Pharmacists hold teleconsultations with doctors under nationwide Swiss scheme

Doctor making video call from tablet

A scheme to allow pharmacists to teleconference a physician for help with managing a patient has been rolled out in nationwide in Switzerland.

The ‘netCare’ scheme for minor ailments was presented at the International Pharmaceutical Federation Congress in Glasgow on 4 September 2018 by Martine Ruggli, a board member at pharmaSuisse.

The service was introduced across the country in 2016, after a successful pilot from 2012–2014 and was included in the governmental report on the role of pharmacies in primary care.

Ruggli explained that netCare combines a standardised triage in pharmacy, with the possibility of a teleconsultation with a physician, available without an appointment and “at off-peak times”.

The 2018 FIP congress in Glasgow, Scotland, brings together pharmacy practitioners and pharmaceutical scientists from around the world to consider ways of extending the role of pharmacists so that they play a full part in ensuring patients, and health systems, achieve full benefit from the medicines people take.

The theme of the 78th FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is ‘Pharmacy: Transforming outcomes!’.

This is the first time that the FIP World Congress has been held in the UK for nearly 40 years. The last time was in 1979, making this a truly unique learning opportunity for pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists in Great Britain.

UK healthcare company RB is Gold Sponsor of this year’s congress.

Last updated
Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, Pharmacists hold teleconsultations with doctors under nationwide Swiss scheme;Online:DOI:10.1211/PJ.2018.20205418

You may also be interested in