Agenda item

Presentation by Martin Crisp, Local Pharmacy Committee.

The Board received a presentation from Members of the Local Pharmacy Committee and local Pharmacies regarding how health and wellbeing services were delivered in the City.

The Board were informed that the estimated number of visits an adult will make to a pharmacy every year was 14. There were 16 community pharmacies across the City and 19 services other than dispensing were offered by community pharmacy to patients across City and Hackney.

Members questioned whether services were publicised within the City. Officers informed Members that services were generally commissioned for residents and were therefore not widely advertised - they relied on referrals and word of mouth, but would follow up this point to ensure services were well advertised within the square mile. 

In response to a question from Members, Officers said they did not send GPs the details of patients who visited local chemists for services. This was mainly due to data protection issues and patient confidentiality. Members queried whether a centralised database would help GPs track services used by their patients in local chemists. Officers said this would allow GPs to recognise issues such as repeat prescriptions for the same issues. GPs could then offer advice to the patient and help resolve the issue. However, this would require consent from the patient.

Officers informed Members that if their patient was not registered with a GP they were encouraged to do so, and encouraged to discuss their concerns with their doctor. Officers agreed that this communication link was vital and they would continue to encourage their service users to visit their GP about persistent use of their services.

RECEIVED.