Pharmacies - more care and attention

  • Tony Ryall
Health

More people with long term health conditions are getting more care and attention from their pharmacists says Health Minister Tony Ryall.

“Over 128,000 New Zealanders living with conditions such as arthritis or severe asthma are now signed up for regular advice and medication checks with their local pharmacy and are benefiting from this closer attention,” Mr Ryall says.

“This is a result of a new way of working for community pharmacists that focuses on patients not prescriptions.

“Pharmacies used to be funded based on the volume of prescriptions filled.

“Now the National Government has invested more to support pharmacists to spend time with these patients, helping them manage their medicines and medical conditions better,” Mr Ryall says.

“Pharmacists have considerable clinical expertise and skill which have been under used. Now people with chronic conditions, or who are recovering from a stroke or heart failure, will get more expert support.

“Because pharmacists are now funded to support their customers with long term conditions, many pharmacists are no longer choosing to dispense smaller amounts of medication more frequently in order to catch up with those patients.

“This has resulted in an overall reduction in the number of repeat prescriptions being dispensed. This is intended and fully in line with the new Community Pharmacy Agreement set up by district health boards and pharmacists.

“The reduction in repeat dispensing frees up resources so that pharmacists can focus more on the patients most in need,” Mr Ryall says.

“Most people with prescriptions don’t need this extra level of intensive help and are continuing to get their medications at a frequency which suits their needs, in most cases monthly or three monthly.

“As of 31 May this year, 128,301 patients with long term conditions had registered with their pharmacist.

“We expect that to increase to between 150,000 and 200,000 registered Long Term Conditions patients as the community pharmacy agreement rolls out over the next two years.”