Rutland pharmacies are meeting needs of population says new report

The number of pharmacies in Rutland and the services they offer is meeting the needs of the population, a new study has found.

The pharmaceutical needs assessment, which must be carried out every three years, found that Rutland residents are generally happy with the services on offer and most needs are being met.

At an extraordinary meeting of the county’s health and wellbeing board on Wednesday (May 21), the board agreed to put the draft report out to a final public consultation before it is officially adopted.

Public health analyst Amy Chamberlain gave a presentation on the findings and concluded: “Subject to the importance of continued community, voluntary and public transportation, no gaps were identified in the provision of essential, advanced or locally commissioned services across the health and wellbeing areas.

“Overall it was concluded that pharmacies are meeting the current needs of the Rutland population, it was recognised that there are differences in the local provision across the county and it may be that some residents in some areas have to travel further to access a particular services or outside of normal local hours.”

She said activity provided across the five pharmacies in Rutland has increased over the past three years and residents are generally happy with the services that they are receiving.

There are also four pharmacies within 1.6km of Rutland’s border, all within Stamford, and three dispensing GPs in the county. In March the Pickford Pharmacy in Oakham closed and Ms Chamberlain said the situation would be monitored to see if it had an impact.

Statistics showed that all of the Rutland pharmacies offered the flu vaccination service and Pharmacy first service, with 5,499 patients receiving a flu jab. Only one pharmacy offered the pharmacy contraception service, with just 11 appointments. One pharmacy offered the smoking cessation service and there is no needle exchange service in Rutland.

Chairperson of the board Coun Diane Ellison (Lib Dem) asked: “Do we not have any drug addicts in Rutland?”

Adrian Allen, the assistant director of public health, said none of the pharmacies had taken the service on and that ultimately the health and wellbeing board or the council had any control over what pharmacies would deliver.

He said the stop smoking service in Rutland was often delivered digitally with medication posted to people’s homes and the meeting was also told that the county council has a smoking cessation officer who works with local businesses and organisations.

The chief executive of Rutland Healthwatch Janet Underwood said a concern raised by residents to her organisation about pharmacies was that they often did not inform patients when a prescription sent over by the GP was ready for collection.

The draft report has made a number of recommendations including reviewing the use of pharmacy services to ensure supply continued to meet demand.

The board agreed to send the draft out to a 60 day consultation.