Why is there such entrenched reluctance to unleash the potential we have to enhance healthcare?

Have you seen the iconic recruitment poster from the First World War: Lord Kitchener, with his waxed moustache looking directly at you with the caption ‘Your Country Needs You’? I was reminded of it by a recent survey conducted by Pharmacy Voice which found that nine in 10 GPs would like more help from us in making sure that medicines prescribed for the over-75s were necessary and being taken properly.

The over-75s account for about 45 per cent of the drugs bill, so, not surprisingly, recommendations coming out of the survey point to MURs. The cap on the number of funded MURs should be reviewed, and GPs should do more to make their patients aware of MURs from their local pharmacy. Well, that’s just great. But we can and should do more. Another survey, this time published in the British Journal of General Practice, found that patients of GPs who wrote fewer prescriptions for antibiotics were less satisfied than patients of GPs who wrote more. Why aren’t we supporting them by explaining the problems of over-prescribing? And then there is the perennial problem of the so-called ‘winter pressures.’ In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, A&E performance is already down on last year. Only Scotland is bucking the trend. I’ve said it before – a national pharmacy minor ailments scheme might help to divert people with minor problems away from frantically busy A&E departments, but, as we know, discussions on this subject in England have been shelved.

Talk about being frustrated! Why is it so hard to make our voice heard? Where does the unwillingness to pay us a fair rate for additional services come from? Why is there entrenched reluctance to unleash the potential we have to enhance healthcare? If anyone knows the answers to these questions, please write c/o Independent Community Pharmacist. I wish a prosperous 2016 to everyone.