Tuesday 17 March 2015: The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) made a joint call for pharmacists to work in GP surgeries. This gained a significant amount of media coverage. The story was covered by:
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V: BBC Breakfast, BBC News Channel, Sky News, ITV News, Channel 4 News and Channel 5 News.
Radio: BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio 4 PM programme, Radio 4 Today, 26 BBC regional radio stations, LBC and Magic.
Print: The Independent, The Times, The Times Editorial, The Guardian, Daily Mirror, The Sun.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, RPS spokesperson Ravi Sharma said: “Pharmacists are extremely skilled clinicians who have great knowledge around medications. They’re able to provide safe and effective use of medications and help GPs and nurses with day-to-day medicines-related issues. But there are also opportunities for prescribing pharmacists to help manage patients with long-term conditions such as diabetes.
“In my surgery I’ve recently seen a patient who had uncontrolled diabetes because they weren’t using their medications very well, as they were suffering from a significant amount of side effects. I was able to sit with that patient, have a face-to-face consultation with them, spend more time with them and sort out their medications to help improve their diabetes care.”