Lloydspharmacy defends outpatient dispensing deals
Business Lloydspharmacy’s pharmacy director Andy Murdock (pictured) has defended community pharmacy’s ability to deliver NHS outpatient dispensing contracts, following an attack by trade union Unite on the outsourcing of hospital pharmacy services.
Lloydspharmacy's pharmacy director Andy Murdock has defended community pharmacy's ability to deliver NHS outpatient dispensing contracts following an attack by trade union Unite on the outsourcing of hospital pharmacy services to community providers.
Partnerships between community pharmacies and hospital trusts offered a "broad range of benefits", including long-term reductions in drug wastage and a "more streamlined" service, Mr Murdock argued.
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"Bringing a provider like Lloydspharmacy into the hospital setting to do what we do best, allows hospital staff to be redeployed to do what they do best" Andy Murdock, Lloydspharmacy |
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He claimed that Lloydspharmacy's hospital services had proved beneficial to patients – the multiple announced in September it had reduced waiting times in the Royal Cornwall Hospital – and Mr Murdock said this week: "On average, Lloydspharmacy outpatient dispensing services reduce patient waiting time by around 30 minutes." "Bringing a provider like Lloydspharmacy into the hospital setting to do what we do best, allows hospital staff to be redeployed to do what they do best – providing clinical support at the bedside," he added. Freeing up hospital staff time to help improve adherence and reduce waste could "speed up discharge and deliver real, tangible cost savings ward by ward". |
Lloydspharmacy adopts ‘risky' live feedback strategyMr Murdock stressed that it took time to develop the competencies to operate in a hospital environment and said the responsibility should not be taken lightly. But community pharmacy's expertise in dispensing could enable hospitals to offer patients "a more personalised and quicker service in an improved environment", he said.
Mr Murdock's comments followed Unite's opposition to the outsourcing of pharmacy services to Sainsbury's at two London hospitals.
The union branded the deal "highly inappropriate", but Sainsbury's stressed it could provide "extensive benefits" as an NHS service provider.
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What do you think of Mr Murdock's view of the relationship between hospital dispensing and community pharmacy? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook |
