PAGB has published an action plan calling on the new government to prioritise six key actions in their first 100 days to realise the benefits of self-care to the public, NHS and wider economy.
The plan highlights the quick and cost-effective wins that prioritising self-care will deliver for the new government and how this can help reduce the burden on the NHS ahead of the winter illnesses season. With at least 25 million GP appointments and 5 million A&E visits used each year for self-treatable illnesses, empowering people to self-care instead could save the NHS at least £1.7bn per year1.
In the first 100 days, PAGB’s action plan recommends the new government focus on:
Embedding self-care fully in primary care by:
- Committing to ensuring sufficient pathways and IT infrastructure are introduced to enable pharmacists to refer patients directly to the full range of primary care services and to routinely populate medical records.
- Reviewing and improving accessibility of the NHS app and website to support consumers to find accredited information on self-care.
Improving patient awareness of, and confidence in, self-care, to empower them to access the right care at the right place by:
- Launching a nationwide campaign to enhance public awareness of comprehensive primary care services, promoting easily accessible and trusted self-care advice.
- Committing to uphold the recently proposed addition to the relationship, sex and health education curriculum to cover self-care and the role of pharmacists as healthcare professionals by the end of secondary school.
Promoting an attractive environment for the OTC sector, to ensure its continued investment in, and prioritisation of, the UK market by:
- Leveraging the collaborative research of the DHSC, MHRA and industry – led by PAGB – on widening patient access to OTC medicines through switching and announce an update on the conditions and categories identified as suitable for reclassification.
- Put in place OTC sector representation on the Life Sciences Council through PAGB.
In a letter to Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Michelle Riddalls, CEO at PAGB, has welcomed the new government and shared PAGB’s recommended action plan for prioritising self-care in the first 100 days, detailing the scale of the opportunity.
This call to action from PAGB, follows on from the case that Michelle made for prioritising self-care at a panel event held with Wes Streeting MP in April2, highlighting public interest, the cost savings to the NHS and the role the consumer healthcare industry has in providing trusted advice and information on self-care to individuals.
Read the full action plan here.
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Footnotes:
1 The Economic Impact of Over-The-Counter Medicines in the UK, commissioned by PAGB and undertaken independently by Frontier Economics
2 PAGB calls for government to prioritise self-care in panel discussion with Wes Streeting
