Community pharmacies ‘free up money for healthcare services’

National healthcare services in Europe are making significant cost savings due to patients using community pharmacies instead of visiting doctors.

PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Association of Finnish Pharmacies (AFP) have conducted a survey among 197 pharmacists in Finland, revealing that visits to pharmacies are leading to a reduction in the number of GP visits by 6.2 million annually, as well as cutting emergency visiting figures by 750,000.

This helps to reduce prescription numbers by 2.6 million a year, resulting in an average annual saving of more than 500 million euros (416.2 million pounds) for other healthcare priorities.

The results were presented at the conference of the International Pharmaceutical Federation in Lisbon, with Dr Erkki Kostiainen of the AFP stating that they illustrate the benefits pharmacies can deliver in areas where GP numbers are limited.

He explained: "Although some of the evaluations are based on the opinions and experience of doctors and pharmacists, I see no reason why these findings should not be applicable to other countries.”

This comes after PJ Online reported last month that Boots is piloting walk-in patient services at its Edinburgh pharmacy, a move designed to help relieve pressures on GPs.