Following the announcement that Boots plans to offer in-store skin cancer checks and diabetes treatments, the Patients Association has spoken to www.pharmacy-life.co.uk about the ramifications this will have on the NHS.
It has welcomed the role of highly-trained pharmacists on the high street in supporting doctors by providing advice to patients, but stresses the need to ensure any move is not a money-making exercise that ends up costing the public more than they would have paid had they gone through the usual NHS routes.
Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said, ‘Any action that can, at the very least, ease the problem of pressures on GPs is to be welcomed as a step in the right direction. Pharmacists are, on the whole, an untapped resource and they may very often know the patient better than a GP – especially those patients with long-term conditions.
‘Of course, there must always be concerns that the pharmacists who undertake this work have the relevant skills and qualifications to treat patients, and to treat them with care. We’ve got to be careful and scrutinise private providers creeping into the NHS. When they see an opportunity, is that opportunity right for the patient or for their own financial gain? What are the safeguards to protect patients? If you see a pharmacist and they recommend one of their own products, how do you know that is the right treatment?
‘We are very interested in the emerging role of pharmacists across the healthcare sector. As part of this, the Patients Association is keen to hear wider patient views on the emerging role of clinical pharmacists within doctors’ surgeries. We are currently undertaking a survey asking for the public’s views and experiences of clinical pharmacists who are working in a doctors’ surgery as part of the practice team.’
