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Public health cuts contradictory, warns Pharmacy Voice

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Public health cuts contradictory, warns Pharmacy Voice

 Pharmacy Voice has warned that cuts to public health budgets proposed in the government spending review would reduce access to services such as stop smoking, alcohol, and weight management, and contradict plans laid out in the NHS Five Year Forward View.

The 5YFV was, "very clear on the urgency of radically upgrading prevention in public health", said Pharmacy Voice in a statement. "Fundamentally, without investing in prevention we are simply storing up greater costs to impact on the health system further down the line."

Pharmacy Voice welcomed the announcement to frontload and increase investment in the NHS, but warned that, with the continuing need to meet the £22bn funding gap, the pressures on the healthcare system to cut costs still weighed heavy. The community pharmacy sector recognised it had a role to play in helping the health service deliver better value and outcomes, but the statement called on policymakers to recognise the efficiencies that the pharmacy network already brings, as well as its potential to do more.

"With the right changes to policy and practice, community pharmacy teams could help to radically improve the value and effectiveness of the medicines that are paid for by the NHS and reduce demand for higher cost services. This will help to safeguard a sustainable NHS and importantly, improve patient outcomes and experience."

The spending review reiterated the government’s commitment to a devolution revolution and to further integration of health and social care. But new approaches to planning and delivering services at a local level must build on and take advantage of the strengths of the pharmacy contract and network, and pharmacy teams must be fully involved in developing new models of care, said Pharmacy Voice.

The statement welcomed the government’s commitment to greater investment in new technology for the health system, and secure access to patient records. It reiterated Pharmacy Voice's call for pharmacy teams’ access to summary care records to include read and write access, which the group believed would create safer and more integrated care.

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