National Assembly for Wales / Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru
Health and Social Care Committee/ Y Pwyllgor Iechyd a Gofal Cymdeithasol

 

Inquiry into alcohol and substance misuse / Ymchwiliad i gamddefnyddio alcohol a sylweddau

Evidence from Royal Pharmaceutical Society – ASM 10 / Tystiolaeth gan Cymdeithas Fferyllol Frenhinol – ASM 10

 

 

 

Health and Social Care Committee

Bae Caerdydd / Cardiff Bay

Caerdydd / Cardiff

CF99 1NA

10th December 2014

 

Dear Sir / Madam

 

Inquiry into alcohol and substance misuse.

 

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the National Assembly for Wales’ Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiry into alcohol and substance misuse. 

 

The RPS is supportive of the need to control the use of alcohol and substances of misuse.  We strongly believe that there is a need to increase public education and awareness of the harm associated with the misuse of alcohol and other substances, ensuring that the public are aware of the potentially devastating consequences.

 

We believe that steps should be taken to raise awareness among young people in particular. This could be achieved through targeted public health approaches in schools and colleges across Wales, developing and implementing campaigns and making promotional materials available to young people.  Pharmacy could play a key role in national campaigns in respect of delivering public facing messages and advice on the implications of alcohol and substance misuse, increasing the opportunity to provide interventions and support to encourage motivational behaviour change in this group

 

The RPS responded to a consultation on ‘illegal highs’ in September and we would like to reiterate that we believe a more preventative approach is needed, where substances that currently fal

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l into the category of ‘legal highs’ should be banned until they can be approved by the appropriate regulator, wherever practicable.  The RPS would also welcome the implementation of any legislation that would allow the prosecution of those individuals that may be supplying psychoactive substances to the public, with particularly strong repercussions of supplying to young people under the age of 18.

 

Community pharmacy plays an important role in increasing access to substance misuse services through, for example, the delivery of local needle exchange programs, supervised methadone administration, and the provision of health promotion advice. The pharmacist is often the healthcare professional who has the most contact with patients

that access theses service and can often pick up on changes in behavior as well as health and wellbeing.  The pharmacists’ input into the patients wider treatment regimen and care is however very limited and is often dependent on individual pharmacists building relationships with other healthcare workers rather than an official process that incorporates the pharmacist into further discussion about the patients care. We recommend that opportunities should be explored for formally involving pharmacists with a special interest in substance and alcohol misuse in local service delivery arrangements, and to further incorporate the pharmacist into the multidisciplinary care team.

 

I trust this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require any further information.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs Mair Davies

Chair, Welsh Pharmacy Board

 

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is the professional body for pharmacists in Great Britain. We represent all sectors of pharmacy in Great Britain and we lead and support the development of the pharmacy profession including the advancement of science, practice, education and knowledge in pharmacy. In addition, we promote the profession’s policies and views to a range of external stakeholders in a number of different forums.