We should do an episode on . . . Pharmacy First and Antimicrobial Resistance

We should do an episode on . . . Pharmacy First and Antimicrobial Resistance

Today's episode is split into separate, but related parts. 

Part one will see us focusing on Pharmacy First. Last month, the prime minister Rishi Sunak unveiled plans to transform primary care, by announcing a £645m funding package for community pharmacy in order to allow pharmacists to prescribe medication for certain conditions in community pharmacy, without the need of GP approval first.

The scheme, which could be rolled out as early as this winter, is believed to free up over 15 million slots at GP surgeries over the next two years, and according to a poll conducted by the PSNC is widely backed by the public. 

That’s part one.

Part two is about antimicrobial resistance. Following the announcement, a coalition of eminent scientists wrote an open letter to Rishi Sunak to urge caution against the pharmacy first policy, citing potential unintended consequences of the scheme, primarily antibiotic resistance. 

Antibiotic resistance describes the situation when bacterial infections no longer respond to the antibiotic medicines used against them. It has already been estimated to cause over one million deaths worldwide in 2019; if no action is taken, this toll may rise to 10 million by 2050, resulting in a cumulative cost of $100 trillion (equal to last year’s global GDP) to the world economy

To summarise, antimicrobial resistance is rather important. . .

As is our usual custom, I asked for the thoughts of our pharmacist panel, this week comprising of David Foster and Leah, on these two topics. 

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