Pharmacists claim cure for A&E ills

Caroline O’Doherty

The 1,400 members of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) say the move would prevent patients clogging up GPs surgeries and A&E departments with unnecessary visits.

They also claim it could help save the Department of Health and Children at least E100 million a year on GP consultations for medical card patients and describe the Government’s repeated failure to take them up on the suggestion as “ludicrous”.

Health Minister Mary Harney plans to meet the IPU “shortly” to discuss their demand, along with other issues.

IPU president Dr Karl Hilton stressed the powers would only apply to minor illnesses and ailments.

“What we want is the ability to deal with routine ailments which shouldn’t necessitate a time-consuming visit to a doctor’s surgery,” he told the organisation’s annual seminar in Dublin yesterday.

“Pharmacists are available in every community, they have exceptionally long opening hours and they are staffed by highly qualified and knowledgeable healthcare professionals. In this day and age it’s ludicrous not to take full advantage of this and maximise the benefit which they can give to the healthcare system.”

A similar programme called the Minor Ailments Scheme is in operation in Britain, where pharmacists who undergo a part-time training course to become a designated “prescriber” can dispense certain prescription-only drugs to patients.

Conditions treatable under the scheme, and the drugs that may be used to treat them, are specified in a list which includes common ailments like coughs, headaches, sore throat, stomach upset, back pain, hay fever, high temperature, headlice, thrush and threadworms.

Some British pharmacists are also qualified as “supplementary prescribers” which allows them work in conjunction with doctors to provide medication to patients diagnosed with long-term or chronic illnesses without the need for repeat surgery visits. Diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure are among the conditions treated.

The IPU’s comments are the latest in a long-running campaign for an enhanced role in primary healthcare. Representatives who appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children in April last year said 400,000 people visited pharmacies every day, making them an obvious target for expanded services.

Dr Hilton said the rising costs of healthcare and the pressures on GPs surgeries and A&E departments added a new urgency to his calls.

Professor Colin Bradley of University College Cork told the seminar that while GPs specialised in diagnosis and treatment, pharmacists specialised in treatments which meant they often had a deeper knowledge of medicines than doctors.