Primary Care

Since the creation of the NHS in 1948 there has been an inexorable drive towards the management of patients more effectively in Primary Care. In the four home countries there is an underpinning commitment to treat as many patients within the community as possible and to relieve pressure on hospitals.

The management of resources is paramount in the modern NHS and the pressure on primary care to perform more activity means that drug budgets come into sharper focus.

Since the early 1990’s all primary care organisations have employed pharmacists as prescribing advisers and this trend continues today with many of these healthcare professionals being known as Head of Medicines Management within their organisation.

Another trend developing is the creation of independent and supplementary prescribers within pharmacy to manage patients that in the past would have been the remit of the GP. Indeed patient clinics being run by pharmacists within practices are no longer an unusual sight.

Community pharmacy is developing in all four home countries but nowhere more effectively than in Scotland where the number of pharmacists who are supplementary/independent prescribers runs into several hundreds.

The aim of Pharmacy Management is to highlight good practice and equip the pharmacy workforce with management and leadership skills needed to develop the professional role. With that in mind the journal will continue to publish articles through peer review which reflect the needs of the profession and this website will be developing a range of initiatives to assist pharmacists in grasping the opportunity that now presents.