Pharmacy Closures
Debate between Lord Campbell-Savours and Baroness Merron(1 month ago)
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Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]
My Lords, while we all will welcome this year’s very significant increase in funding, which greatly helps the viability of small chemists, we have a real problem in Cumbria, with its small towns, rural communities and limited chemist availability. Could we go further where the result of non-viability is problems in primary healthcare? Could we allow the remaining chemists greater flexibility and discretion in making changes to the strength, quantity and formulation in prescriptions? This could help to relieve the impact on primary healthcare services.
Baroness Merron (Lab)
My noble friend is quite right to identify the very important role that pharmacies play in the move from hospital to community. That is why we are funding the rollout of, for example, independent prescribing from autumn this year. That will build on the success of Pharmacy First and the pharmacy contraceptive service, and provide much more local, on-the-spot care for common conditions. In rural areas, dispensing doctors can dispense medicines to patients who live more than a mile from a pharmacy. Also, online pharmacies can deliver medicines free of charge.
Musculoskeletal Health
Debate between Lord Campbell-Savours and Baroness Merron(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]
As a sufferer of ankylosing spondylitis, a painful spinal musculoskeletal condition aggravated by a lack of physical movement, I can report that inactivity in underemployment can severely aggravate the condition. Would the state benefits system not be far better served if multi-patient group physio services and collective patient gyms—even open-air ones, as in the Far East—were available on a wider scale? Greater collective patient activity for this and other similar groups in large public venues would save money in the benefits system.
Baroness Merron (Lab)
My noble friend raises a very important point from a position of a lot of experience. I can confirm that we recognise the importance of regular physical activity for those with MSK conditions. It helps to reduce pain and disability as well as improving well-being and helping with other conditions. The existence of MSK hubs with a non-healthcare workforce delivering physical activity-based interventions has been extremely helpful, and we will continue to encourage that and explore the role that hubs can play.