EXCLUSIVE

GPs have expressed mixed views on whether pharmacists should take on a greater prescribing role.

C+D spoke to GPs at the national local medical committees (LMC) conference in York last week (May 22), some of whom supported the idea of community pharmacists prescribing medicines for more common conditions. Others were concerned pharmacists would struggle to correctly prescribe for patients with complex health needs.

Josef Kuriacose, a GP from Moneymore, Northern Ireland, said he was comfortable with pharmacists becoming prescribers "as long as it benefits the patient".

"It's fine if [the pharmacist] knows the drug. GPs can't know about every drug, so that's where pharmacists can help them," he told C+D.

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	Paramjeet Sandhu, an executive member of Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow LMC, said he agreed with the decision to commission pharmacists to prescribe certain medicines as part of a minor ailments scheme in his area. But Dr Sandhu questioned whether pharmacists would cope with prescribing for more complex conditions.

"It will be very difficult, [pharmacists] are not trained doctors. I personally think even nurse practitioners shouldn't be given access to the whole formulary," he told C+D.

Wimbledon GP Paul Cundy said he was not convinced pharmacists would take account of other health factors when prescribing medicines to patients with multiple conditions, such as the elderly.

"There is a subtle art to prescribing. You have to match the characteristics of the individual patient and my fear is that pharmacists won't have that," Dr Cundy told C+D.

As part of its 10-year vision for pharmacy, the Scottish government set out plans for all pharmacists to become independent prescribers by 2023. Earlier this month, Community Pharmacy Scotland chief executive Harry McQuillan said Scottish GPs had shown a "cautious acceptance" of pharmacists taking a greater prescribing role.

"There are a range of views. But our GP colleagues see there is a role to be played, providing we get the responsibilities and accountabilities sorted out," he told C+D in an exclusive interview on May 12.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) called for all pharmacists to have the opportunity to develop their prescribing skills in its response to the government's Call to Action consultation in March. The RPS also recommended that pharmacists take on responsibility for managing and prescribing patients with long-term conditions who only need intermittent medical input.

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