CAN’T GET GP? HEAD TO THE HIGH STREET
New drive to let pharmacists diagnose and treat serious illnesses
PATIENTS could be treated for serious conditions in town centre health ‘shops’ in the latest attempt to ease the strain on struggling GPs.
The move will see 1,200 pharmacies across Scotland’s high streets and retail parks play a far bigger role in NHS care.
Patients out on shopping trips will be able to visit the chemist for diagnosis and treatment, instead of their GP surgery.
Hundreds of shop spaces across the country will also be ‘upgraded’ to provide NHSstandard consulting rooms.
Around 60 pharmacists are already undergoing training that will enable them to prescribe medication for a range of illnesses and conditions such as chest, eye and throat infections and flare-ups of chronic conditions.
But last night patients’ groups urged caution over the move and warned healthcare simply cannot be provided ‘on the cheap’.
Rab Wilson, spokesman for the campaign group Action for a Safe and Accountable People’s NHS, said: ‘Patients should still be able to see a GP or a nurse if they want to. Just
because someone is wearing a crisp, white uniform and is standing behind a counter it does not necessarily make them a fully qualified medical professional. It is not possible to provide professional healthcare on the cheap and patients should be seen by the right people.’
Scotland is suffering a massive shortage of doctors, with a quarter of Scottish surgeries trying to fill at least one GP vacancy. Pharmacists are already carrying out some tasks traditionally undertaken by family doctors, such as medication reviews.
They can also prescribe a limited range of treatments directly for patients such as for common skin conditions and urinary tract infections.
But that is now being extended to allow them to treat a far wider range of conditions and use medical instruments such as stethoscopes and blood pressure monitors. Adam Osprey of Community Pharmacy Scotland said: ‘Pharmacists are the most accessible health care professionals... they are highly trained and dealing with more and more clinical issues.’
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘There is definitely a role for wider participation in prescribing and treatment, providing it can be done safely and in the interests of patients.
‘But we wouldn’t even need to have these discussions now, had the SNP Government planned responsibly for the future.’
Dr Andrew Buist, chairman of the Scottish GP Committee of the British Medical Association, said: ‘We are more than a year in to the new Scottish GP contract, and the deep-seated problems – such as there simply not being enough GPs in Scotland – still exist. We need the Scottish Government to continue to play its part to expand the primary care workforce supporting GP practices.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said yesterday: ‘Community pharmacies play a vital role and should be the first port of call for advice and treatment of common self-limiting conditions.
‘We are working to create a new minor ailment and common clinical conditions service from April 0 0.’
‘The deep-seated problems still exist’