For this week’s column I wanted to highlight the excellent work of community pharmacies across Cornwall and also the new NHS services they are now providing. I am delighted to see that until the end of March, all pharmacies in Cornwall will be offering face to face consultations for a wide range of minor ailments. This is the first service of its kind in England. It follows a pilot scheme over the Christmas period where more than 90% of people that used the service had their symptoms successfully treated on site.
Patients can visit the pharmacy (without an appointment or
referral from their GP), consult with the pharmacist in a consultation room and receive NHS treatment
if appropriate. A record of the service will be electronically sent to the
patient’s GP for completeness. I welcome this latest initiative.
Throughout the pandemic there have been many organisations
that have gone above and beyond in the fight against COVID-19. Pharmacies have
been one of them - particularly in the testing regime and vaccine rollout. As a
former chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Pharmacies I know the
impact and importance of our pharmacies both locally and country-wide. It was
during my tenure as chair of this APPG that the whole issue of further utilising
the qualifications, skills, and knowledge of pharmacists came up. It was well
known that other countries have long since adopted this wider use. I raised this
with ministers and am delighted to see the government introduce these new
roles. From the early feedback already obtained, I am hopeful that the
government will make this a permanent feature of our NHS.
For instance, they have distributed nearly 300 million
lateral flow tests, which have been vital in our national effort of testing and
tracing the virus. This is particularly the case in recent weeks, where testing
has never been so important in helping key-workers stay at work, and the
country running.
They have also delivered over 17million covid boosters, with
community pharmacies supporting our NHS in running walk-in appointment-based
vaccine clinics. I must give a special mention to Reeds Pharmacy, who have run
regular walk-in clinics in St Austell, and helped thousands of local people get
their booster in recent weeks. Thank you again.
Community pharmacies have also taken on additional services
and responsibilities to support wider health services, including the Discharge
Medicines Service, where NHS Trusts can refer patients who would benefit from
extra guidance around new prescribed medicines to community pharmacies, with
the aim of reducing avoidable harm from medicines and hospital readmissions. They
have also been involved in initiatives during the pandemic, such as supporting
victims of domestic abuse via the Ask for ANI (Action Needed Immediately)
scheme.
It is brilliant to see Cornwall trail-blazing yet again with
this rollout out of new NHS services available via community pharmacies. I
encourage residents across Cornwall to take advantage of these new services
over the winter months, and help relieve pressure on our NHS during this
ongoing, exceptionally busy time.
As always, my office is available for any constituents
needing help, advice or guidance. Please do get in touch if I can help – tel.
01726 829379, email – office@stevedouble.org.uk
