In News

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

An upcoming meeting of Welsh GP groups will see a vote on whether community pharmacies should be allowed to substitute medicines that are in short supply to avoid “constantly referring” patients back to prescribers.

The conference of Welsh Local Medical Committees (LMCs), which will take place in Chester on Saturday March 8, will include motions proposing that the Welsh government should do more to “rapidly resolve” the growing problem of medicines shortages. 

Among the motions is one from Bro Taf LMC calling on NHS Wales to “allow flexibility to pharmacy colleagues to substitute medication that is in short supply rather than constantly referring back to the prescriber, an increasing work burden as the shortages increase”.

A related motion from North Wales LMC places the argument for giving pharmacists substitution powers in the context of a future in which all newly qualified pharmacists will be independent prescribers. 

At a recent meeting in Westminster, a senior civil servant said the Department of Health and Social Care is “looking very closely” at this issue, which they described as “complex” and “nuanced”. 

The Welsh LMC conference will also debate a motion proposing that the Welsh general practitioners committee (GPCW) negotiate a new contract for dispensing doctors to help them “deliver this vital service to our patients in rural communities” as their current settlement is “no longer fit for purpose”.

A motion from Dyfed Powys LMC states: “This conference demands that dispensing doctors and the service they offer should have equal recognition as a community pharmacy at all levels as an equally funded service.”

Meanwhile, a motion from North Wales LMC will propose that dispensing doctors are funded “to engage with the electronic prescribing revolution”.