MPs set out out pharmacy manifesto

A group of MPs is calling for pharmacists to be given read-write access to the NHS Care Records Service by the next government within its first 100 days in power.

The All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) has launched a Policy Action Plan setting out 12 calls for actions that the MPs say the next government should adopt to capitalise on pharmacy’s ability to tackle the NHS quality and productivity challenge.

The group claims that the lack of an IT interface between community pharmacists and other health professionals is a barrier to the development of clinically-led services.

It says that in the first 100 days of a new government “pharmacists in both primary and secondary care must be given role-based, read-write access to the NHS Care Record.”

The MPs also want to see paper-based communication of Medicine Use Reviews and other information between pharmacists and GPs replaced by secure email within six months.

Other calls for change in the plan include improved collaboration and information sharing between GPs, pharmacists and other health professionals.

The MPs said collaboration between community pharmacists and GPs was poor or non-existent in many parts of the country and said collaboration was needed if new pharmacy services were to be rolled out quickly.

The group’s action plan calls on a new government to set up a Department of Health working group to report within three months with specific proposals for improving local collaboration including financial incentives.

The MPs also want pharmacists to be given free access to data from the Information Centre and specifically NHS Comparators. The group said current regulations which limit access to NHS organisations should be scrapped.

Howard Stoate MP, chairman of the APPG and a former GP, said all the main political parties agreed that pharmacy had to play a pivotal role in delivering extra frontline NHS services in the years ahead.

He added: “The ideas are all there and the profession is ready to increase its role. So it’s up to the incoming government to get on with it. Our policy action plan shows how to make a real difference in a hundred days. We want to see all the parties sign up to it.”