Pharmacists and doctors working together

Integrated Healthcare Framework—pharmacists and doctors working together

Pharmacists and doctors are putting in place a Framework for the way in which they will work together to achieve better patient-centered care, through an integrated collaborative healthcare approach.

The Integrated Health Care Framework for Pharmacists and Doctors has been developed by the New Zealand Medical Association and Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand through a joint working group to put together an integrated healthcare framework that brings to life their joint 2020 Vision, Partnership for Care.

A strong impetus for the development of the framework has been the contents of the New Zealand Health Strategy and the Pharmacy Action Plan, which both emphasise the need for integration to provide for better patient outcomes.

“There is a natural synergy between the work of the doctor as a diagnostician and the pharmacist as the medicines expert, and the Framework clearly articulates the domains for better co-ordination and co-operation between the two professions,” says the NZMA’s General Practitioner Council chair Dr Kate Baddock, a member of the Working Group.

The Society strongly supports the Government’s aims to better utilise pharmacists’ knowledge and skills, and by using this Integrated Health Care Framework pharmacists and doctors can develop new innovations and models of care in a collaborative and patient-centred way.

Framework Working Group members included Bob Buckham, Dr Kate Baddock, Dr Buzz Burrell, Lesley Clarke, Dr John Dunlop, Richard Townley and Graeme Smith.

Both the NZMA and Society have ratified the consultation draft. Feedback is being sought from key stakeholders in the wider health sector. The deadline for input is Tuesday 28 February.

The consultation draft is available on the Society and NZMA websites.

www.psnz.org.nz

www.nzma.org.nz

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