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- Page navigation anchor for Pharmacists perceptions of emerging roles in primary carePharmacists perceptions of emerging roles in primary care
I have enjoyed reading your article in the BJGP.
As a long retired GP who worked as an NHS GP for some 40 years it's always good to hear of developments in Primary care. Sometimes it's inevitable that one learns of past ideas being reinvented.
I always worked closely with local pharmacists, valuing their opinions and knowledge, wherever I was based, dropping in to discuss issues or talking on the phone.
The closest relationship I had was when we included an independent pharmacy in a new build multidisciplinary primary care centre in Norwich back in the 1990s. Being inner city all the registered patients had to use a local pharmacist for their dispensing. As planned most patients used this pharmacy on our door step.The forward looking local NHS administration (then the FPC) paid the pharmacist to have an extended role with our practice. He not only worked closely with us checking the accuracy of prescriptions and raising any queries but he also systematically reviewed all our repeat prescribing and, for instance, he converted all drugs, group by group, to generic where possible. And he took the time to work with patients explaining the changes.....sometimes having to assure people of the safety and equivalence of a new pack, of course.
The advantages were immeasurable. We doctors were helped to be much more aware of our prescribing in general and of course the pharmacist saved the NHS drug bill much more than the scheme cost th...
Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared. - Page navigation anchor for Pharmacists’ perceptions of their emerging general practice roles in UK primary care: a qualitative interview studyPharmacists’ perceptions of their emerging general practice roles in UK primary care: a qualitative interview studyWe welcome the publication of the research by Butterworth et al exploring pharmacist’s perceptions of their potential roles in general practice as a valuable contribution to the literature about this topic.1A timeline of reports or policies that have supported the emergence of pharmacists in general practice was presented in Table 1. We note the omission of pharmacist prescribing and suggest that this table should also include the Crown Report of 1999.2 This report lead to the legislation that permitted adequately trained pharmacists in the United Kingdom(UK) to be supplementary prescribers from 2003 and then independent prescribers from 2006.3 Pharmacist prescribing in general practice is acceptable to patients4 and effective, showing beneficial outcomes in chronic conditions.3 The ability of pharmacists to undertake prescribing tasks that would otherwise be conducted by medical doctors has made pharmacists in general practice an option to address the issue of a shortage of general practitioners in the UK.A section of the discussion focuses on the acceptability to patients of a pharmacist consultation in general practice. The authors refer to UK research of audio-recorded pharmacist interactions with patients in general practice which concluded that pharmacists responded supportively to patients’ emotional cues and concerns.1...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.