The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) have come up with a plan under which they propose recruiting pharmacists to work in GP surgeries in a bid to ease out the current pressures in general practice and address the severe shortage of GPs.
To be unveiled at a summit in London today, the plan seeks to employ pharmacists in GP surgeries to resolve day to day medicine issues, particularly for patients with long term conditions and who are taking a number of different medications. They would also liaise with hospitals, community pharmacists and care homes to ensure seamless care for patients.
This will leave GPs to concentrate on diagnosis and treatment of more complex conditions. Further, the employment of pharmacists in GP surgeries will ensure that the oversupply of pharmacists is handled in a productive way by stepping in to treat patients directly at the surgery.
Many GP surgeries already work closely with pharmacists. The proposals would see pharmacists working as part of the general practice team, much in the same way as practice nurses.
According to RCGP research, there will be 67m occasions during 2015 when patients will have to wait a week or more to see a GP or practice nurse.
The proposals launched today are the latest in a line of joint initiatives from the RCGP and the RPS to encourage closer working between GPs and pharmacists.
Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the RCGP, said that the waiting times for a GP appointment is one of the major talking points across the nation and even if the government announces an urgent influx of extra funding and more GPs the situation can’t be turned around owing to the length of time it takes to train a GP.
“Yet we already have a ‘hidden army’ of highly-trained pharmacists who could provide a solution. Practice -based pharmacists, working as part of the clinical team, would relieve the pressure on GPs and make a huge difference to patient care”, Baker said.
David Branford, Chair of the RPS English Board believes that having a pharmacist as part of the team can make a huge difference to both patients and clinical colleagues.
“Pharmacists can consult with and treat patients directly, relieving GPs of casework and enabling them to focus their skills where they are most needed, for example on diagnosing and treating patients with complex conditions”, Branford added.
