Pharmacists and GPs complement each other – Keith Ridge

Dr Keith Ridge CBE, the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for NHS England, gives his views on best practice in action: One of the privileges of my job is being able to get out and about to see great clinical practice up close. Last week was one of those opportunities arose when, together with the Chief Executive of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Helen Gordon, I spent an enthralling few hours at the Old School Surgery in Fishponds, Bristol. It’s a modern GP practice with a growing list of 15,000 situated in the heart of the local community. Two things make the practice a bit different from the norm. Firstly, an independent pharmacist prescriber, Rachel Hall, is a partner in the practice. The second is that there is a community pharmacy on site. Rachel is a clinical pharmacist. She wasn’t brought in as a partner but earned the position through working in the practice for a number of years. The ex-PCT prescribing lead, Carole Buckley, a GP principal and partner in the practice, helped Rachel become an independent prescriber. Rachel runs her own clinics, undertakes research, carries out audit and does all the other things that a committed partner in a GP practice does. She also supports her fellow clinicians on all things medicines. This seems, for example, to give the GPs the confidence to use innovative medicines, such as the Novel Oral Anticoagulants, not just safely and appropriately, but also more frequently than other practices in the area. This not only reduces ...
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