work in this area has "saved lives and improved customer's quality of life". But he stresses that the pharmacy contract and lack of time are the "two major barriers" to pharmacists carrying out this kind of work.
And it seems this is the crux of the issue. While there's no doubt pharmacy could play an even greater role in public health, do they really have time to do more? I'm currently writing a feature on how pharmacists have helped with community health projects in Northern Ireland. The results are undeniably positive. But one pharmacist summed up the situation when he said: "I'm a locum, so I have the time to participate."
So this month we'll be asking C+D Senators about pharmacy's role in public health, and putting your questions to them. If there's anything you'd like to grill the Senators on, we'd like to hear from you.
Do you think pharmacy could do more? Will the sector need to up its game during NHS reforms? Or are pharmacists just too time-pressured to take on any extra work?
Whatever your opinion, we'll be putting your questions to the Senators for our next Ask a C+D Senator feature. So if you've got a burning question, e-mail me at emma.weinbren@ubm.com or post your thoughts here. I look forward to reading your suggestions.
