PAGB has co-developed, with leading healthcare and pharmacy organisations, an implementation guide to support the successful delivery of the self-care commitments which were set out in the Government’s Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care.
The Self-care Strategy Group (SCSG), for which PAGB provides the secretariat, welcomes the delivery plan and we have been encouraged by the progress made so far towards implementing the commitments relating to expanding community pharmacy services. We are now keen to see the elements which support self-care be fully delivered upon. Namely:
- Faster navigation, assessment and response
- Expanding community pharmacy services
- Implementing ‘Modern General Practice Access’, making it easier for patients to contact their GP practice and for practice staff to manage demand
- Communicating with the public
As pressures on GPs and A&E departments continue to grow, it is critical that the delivery plan is fully implemented to meet these ambitions and ensure that, where appropriate, people are empowered to self-care and seek support from community pharmacy for self-treatable conditions. To support continued progress, the implementation plan draws on best-practice examples of self-care from across the country and sets out our recommendations on how to implement the self-care commitments within the delivery plan and three essential ‘success tests’ to consider along the way.
