Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) is encouraging pharmacists to help the government decide the future of its gluten-free service.

The negotiating body urged pharmacists to respond to the Scottish government survey on the service, for which pharmacists are paid £125 a month to dispense gluten-free products without a prescription, to decide whether it should continue.

CPS said it was important pharmacists responded to the survey to give the government a “true picture of the service”, originally introduced as a 12-month trial last April before being extended until September 2015. 

The survey would ensure the government "enhanced service provision" by acting upon the views of the profession and patients who had benefitted from the expertise of community pharmacy, said CPS pharmacy services manager Matt Barclay.

CCPS hoped to work with the Scottish government to evaluate the results of the survey and use this feedback to improve the service, he added.

Pharmacists and patients have until March 31 to complete the survey, and the government said its evaluation of the service was expected in the summer. The questionnaire should take "no longer than 10 minutes" and responses would be anonymous, it stressed.

 

 

Should the gluten-free service be commissioned permanently? 

 

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