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NHS England's deputy chief pharmaceutical officer has described proposals to put pharmacists in GP surgeries as €a unique opportunity to embed pharmacy in general practice€.

It is not €GPs on the cheap€, Dr Bruce Warner told last week's Pharmacy Management National Forum meeting in Manchester.

Pharmacists had their own contribution to make as experts in medicines, stated Dr Warner, who suggested that pharmacist prescribers might be best suited to such a patient-facing, clinical role. However he emphasised that skills and competences would dictate suitability, not a pharmacist's sector of previous experience.

Turning to the political situation, Dr Warner warned against expecting a €dramatic change of direction€ from the new Government.

He pointed out that the health secretary has remained unchanged under the newly elected Conservative administration. However, Jeremy Hunt's team of ministers has seen several changes, most notably the arrival of Alistair Burt, who takes over the pharmacy portfolio from Norman Lamb.

Other ministerial appointments at the Department of Health include David Prior, a former chair of the Care Quality Commission, who is expected to take on Earl Howe's portfolio (for primary care) and Ben Gummer. Jane Ellison and George Freeman's health minister positions remained unchanged, though the latter has a joint role with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, with a particular focus on innovation of new medicines.

MO dashboard

NHS England has launched an updated Medicines Optimisation Dashboard to help clinical commissioning groups improve and understand how well patients across the country are being supported to use their medicines.

The dashboard brings together data and aligns it to various themes including patient safety, mental health, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, antibiotic prescribing and community pharmacy.

The data will allow local NHS organisations to highlight variation in local practice and stimulate discussion on the appropriateness of local care.