EXCLUSIVE

NHS Alliance has vowed to quell the "unnecessary tension" between pharmacists and GPs caused by the national flu service, the primary care organisation's next co-chair has said.

C+D reported last month that some GP surgeries were discouraging patients from getting vaccinated in a pharmacy, and Mark Spencer said NHS Alliance will work to improve local relationships by "putting out all the right messages about the positive roles of pharmacy".

The Lancashire GP, who will take over from outgoing chairman Mike Dixon at the end of the year, said pharmacists "are a cornerstone of the NHS".

Dr Spencer's own surgery is employing four pharmacists as part of NHS England's practice pharmacist pilot, and he warned that the initiative could be another source of friction in some parts of the country.

"There may be some tensions between [pharmacists] wanting to do something and practices wanting them to do something completely different," he said at an NHS Alliance event last week (December 8).

Practices need to change their "organisational culture" in order to encourage better collaboration, he said. "Without those relationships, it is all going to fall down,” he added.

Pharmacists underpaid for services

Nurse and NHS Alliance vice co-chair Heather Henry, who will join Dr Spencer as co-chair at the end of the year, said pharmacists are often underpaid for services they provide. NHS Alliance will promote community pharmacy minor ailments schemes and make sure the profession is "properly remunerated" for its work, she told C+D. 

Mike Dixon used his last speech as chair to condemn the NHS's "deep, continuing and historical contempt for primary care". There is no "primary care clinical voice" in top positions at the NHS and Department of Health, he said.

NHS Alliance chief executive Rick Stern is also set to leave his post after four years, and will be replaced by housing specialist Merron Simpson.
 

How should NHS Alliance support pharmacy?

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