Pharmacies could ease pressure on the NHS, according to an industry leader. As he prepared to enter into emergency talks with the Prime Minister on Saturday, executive director of Day Lewis pharmacy group Jay Patel said pharmacies could test and treat infections and play a more leading role in prescribing medications.
The talks come as part of the NHS Recovery Forum in which Rishi Sunak is meeting with health leaders in an attempt to alleviate the winter crisis in the health service. The focus will be on four crucial issues: social care and delayed discharge, urgent and emergency care, elective care and primary care.
On Saturday morning, experts including England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty and NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard arrived in Downing Street for the talks. Mr Patel told the PA news agency: “I’m hoping that we can look for high impact and quick interventions so that community pharmacy can play a role in alleviating the current pressures.”
Asked what pharmacies could do, he said they could help treat infections: “At the moment there is a massive surge in Strep A. With the right protocols we could test and treat Strep A.”
He added the same could be done for urinary tract infections. “These aren’t difficult things to do,” he continued. “It is a case of training a professional for a few hours and having access to the relevant test kits.”
Mr Patel also told PA that pharmacies could alleviate GPs’ workloads. “If we have better control of our repeat prescriptions we could take the pressure off GPs,” he said.
It is understood that pharmacies are seeing a “massive surge” in “acute treatment and acute needs”. Patients are also said to be facing “massive delays” in treatment.
