Council in care cuts call

PROPOSED cuts . . . to community pharmacies

OLDHAM Council will call on the government to scrap proposed cuts of millions of pounds of NHS funding for community pharmacies that could put many out of business.

On September 5, the government announced that it would delay £170million cuts to community pharmacies which were supposed to be introduced in October.

Access

Speaking at the Oldham full council meeting this week, Cllr Chris Gloster raised concerns that the plans threaten patient access to pharmaceutical services in the borough while also causing uncertainty about future investment in pharmacy services.

Local pharmacies would be at risk of closure or forced to cut services such as free delivery of prescription drugs, family planning advice and advice on medicines he said.

As a result there will be more pressure on GPs and hospitals and impact to social services whilst also going against the local Clinical Commissioning Group's desire to increase the use of pharmacists to ease pressure on the NHS.

An approved move from Cllr Chris Gloster, seconded by Cllr Rod Blyth will see the council write to the government to call for the cuts to be abandoned and to ask them to make a commitment to maintaining a fully-funded community pharmacy service.

They will also lobby MP for Oldham West and Royton Jim McMahon, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth Debbie Abrahams and MP for Ashton Angela Rayner and chair of the NHS Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group to make a representation.

Cllr Gloster said: "People rely upon their local chemists for their prescriptions and to buy a wide range of over-the-counter medicines, but pharmacies offer more than a simple dispensing service.

"Pharmacists are highly trained and able to answer many of the questions that patients have about their health conditions and the appropriate treatments for them.

"And many pharmacies also offer a much valued collection and delivery service where they collect prescriptions from GP's surgeries on behalf of patients, dispense the medicines in-house and deliver them door-to-door to the patient.

"This is especially necessary where the patient is housebound, whether elderly, disabled or temporarily too ill to leave their home."

He said: "By threatening to drastically reduce funding for community pharmacies, the government is making a false economy as patients will simply be forced to call further on our over-pressed NHS services for the answers to their questions and the medicines that they need."

Cllr Rod Blyth added: "The Oldham Liberal Democrats believe strongly that pharmacies need to be locally-based and embedded within the communities which they serve.

"Cutting community pharmacies will simply put more pressure onto already overstretched GP surgeries and our hospital Accident and Emergency Department when winter is approaching and patient referrals peak.

"We need government to abandon these foolish plans. Our motion asks the council chief executive to make our concerns clear to government ministers and also calls on our local MPs to fight to keep the community pharmacies in our borough open."