The General Council of Colleges of Pharmacists has presented, together with the Platform of Patient Organizations, the first Map of Pharmaceutical Services in Spainwhich shows a wide portfolio of services in Spanish community pharmacies that goes beyond the dispensing of medicines, but that has been spreading at a very unequal pace and with institutional support depending on the autonomous communities and even according to the provinces of a same autonomous community.
Based on information from the 52 provincial Colleges of Pharmacists and the Autonomous Councils, two maps have been prepared that reflect the current situation, that is, the services currently provided through the different initiatives: one that brings together all health services public and another that concentrates healthcare services strictly related to the medications that pharmacies are offering through institutional programs or projects of Public Administrations and/or Colleges of Pharmacists.
Specifically, the study has identified 23 different types of Services (10 healthcare services linked to medicine and 13 services related to public health initiatives), which are being provided through 177 initiatives (82 from Assistance Services and 95 from public health). However, not all autonomous communities are offering all available services in their pharmacies.
The most widespread public health services are, in addition to the campaigns to promote healthy habits, available in pharmacies in 16 autonomous communities, those for the prevention of harm, through methadone programs, offered by 11 autonomous communities.
Screened
Furthermore, they have identified 23 screening initiatives in 11 different autonomous communities. Among them, the participation of pharmacies from 7 autonomies in HIV screenings, from 4 autonomies in colorectal cancer screenings, and from 8 autonomies in other types of screening such as those for irregular pulse, sarcopenia and diabetes, kidney disease, cognitive impairment or cervical cancer.
The broad portfolio of pharmacies’ services in public health also includes the existence of Sentinel Pharmacy Networks in 7 autonomous communities and smoking cessation programs in another 7 autonomies. Initiatives have also been identified for syringe exchange programs, measurement of clinical parameters, environmental health measures, participation in vaccination campaigns or nutritional counseling.
As far as healthcare services strictly linked to medicine are concerned, the first Map of Pharmaceutical Services in Spain has identified 10 different services that are being offered in pharmacies in some autonomous regions through 82 projects and initiatives by schools and public institutions.
After dispensing, pharmaceutical indication and medication advice, the most widespread healthcare services are medication reconditioning through Custom Dosing Systems (SPD), which help patients organize their medication and avoid errors and forgetfulness, and which are available in pharmacies in 16 autonomous communities.
The so-called collaborative dispensing is also widely spread, a service that brings certain hospital medications to patients through their community pharmacy to facilitate access to medications and avoid travel. This Service is now available in 8 autonomous communities and it is estimated that its extension to the entire country could benefit 1.2 million patients and avoid more than 11 million trips and visits to the hospital each year.
Another of the healthcare services linked to the medication that is being offered in a good part of the Spanish pharmacies and autonomous regions is therapeutic adherence service. This service, available in 7 communities, helps patients comply with their treatment, a crucial issue for the health and evolution of chronic patients, who have difficulty complying with their treatments up to 50% of the time.
“There is increasingly greater interest and willingness on the part of health authorities to extend these services because the Administrations are aware that when pharmacies are involved in healthcare projects, the guarantee of success is assured,” said Jesús Aguilar, president of the General Council. of Pharmacists, which has given as an example the increase in population participation in screening when the pharmacy is involved or the improvement in health outcomes and the costs generated by therapeutic adherence or medication conciliation programs.
“In these years we have expanded the provision and coordination of services with pharmacies at a pace and with an unequal portfolio between autonomous communities, which are the ones that have the capacity to decide what services to finance,” warned the president of the General Council, and has appealed for a decisive commitment to the extension of these services “to avoid inequalities in access to the portfolio of pharmacies’ services and for the social and health value that these generate.”
The president of the Patient Organization Platform, Carina Escobar, added that “these services are essential to improve the quality of life of patients, especially those with chronic diseases, since they bring health care closer to their daily needs and guarantee closer and more personalized follow-up.
The Map of Pharmaceutical Services in Spain is an x-ray of the current service portfolio of pharmacies, and was born with the aim of permanent updating, as Antonio Blanes, director of Pharmaceutical Services of the General Council of Pharmacists, pointed out during the presentation.
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