London (EFE).- Pharmacies in England will be able to dispense primary care and prescribe certain drugs to patients, according to a new plan announced on Tuesday by the Rishi Sunak government to alleviate the current pressure on GPs.
The British Executive has detailed in a statement that, as part of this initiative, patients will be asked to go to pharmacies to obtain prescriptions for some common drugs, including antibiotics, and to undergo routine tests, in order to relax the pressure which currently falls to the doctors.
The public health agency NHS England maintains that this new plan will free up to 15 million medical appointments in the next two years, which represents 2% of the total.
The so-called Primary Care Recovery Plan aims to renew the services of family doctors by transferring part of their work to other sections of the health services.
over-the-counter drugs
Pharmacies will be able to prescribe drugs to treat a number of ailments: earaches, sore throats, sinusitis, impetigo, herpes, infected insect bites and urinary tract infections in women, as long as there are no complications.
Contraceptive pills will also be prescribed in pharmacies without having to go through a doctor’s office first, while patients will be able to self-refer to consultations with some specialists such as physiotherapists or podiatrists.
The CEO of that organization, Amanda Pritchard, indicated that pharmaceutical services will receive a consignment of 645 million pounds (742 million euros) in the next two years for the implementation of this plan.
“We are already seeing half a million more patients a week in GP offices than before the pandemic,” Pritchard told local media.
“We know we have to go further to expand services and transform the way we provide care,” he added.
According to this program, to relax the current system that obliges the patient to call their clinic at 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT) to request a medical appointment on the day, medical centers will receive 240 million pounds (275 million euros). destined to modernize and be able to attend the multiple calls.