Pharmacies could alleviate many of the bottlenecks in the Irish health service if they were allowed provide a greater range of services to patients, the president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) said yesterday.
Brendan Hayes said a greater range of services were currently provided by pharmacies in Canada, Holland, Scandinavia and in the UK and Northern Ireland.
In the UK, for example, a pharmacy has started providing chemotherapy treatment for patients, saving them the trouble of having to attend hospital.
The pilot scheme is now being evaluated to see if it could be extended.
Timothy O'Dohoghue, a New Zealand pharmacist now working in London, said many pharmacies in the UK were also, under protocol, providing emergency contraception and smoking-cessation services as well as diabetes care for patients.
The pharmacies providing these services generally had consulting rooms to discuss the treatment with the patients, he explained.
A legislative framework has been put in place to allow the changes happen, he said, adding that they saved the health service money in the long run.
Mr Hayes said there was a need for a shift in policy at both Department of Health and HSE level to facilitate these pharmacy models in Ireland which he said would benefit patients.
"Pharmacies can deal cost effectively with many patients' concerns through health promotion and screening for certain chronic conditions such as fingerprick testing for diabetes with referral to GPs when indicated, managing patients with stable long-term conditions such as cardiac patients and patients suffering from respiratory diseases, advising patients on managing medications, managing minor ailments to reduce unnecessary visits to GPs and outpatient services, obesity and weight management, and to deliver a broader range of diagnostic and screening services such as cholesterol testing," he said.
Mr Hayes was speaking at the second national pharmacy summit in Dublin organised by the PSI, the regulatory body for pharmacists.
He took the opportunity to warn pharmacists that they needed to be heard on many things other than just industrial relations, contracts and rows about money if they were to maintain the confidence of patients and the public in general.
The union representing pharmacists, the Irish Pharmaceutical Union, has also been calling for some time for an expanded role for pharmacists which it too says would ultimately save the health service money.
An expert group set up by the PSI will now look at which changes would be the most effective.
Opening the pharmacy summit in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham yesterday, Minister for Health Mary Harney said she was a strong fan of empowering healthcare professionals to do more to ensure services were provided to patients in the most appropriate and convenient setting.
Ms Harney said she looked forward to hearing more from the pharmacy profession on the issue.