Partido Popular, PSOE, Vox and Frente Amplio have expressed their agreement on the need to promote, expand and consolidate the care services offered by community pharmacy, highlighting the important value it provides to the National Health System (SNS) and, specifically, to Primary Care (AP).
This is what was stated by the PP representative Antonio Cavacasillas, the PSOE representative Pilar Aparicio, the Vox representative Fernando Carbonell and the Frente Amplio representative Marta Carmona during an event organized by the Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Farmacéuticos (CGCOF).
The meeting, held on the occasion of the general elections of 29 November, has served to present the main lines of pharmaceutical policy included in the different electoral programmes, as well as to open a space for reflection on the future of the healthcare system and the role of the pharmaceutical profession.
From the PP, Cavacasillas has emphasized that his party’s electoral programme includes “the defense of the Spanish pharmaceutical model and of the community pharmacy network for its contribution to territorial equality in access to medicines”.
Among the priorities of the ‘populars’, he has pointed to the reform of the medicines law “with rigor and with all the agents involved, offering legal certainty and a comprehensive vision”. He has specified that they aim to facilitate research and clinical trials, give greater impetus to generics and biosimilars, improve access to treatments and strengthen strategic autonomy.
Along these lines, he has stressed that they also propose to speed up the evaluation of new drugs and reduce the timeframes for setting their funding and price.
Similarly, he has indicated that they share the “concern” of the pharmaceutical profession to “defend professional independence, the guarantees of dispensing and health control of medicines also in the veterinary field” and he has advocated for greater use of the Care-Providing Pharmaceutical Professional Services (SPFA).
The PP representative has argued for enhancing coordination between community and hospital pharmacy to bring treatments closer to patients, and he has added that “the sustainability of the pharmacy network must be part of the decisions on medicines”.
Community pharmacy, a “major asset” for the SNS
For his part, Aparicio has highlighted that, for the PSOE, the network of community pharmacies constitutes a "major asset" for the SNS. Next, he has reaffirmed his commitment to the development of Primary Care and to the incorporation of innovation and, in this sense, he has agreed with Cavacasillas on the relevance of the reform of the medicine law.
"We will continue to fight so that everything it includes, including the role of community pharmacy, becomes a reality," he said in reference to the regulatory reform, with the aim of keeping the commitment to make it effective "soon" across the entire territory the interoperable medical record.
Regarding the sustainability of rural pharmacy, he has admitted that there is room for improvement and has highlighted the importance of pharmaceutical care services, such as the Personalized Dosage System (SPD) and the pharmacist’s involvement in smoking cessation and in screening programs.
Vox rejects intermediaries in dispensing
As for Vox, Carbonell praised the Spanish pharmacy model, calling for it to be maintained and strengthened. During his speech, he insisted on the need to separate prescribing from dispensing, including in the case of veterinary medicines, and he has shown his rejection of commercial home-delivery channels and of intermediary platforms without health oversight.
Like the rest of the participants, he defended making the most of the network of community pharmacies and the services they offer, such as SPDs, screenings, or smoking cessation programs. In his view, it would also be necessary to extend across the whole country the coordination experiences between community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy and to review the individual reserves.
Representing Frente Amplio, Carmona has highlighted the pervasiveness and longitudinal nature of the community pharmacy network, establishing a parallel with Primary Care. However, he has lamented that these pharmacy offices are underutilized and has argued that they can assume a broader care function. To that end, he has proposed reforming the medicine law.
Carmona has reiterated that community pharmacies are health establishments with great potential. "Whoever cannot see that that leg adds extra value is not seeing anything," he emphasized.
The proposals of the General Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges
The General Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges has forwarded to all entities its proposals for the next legislature, included in the Declaration of Asturias, presented at the 24th National Pharmaceutical Congress.
The demands of the profession focus on strengthening the separation between prescribing and dispensing of all medicines, also for veterinarians; prohibiting intermediation in the dispensing of medicines; and regulating and incorporating into the Common Portfolio of the SNS the Pharmaceutical Care Professional Services.
They also propose bringing medicines closer to patients, and not patients to hospitals, and eliminating the figure of the “singular reserves”; ensuring the sustainability of community pharmacies; promoting a patient-centered medicines policy that guarantees access, availability, and continuity of treatments; integrating the pharmacy network into the digitalization of the SNS and ensuring professional supervision of artificial intelligence applied to health.
According to the General Council, these lines of action aim to guarantee safety and equity in access to medicines and healthcare products, as well as continuity of treatments; to make use of the care potential of community pharmacies to strengthen the capacity of Primary Care, and to promote social and territorial cohesion policies based on the Spanish model of pharmacy as a guarantee of accessibility and proximity.