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A WonderCare Podcast
Letter to Leo - Read by Sheena Mitchell
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Listen to this episode to hear Sheena read and explain the letter that she wrote to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 16th December 2022.
LETTER TO LEO – 16th December 2022
Dear Taoiseach,
It’s not often I’m embarrassed to be Irish, but as a pharmacist working within the confines of the Irish
system today, I am. I spent five years in university developing my medical expertise in pharmacy.
Despite this training my skills and those of my pharmacy colleagues, are being chronically
underutilised in an Irish healthcare system at breaking point.
I find this very frustrating, as my time spent working as a pharmacist in Scotland has shown me that
there is a very simple answer to quickly alleviate the massive pressure frontline doctors are currently
facing. We are in the eye of the storm, and you are a doctor in a position of leadership and legislative
power. You know that the daily figures counting the infection of influenza, RSV, coronavirus, and
Strep A will only continue in an upward trajectory, as these viruses always do in late Winter and early
Spring.
Let us help. The community pharmacist is your biggest ally, we are open from early morning until late
at night, and in many cases 7-days a week. A patient does not require an appointment to see a
pharmacist, and almost half of the population live within 1km of a pharmacy. You led us through a
pandemic, the healthcare system can’t take any more, and the patient always has to come first.
Instead of making promises, chairing working groups, and discussing policy, now is the time to act.
Pharmacists want to help, we are qualified, our range of services has so much potential to
significantly improve access to patient healthcare. What is more, this model of patient care is already
working successfully in Scotland and further afield. Every day I see patients suffering who cannot
access a doctor due to the extreme pressure that the healthcare system is under. Together we can
make a big impact to improve this situation.
Today, I am asking you for urgent action on both the implementation of a Minor Ailments Scheme and the introduction of Patient Group Directives (PGDs).
1. Minor Ailments Scheme:
- Save GPs time. Let us prescribe approved items for medical card patients. Private patients can buy these items over the counter, but medical card holders need a prescription from their GP.
- It makes no sense in the current climate to be sending medical card holders into GP surgeries for over the counter items. This at a time when we need to free up accessibility to GP for urgent patient assessment and diagnosis.
- It started as a cost issue, I know. However, it is costing more money sending them into a GP, and it’s potentially costing lives by removing that appointment from an urgent sick patient. Figures from Scotland already show us it could remove 1 in 7 GP visits, here it could be even more.
- Bacterial Skin Infections – using oral antibiotics
- Conjunctivitis (eye infections) – using antibiotics
- Cystitis – uncomplicated – treated with antibiotics
- Impetigo – using local antibiotics
- Shingles – using antiviral medicines.