Mohammed Hussain said he could “guarantee” that “version 2.0 [of SCR] will be much better”, enabling pharmacists to do “much more”.

Mr Hussain was speaking at the Avicenna conference in Wales last month (April 30), which this year explored 'the good, the bad and the ugly' of community pharmacy.

Owning two pharmacies with SCR access himself, Mr Hussain acknowledged that SCR is “perhaps a slightly blunt instrument” and “a bit clunky”.

The number of pharmacists accessing SCR regularly are “still low”, Mr Hussain said, with the “overwhelming majority” not viewing it at all. But there are “some” pharmacists who view SCR “many times every day”.

“It's been a massive change for pharmacy," he added. "It is a stepping stone."

Last year, NHS England’s assistant head of primary care Jill Loader said she was "very disappointed" that the average record viewing per pharmacy is "0.3 a week", despite 82% of pharmacies having completed training on SCR access at the time.

“The good, the bad and the ugly”

Mr Hussain was one of a number of speakers who attended independent support group Avicenna's annual conference.

At the conference, delegates shared views on Brexit and the funding cuts.

A short video before CEO Salim Jetha’s opening speech explained what Avicenna thought was the link between community pharmacy and the 1966 Western film.

In its version, the ‘bad’ was “resources drying up”; the ‘ugly’ was “3,000 pharmacies in danger of closing”; and the ‘good’ was “pharmacies succeeding in delivering healthcare”.

Watch the full video below:

Pharmacy meets Wild West in video exploring theme of #aviconf 'the good, bad and the ugly' pic.twitter.com/UGiK5yfSlY

— Thomas Cox (@CandDThomas) April 30, 2017

What's putting you off from accessing a patient's SCR? Let C+D know in the comments below or by emailing [email protected]