2023-09-01 17:35:20
It will soon no longer be necessary to go to the doctor in case of urinary tract infection or angina. Pharmacists will soon be able to prescribe antibiotics to people with these diseases. The only conditions for the patient: to carry out “a test to confirm the bacterial origin” pathology and an interview with the pharmacist. This is what Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Thursday, August 31, during a trip to Rouen.
Since the beginning of August already, pharmacists, as well as midwives, can prescribe and administer vaccines, such as that against the flu, and reminders of compulsory vaccines. From now on, the 20,000 or so French pharmacies will be able to deliver certain antibiotics.
In addition to simplifying access to care, these new prescriptions – hitherto accessible only by prescription – can “to improve the proper use of medicines”assures Philippe Besset, president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France.
“Strongly reduce the delivery of antibiotics”
“When patients have angina, we have to do a test to check whether it is viral or not. You can only deliver the antibiotic if it is bacterial,” says the pharmacist. With this measure, he continues, “we will be able to greatly reduce the delivery of antibiotics because doctors do not do this test very often and therefore almost systematically give antibiotics”. In France, only 2 of the 6 million antibiotic prescriptions for angina would be justified in this way, according to the latest report on the regulation of health products, published on August 29.
Not a first for pharmacists
For Agnès Giannotti, president of MG France, the leading union among general practitioners, these new skills open to pharmacies risk confusing information in patient files. “We must be warned” acts carried out, she underlines. Concerns swept away by Christophe Le Gall, head of the National Union of Pharmacists of France. The prescription of a drug “will be automatically recorded in the medical file (accessible online, editor’s note) of the patient to whom doctors already have access”, he reassures.
It remains to fix the remuneration for carrying out these tests and establishing the prescriptions. This will be the subject of negotiations to be held in the fall with representatives of pharmacists as part of the next Social Security financing bill. “He must be up to it so that we have the means to carry out these acts”, believes Christophe Le Gall.
For several years now, certain pharmacists, working in particular in multi-professional health centers and territorial professional health communities, have been able to prescribe antibiotics under certain conditions in the event of cystitis or angina. The protocol, ” very complicated “ according to Philippe Besset, was rarely applied.
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