Clinical pharmacists join general practice teams
Date posted: 14th July 2017
Over 200,000 people across Lancashire and South Cumbria set to benefit as clinical pharmacists join general practice teams
Following the success of the 2015 clinical pharmacy pilot, which brought 494 clinical pharmacists in to general practice; NHS England has announced the second wave of areas set to benefit from having a clinical pharmacist in their general practice team.
Clinical pharmacists work as part of the surgery team to resolve day-to-day medicine issues and consult with and treat patients directly. This includes providing extra help to manage long-term conditions, advice for those on multiple medications and better access to health checks.
In Lancashire and South Cumbria, six clinical pharmacists and two senior clinical pharmacists will work across 29 sites and GP practices representing a population of 233,000 people.
Part of the General Practice Forward View (GPFV), which committed to invest over a billion pounds to support general practice, and during a time when general practice is facing unprecedented pressure, the role of a clinical pharmacist is key to improving quality of care, ensuring patient safety and supporting general practitioners to deliver the best services to their registered populations.
Jackie Forshaw, Head of Primary Care, NHS England (Lancashire and South Cumbria) said:
“We are delighted that so many local people will be benefitting from the rollout of the second wave of the clinical pharmacist pilot scheme.
Evaluation of the pilot in other areas of the country has found that having a clinical pharmacist, who is an independent pharmacist prescriber, within general practice can create up to 3.5 hours of GP time a day. This frees up time to allow the GP to see other people who need them.”
Delivery of the General Practice Forward View is one of the key priorities of Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria.