'Too late' to use pharmacists in initial vanguard sites
The RCGP's Nigel Mathers says it is a "shame" that NHS England's vanguard sites were not launched at the same time as its scheme to employ pharmacists in GP practices
EXCLUSIVE
Attempts to incorporate pharmacists into NHS England’s vanguard programme have come “too late” for some areas, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has said.
RCGP honorary secretary Nigel Mathers told C+D that NHS England's attempts to make better use of pharmacists had come "a little bit too late" to have an impact in the first areas trying out new models of delivering urgent care.
Vanguard sites in Cambridgeshire and Devon are among those who have told C+D they intend to make use of pharmacists, but Dr Mathers expressed concerns there had been missed opportunities.
It is “a shame” that NHS England’s vanguard initiative was not launched simultaneously with its pilot scheme to place clinical pharmacists in GP practices, Dr Mathers said at a King’s Fund event last week (September 16). Instead, the initiative “didn’t get going” until after the first round of vanguards were appointed in March, he said.
There is still “an opportunity to incorporate pharmacists within future vanguard sites”, Dr Mathers stressed. “Pharmacists working in vanguards is a great opportunity and we strongly support it.”
The RCGP viewed pharmacists working more closely within primary care teams as “a win for patients, a win for pharmacists and a win for the doctors”, he added.
Phil Bennett-Richards, chair of the Tower Hamlets Integrated Provider Partnerships vanguard site in London, told the event that pharmacists are “absolutely part of the team”.
The vanguard site has been working with GP practices that already employ a pharmacist, and it is “thinking of extending” this model, he said.
Community pharmacists are also an “integral part” of Community Education Provider Networks – a north London initiative set up last year to create a community-based workforce of healthcare professionals – Dr Bennett-Richards added.
How should vanguard sites make use of pharmacists?
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