Closer pharmacist-GP links
August 19, 2011
THE British Royal College of
General Practitioners has issued a
joint statement with the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain, urging stronger links
between pharmacists and GPs in
order to improve patient care.
A paper exploring closer
cooperation recommends the use
of shared standards to ensure
consistency of services, improved IT
links, and even joint education and
training at both undergraduate and
postgraduate levels.
62 recommendations are included
in the document, including looking
at how pharmacists and GPs can
work together in specific clinical
areas, such as the management of
chronic conditions.
It also strongly recommends the
participation of pharmacists in
medicine reviews for housebound
patients, while pharmacists should
“form part of the out-of-hours team
for palliative care”.
Cardiovascular risk assessment
could also be carried out by
pharmacists, including on-site
cholesterol monitoring, while
pharmacists with appropriate
expertise could also become
providers of travel immunisations
and malaria prevention treatments,
the report suggests.
Increasing self-care is also a focus,
including a recommendation that
the National Health Service could
fund a pharmacy-based Minor
Ailments Service to support GPs in
urgent and out-of-hours care.
“In these financially and
structurally challenging times,
integration across professional
boundaries is so important to
improve the quality of care we
provide to our patients,” said RCGP
chair Dr Clare Gerada.
RPS President, Martin Astbury
said the preparation of the joint
report shows a “clear direction and
willingness to work more closely
together”.
The full list of recommendations
in the report can be viewed online
at http://bit.ly/uk_rps_report.
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