Covid, Altroconsumo: “Italians promote pharmacies and ask for further services”

Italians are promoting pharmacies for their role in the pandemic and asking for even more services. This is confirmed by an investigation by Altroconsumo, questioning more than 1,500 compatriots on their relationship with the pharmacy, in the period March-April 2021, therefore during the third epidemic wave. In the Covid era, therefore, pharmacies remain an important point of reference for citizens, also thanks to their widespread presence on the territory and to a policy that sees them increasingly involved in the fight against Covid: from rapid antigenic swabs at a controlled price available in many pharmacies, up to the vaccine in an increasingly large number of Regions. Getting the vaccine from your local pharmacist can give new impetus to the vaccination campaign, especially for the elderly. Even the possibility of printing the Green pass for free at the pharmacy is suitable for the population that is unfamiliar with IT tools. The interviewees are mostly satisfied with the service offered and would like more and more services to complement the existing ones (blood pressure control, booking of visits and NHS examinations): for example the home delivery of drugs in case of emergency and a more active of the pharmacist in monitoring the health of patients, including having access to their medical history through the health file and in some cases being able to provide drugs that require prescriptions even without a prescription. Finally, in case of unavailability of the requested drug, the pharmacist should indicate in which other pharmacies to find it. This more active role of the pharmacist is linked to the interviewees’ request for a space in pharmacies where privacy is guaranteed. “Our role – explained Marco Cossolo, president of Federfarma – has changed because citizens ask for professional services and health services. that go beyond the mere dispensing of the drug. There is an enhancement of the role of the pharmacist also for taking charge of patients in following therapeutic adherence. Suffice it to say that the national average of adherence to therapy for chronic diseases is at 40%, it means that 60% are not being treated adequately. With all the health costs that this entails. To remedy this problem, once you have received a diagnosis and a prescription, you need to make sure that the drug is right and that the patient take it right. ” Like? “With an ‘active dispensing’ mechanism that has already been funded in the NRP on rural pharmacies and that we ask for it to be extended to the entire pharmacy system”. Here’s how it works: “Pharmacies and even general practitioners are put into the circuit through IT tools to monitor adherence to therapy. For example, if a box of 30 tablets is dispensed and after 35 days the patient does not come to take the second box means that he is not following the therapy correctly. At that point he reports to the general practitioner “.