Pharmacists must focus on mental as well as physical health for the sector to “move forward”, North-East London LPC secretary Hemant Patel has said.

Community pharmacists had made “very little attempt to bring together treatments for physical and mental health”, despite government plans to make “big investments” in this area, Mr Patel told delegates at the Avicenna conference in Cyprus yesterday (May 25).

He drew delegates' attention to health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s promise to treat mental health conditions with the same importance as physical health in the government’s mandate to the NHS last year.

Politicians wanted community pharmacy to move beyond its dispensing role, said Mr Patel. But pharmacists would only become part of the “bigger solution” if they focused on the government's health priorities, he said.

“We really need to understand what the government is trying to buy before we offer any solutions. Pharmacy has got the potential, but at present I'm not convinced it's ready to make the change,” Mr Patel said.

He told delegates that they needed to consider if their patients were affected by factors such as domestic violence, alcoholism and debt, as these were all causes of physical and mental health conditions.

“If I told you a [patient] is a victim of domestic violence and then I asked you what impact your tablets make to the person’s life, I’m sure there would be a bit of a pause,” he added.

In February, a leading mental health expert echoed the findings of last year’s evaluation of the new medicines service (NMS) by calling for the scheme to be expanded to include antidepressants. 
 

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