Pharmacy entry to NHS medical data would ‘enormously enhance outcomes for sufferers’

Pharmacies ought to have entry to prospects’ NHS medical data to allow them to ship extra care and ease stress on GPs, the boss of Boots says.

Seb James, managing director of the High Street chain, mentioned giving his workers permission to learn and write notes would ‘enormously enhance outcomes for sufferers’.

He acknowledged a ‘lot of individuals’ battle to entry a household physician and desires ministers to present pharmacists the facility to tackle a number of the work.

Speaking on the Rewired digital well being convention in London yesterday, Mr James mentioned it will ‘enhance the convenience of entry to drugs at a time when the NHS has by no means been underneath a lot stress’.

He mentioned his agency could be keen to conduct annual well being checks and assist sufferers handle their psychological well being, coronary heart illness, diabetes and ache.

The intervention comes as the federal government is finalising its main care restoration plan, which is able to element the way it plans to enhance entry to GPs.

Mr James mentioned: ‘Just as we will advise our prospects which skincare product could be appropriate for them – affected person care needs to be personalised and seamless, providing full continuity between hospital, GPs and the native pharmacy.

‘Not solely would this take vital pressure out of the NHS system, however it will additionally crucially make it simpler for sufferers to get entry to the care and companies they want.

‘One method to assist facilitate that is the higher sharing of affected person knowledge between group pharmacy and the NHS.

‘With affected person consent, higher knowledge sharing might remodel the best way healthcare companies are delivered.’

Boots already has entry to huge quantities of knowledge on its prospects, because of its Advantage card loyalty scheme, which has 15million customers.

The agency additionally processes 200million prescriptions a yr, Mr James mentioned.

Combining the information the agency already holds on prospects with that in NHS medical data might ‘generate one thing which is far higher than the sum of its elements’, he added.

He highlighted a latest examine by Imperial College London that discovered a hyperlink between a prognosis of ovarian most cancers and a sample of shopping for over-the-counter painkillers and indigestion medication.

The analysis used knowledge from consenting prospects’ Advantage card data.

Mr James mentioned: ‘We dwell in a world right now the place we’re massively siloed the place pharmacy main care, secondary care and social care are fully separate universes, the place typically we regard one another as opponents, not as mates.

‘And that should stopped for my part.

‘I believe we actually want to consider the affected person consequence from finish to finish, any person with a situation will not be going to be involved about which pot of funding is getting used to serve their situation.

‘They’re going to be occupied with how do I serve my wants in addition to I presumably can.

‘If we will get that proper, if we will, as an illustration, do one thing so simple as group pharmacy having the ability to learn and write to a affected person data, we’ll enormously enhance outcomes for sufferers we’ll enormously enhance the convenience of entry to drugs at a time when the NHS has by no means been underneath a lot stress.’

The Company Chemists Association, which represents main pharmacy companies, has referred to as for extra NHS funding so chemists can increase the companies they provide.

It estimates as much as 30.5 million GP appointments may very well be freed up every year by shifting extra care to pharmacies.

Mr James mentioned: ‘I believe that there may very well be an expanded function for pharmacy extra typically.

‘We know that lots of people are discovering it tough to to contact their GPs to make appointments and many others.

‘Why can we not as group pharmacy assist by supporting sufferers with diabetes and a complete vary of different areas.

‘We know these sufferers, they arrive and accumulate their drugs from us.

‘We might do the annual checks. We can do the administration we might talk with the first care supplier.

‘And I believe that might be a really thrilling factor to do, notably as it will be extra caring for sufferers.

‘The identical is true for heart problems, for ache administration, for psychological well being administration, and for a complete vary of different long run circumstances the place I believe if we had been correctly occupied with the affected person, we’d do that otherwise.

‘And we’d do it in a method that was way more way more affected person centric and that might additionally alleviate stress on GPs.’

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, backed Mr James’ name for pharmacists to be given entry to sufferers’ NHS data.

She mentioned: ‘Giving healthcare professionals throughout the NHS, together with pharmacists, entry to related info as a part of a shared affected person report might each enhance sufferers’ expertise of healthcare as it will promote higher continuity of care, guarantee info is well obtainable to clinicians consulting with sufferers, and assist cut back the admin burden on GPs, releasing up time to spend with sufferers.

‘However, for this to work safely and effectively, knowledge safety and applicable safeguards for medical info would must be in place.

‘Patient info that’s related for one healthcare skilled might not be related for one more, so critical consideration would must be given to make sure healthcare professionals solely have entry to info applicable to their space of care.

‘There additionally must be sturdy skilled oversight of entries to affected person data, contemporaneous entry of knowledge into sufferers’ notes, and a transparent audit path of any modifications made.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson mentioned: ‘Pharmacies in England have already got entry to Summary Care Records, which include affected person info reminiscent of present drugs and allergic reactions.

‘We are working with the NHS to discover are discover how this may be expanded to supply pharmacists’ wider entry to affected person data and permit them so as to add to them as they ship extra medical companies.’