Following the publication of its barometer, the NèreS association argues that the first-line pharmacist might avoid 91 million medical consultations each year. A great hope at a time of medical desertification and numbers?? general practitioners and specialists. Explanations.
More than 91 million medical consultations avoided
The NèreS association brings together pharmaceutical laboratories marketing first-line health and prevention products (drugs, medical devices, food supplements) in pharmacies, without medical prescription. Each year, this professional organization publishes a barometer of first-line health products at the end of January. The 2022 edition of this barometer reveals a 14.4% increase in the market for primary healthcare products.
First-line healthcare products represent 21% of pharmacy sales. These products also make up around 30% of prescriptions from general practitioners, even though they do not require any medical prescription. Thus, each year, 353 million of these products are sold in France without a prescription, and 303 on a prescription. If the patients affected by these prescriptions obtained these drugs directly from pharmacies, more than 91 million consultations might be avoided.
The pharmacist as a first-line health professional
Such a figure in the current medical context necessarily imposes a reflection on the interest of positioning of the pharmacist as a first-line health professional, not to mention the 338 million euros in savings for the health system. For the NèreS association, positioning the pharmacist as a first resort would above all allow better access to care and immediate management of patients.
This positioning might constitute an interesting solution in the context of medical deserts and sometimes very long delays in obtaining an appointment with a general practitioner or specialist. Furthermore, among first-line health products, prevention occupies a growing share. Their market share has increased from 34% in 2017 to 40.2% in 2022, with curative health products seeing their share fall in the same proportions.
A solution to medical deserts?
In this context, the NèreS association proposes to the public health authorities to set up an experimentation of a prevention referent pharmacist in particular geographical territories and in specific therapeutic areas. This proposal resonates with the increase in visits to pharmacies, following the extension of the missions entrusted to pharmacists (individual interviews, medication reviews, vaccination, etc.).
France currently has 20,261 pharmacies spread across the territory. Pharmacies that receive an average of 26 visits per second for first-line health products. In addition, the opening hours of pharmacies are often long, further facilitating access to care. The vision of NèreS is a course of care starting with the pharmacist, before going to consult a general practitioner, for benign everyday pathologies. Of course, the pharmacist directs the patient to a doctor depending on the situation. The advantage of such a proposal is that France does not currently know of a pharmaceutical desert!
Estelle B., Doctor of Pharmacy
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