This week it was announced that for those who are comfortable using the NHS App to collect medication the NHS will be replacing paper prescriptions with an app delivered barcode. This further advance (a step forward from ordering repeat prescriptions on-line) will save GP and patients’ time. With millions of prescriptions written annually the estimated 3 mins reduction in time per prescription amounts to a huge freeing-up of GP time by simply reducing bureaucracy.
A more profound change (already embraced in Scotland and Wales) is for pharmacies in England to prescribe anti-biotics for specific common conditions. “Pharmacy First” will release up to 10m GP appointments while helping patients with, for example, a sore throat get help quicker.
These changes have been welcomed by pharmacies 96% of which have signed up. It will come with additional funding. This is a significant positive but for it to be effective alongside pharmacies meeting existing patient demand (issues with which we are unfortunately very familiar in Horsham) this will need huge focus – I am continuing to help drive this in Westminster.
The NHS app will also improve transparency, enabling patients to see hospital waiting times for a wide range of treatments. I recently met the team that runs among others the Worthing and Princess Royal Hospitals to hear the progress they are making on reducing waiting lists from their post Covid peak. I am due to meet the East Surrey Hospital Chief Exec shortly and will be sharing with her the results of my NHS survey (available at www.jeremyquin.com). As ever I welcome emails from constituents with specific points they would like me to raise.
The Government has set itself key targets to support the care people receive in the NHS. This includes the recruitment of 50,000 additional nurses since 2019. The Government has delivered this target 6 months earlier than planned, which means we now have 17% more nurses in the NHS compared to September 2019.
There is always more to do but a focus on prevention, technology and investment will help the NHS deliver in a time of ever increasing demand for its services.
