Pharmacies. We say yes to reinventing the Health sector | Opinion

In a context of continuous pressure on the sustainability of the National Health Service (SNS), there can be no positions of neutrality or passivity. Anyone who does not become part of the solution will become part of the problem.

Faced with the challenge of an Emergency Health Plan, Portuguese pharmacies respond: count on us, Madam Minister.

Pharmacies have been essential in resolving the main public health challenges we have faced. They took on an absolutely pivotal role in testing during the pandemic, as well as, more recently, contributing with historic results for the vaccination of the population, both against the flu and against Covid-19, in collaboration with the NHS.

Once here, it is urgent to invest in integrated care models to facilitate the adequate provision of health services and overcome fragmentation between providers, promoting their articulation and coordination. Only in this way will it be possible to maximize the potential of the health system and respond effectively to people’s needs.

Integrated healthcare, and collaboration with the private sector, can address gaps in the healthcare system and enhance convenience and proximity, particularly in areas with lower population density. In these places, the pharmacy remains open and, in some cases, is the only health service close to the population.

Extending services to community pharmacies has enormous potential for achieving effective health gains. Through early intervention in people’s health journey, we can not only help prevent disease but also take pressure off primary healthcare and hospital emergencies.

We have several successful cases of this integration: the seasonal vaccination campaign, the renewal of chronic therapy and the dispensing of hospital medication in close proximity. But there are many other areas of intervention that can evolve, such as the participation of pharmacies in national screenings, such as colorectal cancer screening, whose early detection can help reduce the mortality rate.

On the other hand, as a gateway to the healthcare system, pharmacies can intervene more effectively in those situations that most frequently lead people to hospital emergencies or even an unscheduled medical appointment, such as urinary tract infections or infections. of the oropharynx uncomplicated, as is already the case in other countries. The pharmacist has the skills to go further and resolve these cases in the pharmacy, or refer to another level of care, if necessary, always in conjunction with the medical and pharmaceutical communities.

It is imperative that we accelerate the pace of reinventing the sector. We reiterate the availability, but above all the capacity of pharmacies to be part of this project.

The author writes according to the new spelling agreement