Patient Survey Overwhelmingly Calls for Pharmacies to Relieve NHS Pressures
80% of people believe that access to NHS care has been reduced during the last decade, particularly in the last year; and 90% believe local pharmacies should be providing more NHS services...
...in order to "relieve pressure on GPs and make NHS services more convenient for patients". Those are the results of a survey of patients, published by the National Pharmacy Association in its See You Sooner report.
Pharmacists are seen as very accessible. Most patients can be seen by pharmacists within just a few minutes without an appointment. However, pharmacists are currently restricted in the services they are able to provide. Pharmacists and patients have been calling for more.
89% of people surveyed felt there should be fewer limitations on the range of treatments pharmacists can supply, and 91% want pharmacies to be expanded to help with long term medical conditions and manage their medicines.
The NPA's report advocates investment in community pharmacy based NHS services, so patients consistently get quality, convenient, face-to-face advice and treatment.
The Chairman of the NPA, Nitin Sodha, said: "The NHS has a chronic access problem. There is growing pressure on GPs and hospitals, often leading to long waiting times. At your local pharmacy you can simply walk in off the street and see a health care professional for expert advice within minutes, usually without having to book an appointment. Pharmacies have the potential to do so much more to improve access to care, if the government invests in pharmacy services and allows pharmacists to put their clinical skills to full use. Our survey shows that people clearly understand local pharmacies are a solution to the NHS access crisis."
This position has been backed by Rachel Power, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, who said: "Patients, their families and carers must be able to feel confident that when they need care, advice and support, that they can access this in a timely way and it is provided to the highest standard. I'm therefore glad to see this confident promotion of the place of community pharmacy among the options to these challenges. I hope that it will not be too long before every asset at our disposal, including our community pharmacy network, is harnessed fully in providing patient care as effectively as possible."