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Millions to benefit from improved access to treatment, check-ups and health advice from pharmacists

  • Last modified date:
    9 April 2008
A pharmacist handing out a prescription

From the most deprived to the most remote areas of England, millions more people will have faster and more convenient access to the health treatments, care and advice they need, as local pharmacies gear up to play a bigger role in frontline healthcare, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw announced today.

The White Paper Building on Strengths, Delivering the Future sets out how pharmacists will work to complement GPs in promoting health, preventing sickness and providing care that is more personal and responsive to individual needs.

Pharmacists already play a vital role for local communities in dispensing medicines and providing services such as supporting people who want to give up smoking.

This extended role will see many more pharmacists being able to prescribe for and deal with minor ailments on the NHS, as well as promoting good health, supporting those with long-term conditions and preventing illnesses through additional screening and advice.

Supporting this programme, the Department of Health will appoint two new pharmacist clinical directors who will champion change in hospitals and in the community.

Ben Bradshaw said:

"A pharmacy isn't just a place where you go to pick up a prescription. It's a service, staffed by health professionals who are capable of dealing with minor ailments, screening for diseases and giving health advice to the local community

"As 99 per cent of the population can get to a pharmacy within 20 minutes, everyone will benefit from more types of treatment available through local pharmacies who can prescribe more, advise more and deal with more.

"These proposals are not about pharmacists taking over the work of GPs - it's about complementing them, taking pressure off GPs and enabling them to spend more time with those patients who really need it."

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