Call The Pharmacist by Elizabeth Roddick

Author:Elizabeth Roddick
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781909623248
Publisher: Panoma Press
Published: 2013-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

TALKING WITH GPs

In the 1980s and early 90s communication with GPs was very limited. In my own practice, I wanted to try and change that if I could.

‘What have I done this time?’ said Uncle Douglas in a half serious and half jovial mood. Uncle Douglas was the affectionate name everyone called the senior partner at the local practice. ‘Well it’s just to check a dose for child – Amy McKinnon aged seven,’ I replied.

It did seem that I was on the phone at least twenty times a day for sometimes trivial things such as changes in pack sizes of medicines or a patient had moved address so did they want to change their computer system as well? Sometimes it was about an interaction with a medicine or maybe just a dose check. So I decided to ask the doctors if it would be better if I came to the surgery once a month with a pile of non-urgent prescriptions to be changed and to get them all done at once.

When the senior partner retired, it was ultimately Dr McKay who took over the task. ‘Hello Kathleen, can you check when Dr McKay will be available for the ‘homework’ next week?’ That’s what I called the pile of prescriptions that had to be altered. ‘Yes,’ said Kathleen, ‘I can give you a slot next Wednesday at 12.30pm.’

To make the whole process as time-efficient as possible I would fax over a list of names and addresses of patients whose prescriptions needed altering and one of the receptionists would type out the ‘appointments’ so each patient’s computer record could be accessed quickly. At the exact time agreed, I would appear at the surgery. ‘Hello Dr McKay – quite a large list today.’ ‘So I see, so let’s get started.’

Dr McKay was a very efficient doctor and we rattled through the list quickly. This meeting also gave me the chance to bring up some pharmacy news such as a change in legislation regarding prescribing a particular drug, or that a product was being discontinued. I felt that having a locum in for an hour to allow me to ‘do’ the homework was well worth the expense and the time saved on both the doctor’s and the pharmacy side. There were very few ‘What have I done now?’ moments after that.

During the early 90s, GPs were being appointed by the Scottish Office as prescribing advisors. It soon became apparent that what was required were pharmacists to work with the advisors and Greater Glasgow Health Board appointed two pharmacists to that position, Margaret Mackie and Angela Timoney. Clare Mackie, community pharmacist, led the way developing individual pharmaceutical care plans for patients while working in GP practices.

In 1991, at a training event in Edinburgh, I heard a talk from a hospital pharmacist who had gone into some GP practices to give a presentation about prescribing. I came away from that meeting full of ideas and I thought maybe, just maybe, I could do the same

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