PATIENTS MAY be able to get their flu vaccines and a range of medications previously only available through general practitioners (GPs) at their local pharmacy in years to come if recommendations contained in a new report are adopted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health.
An interim report from the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI), the regulatory body for the pharmacy profession, published yesterday, claims GP time and hospital beds could be freed up if pharmacists were given a greater range of roles and responsibilities.
It argues this would produce cost savings in the long run.
The range of additional activities in which pharmacists could become engaged includes health screening for conditions such as diabetes, the management of chronic diseases in the community, delivering immunisations, “prescribing” certain medications, handing out the morning-after pill, and treating minor ailments such as fungal infections and acne.
Dr Ambrose McLoughlin, PSI registrar, explained the report had set out to review pharmacy services in the Republic and compare them with best practice in other countries. He said that in 40 US states, for example, pharmacists were engaged in vaccinating patients against flu.
“Pharmacies provide a convenient, accessible location for delivery of vaccinations,” he said.
In Scotland, where the treatment of minor ailments by pharmacists began in 2006, there are now 70,000 consultations a month in pharmacies over minor ailments that would have taken place in GP surgeries. And the average cost of medicines prescribed by pharmacists under the scheme is lower than those prescribed by GPs under the same circumstances.
Dr McLoughlin said there was evidence from other countries that pharmacist management of chronic diseases improved patient outcomes and produced cost savings for the overall health system.
The report, presented to Minister for Health Mary Harney at a function in Dublin, calls for a national policy on pharmacist prescribing to be developed by the department and the HSE.
Ms Harney said she was a strong fan of enhancing the role of pharmacists.
“I believe heretofore we haven’t used pharmacists to their full potential but there are major issues we have to consider in the context of this report,” she said.
However, she said it would be important to await the appointment of a chief pharmacist in the department before the ideas put forward in the report were advanced. This position will be advertised shortly.