As the PSNC urges pharmacies to embrace new services NICE urges commissioners
to exclude medicines from PGDs often delivered by pharmacist.Pharmacists who
use PGDs should stand up for them or they will lose out on services which we were
encouraged to deliver? Practice commissioners have been asked to consider alternatives
such as independent prescribing?
The Chief Medical Officer claims that antimicrobial resistance poses a “catastrophic threat”
to public health and Nice has called for a stop to “Unnecessary and inappropriate” PGDs
and their recommendations are open for consultation until April 29thand new guidelines
are expected in June. Nice has asked for medication such as antibiotics, medication for
long term conditions such as diabetes , drugs that require complex monitoring or variable
doses and black triangle medicines to be excluded. Nice believes that PGDs are appropriate
for some medication such as EHC and contraception.The NPA has removed all antibiotics
except azithromycin for chlamydia from their PGDs after consultation with the DH.
In times when Walgreens offer inoculations for 17 different conditions including shingles
and meningitis and want to roll this service out across Boots store in the UK we are to retract
PGD services if they include antibiotics?
American pharmacists run HIV excellence centres and are involved in giving
specialist advice on medication at stages of the disease process yet a pharmacist is not to
be trusted by nice not to over prescribe an anti-biotic under a PGD? It does not make sense.