In a letter to Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Self-Care Strategy Group has welcomed the new government with calls to fully realise the benefits of self-care and work collaboratively to build an NHS fit for the future.
The Self-Care Strategy Group (SCSG) is comprised of leading pharmacy groups, professional organisations, trade associations and charities committed to self-care. The group published a blueprint for a national self-care strategy [1] in 2021, outlining recommendations to better support and encourage self-care in England. Seven out of the nine recommendations were incorporated into the government’s Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care [2] and the SCSG now stand ready to support the government in implementing further policies which fully capitalise on the benefits of self-care.
In addition to calling for expanded prescribing rights, optimised digital health tools and enabling direct referrals between primary, diagnostic and specialist care services, the SCSG recommend widening access to self-care medicines in pharmacies and expanding public awareness campaigns with the promotion of credible health information on self-care.
Offering the expertise of the industry, the SCSG have proposed a formal meeting with Wes Streeting MP to discuss how self-care can help the government reduce pressure on GPs and A&E departments and form the foundation of a sustainable healthcare system for the future.
Read the full letter here.
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Footnotes:
1 Blueprint for a national self-care strategy for England, Self-Care Strategy Group, 2021
2 Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care, NHS England, 2023
Notes to editors:
The signatories on the letter to Wes Streeting include the following members of the Self-Care Strategy Group:
- Community Pharmacy England
- Company Chemists’ Association
- Dispensing Doctors’ Association
- National Association of Primary Care
- National Pharmacy Association
- PAGB, the consumer healthcare association
- Patient Information Forum
- Royal Pharmaceutical Society
- Self Care Forum
PAGB provides the secretariat for the Self-Care Strategy Group.
