Rishi Sunak

[Eebo]

My wife works in the NHS and this is part of a pattern - instead of dealing with the issue they find a bit of the NHS that is still functioning and then send people there until that stops functioning. Then people get hacked off and leave, making it more intolerable for those that are left.

She works in Treatment Rooms which was hard work but doing OK. Then they started getting people out of hospital as fast as they could because the hospitals were overwhelmed. So next thing is the District Nurses are overwhelmed and in Special Measures and literally if you can get out of bed the DN's now won't see you, so the Treatment Rooms are overwhelmed. And now people are being directed to Pharmacies, I wonder what will happen there?

 

[Mr Fraser]

My wife works in the NHS and this is part of a pattern - instead of dealing with the issue they find a bit of the NHS that is still functioning and then send people there until that stops functioning. Then people get hacked off and leave, making it more intolerable for those that are left.

She works in Treatment Rooms which was hard work but doing OK. Then they started getting people out of hospital as fast as they could because the hospitals were overwhelmed. So next thing is the District Nurses are overwhelmed and in Special Measures and literally if you can get out of bed the DN's now won't see you, so the Treatment Rooms are overwhelmed. And now people are being directed to Pharmacies, I wonder what will happen there?

Just another step towards privatisation

 

[meltonblue]

Is there any none biased information relating to the pharmacy? Mine is always busy as they have post office services at the same till and one person manning it all. Wondering what incentive the pharmacists receive for the extra work? After the experience my mrs just had in A&E with a kidney infection at 34 weeks pregnant having to wait 9 hours with a load of pissheads, mentally ill and timewasters anything has to be better than what we currently have!

The incentive is the nhs is paying shedloads for the pharmacies to do it. I work for a big chain of them.

The issue is there’s still a lack of actual pharmacists though.

 

[meltonblue]

Just another step towards privatisation

Pretty much.

 

[metalblue]

Just another step towards privatisation

GPs surgeries are already private so sending you from one private service (GP) to another (pharmacy) is neutral in that regard.

 

[kaz7]

I don’t disagree but I would say they’d happily do it to a HCA who isn’t qualified. I guess it’s as much to do with the setting as the person examining them - and that’s not a criticism. I’d also presume the pharmacist would be paid a few pennies for their advice and they’d be some sort of oversight and audit.

If you know you need to be examined in that way I would still expect that person to go to their GPs as normal - what this should do is free up people like me who need a course of antibiotics or something from taking up a GP appointment- if it doesn’t clear it then I go see my GP. I recently had an infection that the GP diagnosed over a phone consultation, something a pharmacist could equally do I am sure.

There are not many perscribing pharmacists so unless that has changed and it is rolled out to every pharmacy you are likely to have to ring around your area to find one , might as well hang on the phone to the doctors

 

[BobKowalski]

You’ve directly contradicted yourself here, all in the space of two sentences.

If you don’t think that it will reduce the pressures on GP appointments, and you think that people will continue to go to their GPs, then why should the initiative simply redistribute the problem to other areas of the health service? And if people do use other areas of the health service, then why wouldn’t that reduce the pressures on GP appointments?

Nobody is suggesting that the initiative is going to single-handedly solve the problem of GP appointments, rather that for a specific list of ailments, people can choose to go to their pharmacy and still receive a prescribed drug if they wish rather than having to go to their GP.

I don’t think it will have any impact or reduce pressure on GP appointments. This ‘initiative’ is a headline presented as a solution. To increase availability of GPS you need more GPs. When you are at the limits of finite capacity you either increase capacity or accept a reduced and inferior service.

These are our choices. Pick one.

 

[metalblue]

There are not many perscribing pharmacists so unless that has changed and it is rolled out to every pharmacy you are likely to have to ring around your area to find one , might as well hang on the phone to the doctors

From 2026 newly qualified will all be prescribers but I think that’s probably a fair reflection of what will happen in practice in a number of areas - at least for the next few years it’ll be a lottery at best.

Government announces policy long before it can be implemented … colour me shocked.

 

[kaz7]

From 2026 newly qualified will all be prescribers but I think that’s probably a fair reflection of what will happen in practice in a number of areas - at least for the next few years it’ll be a lottery at best.

Government announces policy long before it can be implemented … colour me shocked.

They are desperate for something to stick in election year , the public will have soon sussed everything to be bollocks in time for the election , hopefully

 

[metalblue]

I don’t think it will have any impact or reduce pressure on GP appointments. This ‘initiative’ is a headline presented as a solution. To increase availability of GPS you need more GPs. When you are at the limits of finite capacity you either increase capacity or accept a reduced and inferior service.

These are our choices. Pick one.

It’s now not just about training more GPs, it’s retaining them. You can’t fix a leaking bath by turning the tap on more, you need to stop the leaks. If it helps with the leaks it’ll be a one step back in the right direction.