Pharmacists call for greater say in CRS taskforce

The leading high street pharmacy operators have criticised the exclusion of pharmacists from the government’s NHS Summary Care Record Taskforce and called for pharmacists to have full read-and-write access to the record.

The Company Chemists’ Association, which represents the majority of UK multiple pharmacies including Boots, Lloyds and Asda, claim that other healthcare professionals do not necessarily understand the agenda for pharmacy or the importance of pharmacists having full access to the summary record.

The CCA has written to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society outlining its views ahead of a meeting the society is having with the taskforce on pharmacists’ views about the summary record.

Neil Slater, head of operations for the CCA, told EHI Primary Care that the organisation was keen to make its views known before policy on the summary care record was set in stone.

He added: “The reason why we thought it was regrettable that there wasn’t a pharmacy representative on the taskforce wasn’t just self-interest but because we believe there are particular pharmacy issues that may not be represented on our behalf.”

The CCA argue that the potential for redesigning services under the new pharmacy contract, including independent and supplementary prescribing, diagnostic testing and managements of long term conditions, will necessitate full access to the record.

Slater added: “I think patients would expect that of us. Access to primary care through pharmacists is going to much more enhanced in future.”

The CCA said that as a minimum the summary record should contain details of a patient’s condition, medication history, diagnostic test results and any known allergies.

Membership of the taskforce, which is chaired by Harry Cayton, the Department of Health’s national director for patients and the public, was announced by the DH in July and includes representatives from the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Nursing and the College of Emergency Medicine.

Its role is to identify and look at the concerns of patients and the clinical profession about the creation of the summary care record and to draw up an agreed plan for implementation of the summary record. The taskforce is due to present a report to ministers by the end of November.

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