Scotland has always led the way when it comes to taking the quality of our healthcare forward, particularly since devolution came to life in 1999. And Scottish community pharmacy has also led the way when it comes to showcasing the talent, ability and innovation that equates to the success story that is community pharmacy and our talented community pharmacists in Scotland.
The budget across the country in all areas of life is being squeezed year on year. But having said that, the publicity that community pharmacy is winning is a welcome boost for pharmacy in Scotland. The last few weeks has seen our profession attacked so unprovokedly, unnecessarily and unacceptably by a minority of elected representatives.
But if you take a look at the MSP's visit section of the Community Pharmacy Scotland website then it really is not fair to ignore the hard work MSP's are making to actually recognise the welcome value that pharmacists in Scotland bring to the NHS and healthcare provision.
And whether its Scotland's First Minister or members of all the political parties or none from Holyrood who take time out of their busy schedule to see community pharmacists in action, the work that they undertake on the observational visits is more than enough to combat the unfair accusation levelled at politicians that they seem to be doing 'nothing' about pharmacy.
Its also worth noting that pharmacy in Scotland is the envy of the rest of the United Kingdom and beyond. When the new pharmacy contract was implemented, it demonstrated that pharmacy in our nation was ready to elevate to the next level.
The Minor Ailments Service has enabled the much welcomed autonomy given to pharmacists to be able to directly support patients who may not have the time to see the GP but still receive appropriate treatment for a minor ailment. Whether its athlete's foot, a cough, eczema or even hay fever (the list is not exhaustive, see the full list here) then this much welcomed service has been a major success story in Scotland, enabling pharmacists to make full use of their patient-focused skills and freeing some of the GP's time. Some other parts of the UK are now implementing a similar kind of service, like Wales, however many more patients in other parts of these islands still don't benefit from such a service.
The Acute Medication Service see Scotland's pharmacies accepting GP10 prescriptions including barcodes on them. A patient with a prescription can wait less longer as all the pharmacy needs to do is scan the prescription, receive the content of the prescription electronically without the need to input data into the dispensing computer and then just get the pharmacist to check to clinically check the prescription before the patient receives their medicines. Convenient for patients. Convenient for pharmacies.
The Scottish pharmacy contract also contains an element which is the Public Health Service and this enables pharmacies to play a role in enabling their patients to be encouraged, educated and supported in self care. Pharmacies are expected to take part in campaigns run nationally (where they normally have to display a health promotion poster) covering public health issues such as smoking cessation, healthy eating and annual flu vaccinations.
And finally, the Chronic Medication Service. In England, these are called Medication and Use Reviews (MUR's). But Scotland has its own unique service. It is broken down into three stages. Stage I consists of the patient registering their interest, with full permission given by them, in using the service if they are taking medicines for long term conditions. Stage II involves the pharmacist using a pharmaceutical care plan in order to identify the needs of their registered patients regarding their care and addressing those needs. And Stage III involves establishes the integrated effort of care provision where the GP issues a prescription at appropriate time intervals over an agreed period of time where at the end of that period of time an 'end of care summary' is sent to the GP electronically covering issues such as compliance and any recommended courses of action that the GP may choose or choose not to take.
After all that detail, it is fair to say that our politicians, stakeholders and pharmacy leaders have gone beyond the call of duty when it comes to addressing the needs of patients who utilise pharmacies and also has enabled pharmacists in Scotland to make maximum use of their clinical and patient-focused skills within a nationally agreed framework.
Our elected representatives must maintain, sustain and protect the defence of the role of the pharmacist within the healthcare system in Scotland, and the rest of the UK. But in a time when one negative comment or assertion can ignite a passionate outcry of lack of fairness and a sense of victimhood, lets pay tribute for a change to the vast majority of our politicians for recognising the hard work that pharmacists perform in Scotland's National Health Service.
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