Pharmacy In Scotland Stand Tours Spring Party Conference Season

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 10 Mar 2010 - 0:00 PST

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Pharmacy's increasing contribution to the NHS and easing health inequalities in Scotland was high on the agenda at the Scottish Liberal Democrat Conference in Perth (5 - 7 March 2010).

The 'Pharmacy in Scotland' joint exhibition by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) and Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) continued to lobby for important issues for the profession at its second political party conference of the year. With an imminent General Election, the conference called for a fresh start for Scotland and fairer society for all.

Lyndon Braddick, RPSGB Director for Scotland, explained: "We regularly attend the political party conferences and they have been very successful in helping to increase awareness among delegates of the contribution pharmacy makes to the health service in Scotland. Delegates are always interested to hear how services, like smoking cessation and alcohol awareness initiatives, are delivering results in their local areas and improving access to patient care. They are also keen to learn more about how services like the Chronic Medication Service will be rolled out nationally later this year."

"For us it provides an opportunity to highlight the wide range of pharmacy services, not only in the community but in hospital and industry. There is great potential to extend the work pharmacists do, and through working in partnership with GPs and other healthcare professionals, to help tackle some of Scotland's ongoing health inequalities and to ease pressure on NHS resources and budgets."

Community Pharmacy Scotland's Head of Corporate Affairs, Alex MacKinnon said: "As always, the joint 'Pharmacy in Scotland' stand afforded the ideal opportunity to lobby and engage MSPs and MPs on current pharmacy issues. There was a great deal of interest in the Chronic Medication Service which is soon to be launched across the community pharmacy network in Scotland. Community pharmacists will play an increasingly important role in the management of chronic disease through their delivery of pharmaceutical care. This new service will enable community pharmacists to deliver pharmaceutical care for patients who have long term conditions. By making better use of community pharmacists' clinical skills this contribution will be achieved and maximised through collaboration and partnership working with the other healthcare professionals in the primary care team."

"We use our attendance at party conferences to gain wider support for the further development of the role of pharmacists within the NHS and we highlight the significant contribution made by pharmacists in the protection and improvement of the health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland."

At the 'Pharmacy in Scotland' stand delegates were offered mini health consultations which included BMI and Blood Pressure checks.

Visitors to the 'Pharmacy in Scotland' stand included: Ross Finnie MSP, Jim Tolson MSP, Liam McArthur MSP, Robert Brown MSP, Hugh O' Donnell MSP, Margaret Smith MSP and Tavish Scott MSP.

RPSGB delegates attending the stand were: Lyndon Braddick and Sandra Melville.

Community Pharmacy Scotland delegates attending the stand were: Alex MacKinnon, Harry McQuillan and Robbie McGregor.

Notes

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain is the professional and regulatory body for pharmacists in England, Scotland and Wales.

Community Pharmacy Scotland is the body empowered to represent the contractor owners of Scotland's 1,200 community pharmacies. It negotiates on their behalf with the Scottish Government on all matters of terms of service and contractors' NHS activity. Community Pharmacy Scotland works to increase the profile of community pharmacy and develop the role of community pharmacists within a modern NHS in Scotland and engages key stakeholders and the Scottish Government to influence policy on behalf of its members.

Source
Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain