Pharmacists call for GP booking facility

Pharmacy representatives are calling for a ‘Choose and Book’ style system to be set up between pharmacies and GP practices so that pharmacists can book GP appointments for patients.

The idea has been proposed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) as part of its submission to the Department of Health’s consultation process ahead of the publication of its white paper on care outside hospital at the end of the year.

The Society would like to see a national scheme developed, similar to that already used in Italy, where pharmacists have IT links with practices which enables them to book appointments for patients.

Rob Darracott, director of corporate and strategic development for the RPSGB, said the proposal would be a natural extension of the informal links that currently exist between pharmacies and practices.

He told EHI Primary Care: “Where there are good working relationships between doctors and pharmacies at local level when a pharmacist sends someone to see a doctor that often acts as their passport through the system.

“What we’re suggesting is an extrapolation from that and given that we are going to have this massive investment in IT we think the discussions should include how pharmacists can be linked up to make appointments for patients.”

In its response, the Society also calls for pharmacists to have full access to NHS computerised patient records including being able to write to the record.

Darracott said: “Pharmacists work from a different perspective and have information about patients that other health professionals might want to have available and we just want to make sure that pharmacists are able to record that information if appropriate.”

In the meantime a group of MPs, the All Party Pharmacy Group, is continuing to press the health department about its concerns over IT links between GPs and pharmacies.

A spokesman for the APPG told EHI Primary Care that pharmacists were beginning to do medicines use reviews under their new contract but failure to supply smartcards and N3 connections to pharmacists meant the reviews were paper-based and often going to waste.

He added: “Most of the medicines use reviews that are being done are being rejected by GPs because they are paper-based and GPs don’t have the time to put them into their electronic records. We need to know who is going to sort this out.”

The APPG is to meet Jane Kennedy, the health minister responsible for pharmacy, at a meeting in January and plans to question her about how the issue will be dealt with.