Hampshire vanguard: ‘Huge’ potential for pharmacy
The director of a pilot site in southern Hampshire has recognised the contribution pharmacy could make
A vanguard site in southern Hampshire has told C+D the potential for pharmacy’s involvement in its work is “huge”.
There was a recognition that pharmacists have “an enormous role in delivering new care models” in the pilot site, known as Better Local Care, director Chris Ash told C+D at a King's Fund event last week (September 16).
The vanguard, which includes Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and 27 GP practices, has got no schemes that involve pharmacists “off the ground yet”, Mr Ash said. But he revealed he had already been speaking to pharmacists to get a sense of “the real potential” for them to “save hours of GP time”.
Mr Ash recognised there were challenges in making collaborative working across all professions a reality. The lack of a shared read-write patient record meant the vanguard “consistently struggled” with managing the “workflow” of patients, he said. Other healthcare professionals needed to know “when a GP is likely to go on a home visit and if there are any changes to the [patient’s] treatment plan", he stressed.
What are vanguard sites? As part of its Five Year Forward strategy to integrate health services, NHS England invited organisations across the country to pilot new models of care in January. In July, it announced a second wave of eight vanguards focused on creating new models of urgent care. |
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