The All-Party Pharmacy Group is holding an inquiry into the future of pharmacy.
A key aspect of our inquiry is to understand how and to what extent community pharmacists work with GPs. Have the GMS contract and the the new pharmacy contract facilitated closer working arrangements? Have GPs found community pharmacists’ medicine-use reviews to be useful? What services would GPs like to see community pharmacists providing? Are there examples of positive outcomes from collaboration between the two professions? What more needs to be done to create positive outcomes for patients and GPs?
We will be inviting the BMA to an evidence session at the House of Commons in October, but we are also keen to receive the written views of practising GPs across the country and hear about you experience — good, bad or indifferent — of working with pharmacists.
GPs can find out more about our inquiry by visiting our website www.appg.org.uk/inquiry. We have produced a questionnaire that can be downloaded from the website, but we also welcome comments made without reference to the questionnaire.
Our intention is to produce a report for the DoH, the pharmacy profession and all those who interact with pharmacy. We want our findings to contribute to the development of services that will deliver improved patient care and health outcomes.
Dr Howard Stoate MP
Chairman, All-Party Pharmacy Group
