In the province of Potenza, the “Service Pharmacy” set up by the ASP Basilicata is at the starting line – Ondanews.it

Part on the provincial territory ofLocal Health Authority of Potenza the testing of new services in the community pharmacy, the so-called “service pharmacy”. This was established by the resolution signed by the General Director of the ASP Basilicata Antonello Maraldo following the acknowledgment of the Protocol and the technical specifications included in a regional determination dating back to last November.

In collaboration with the Territorial Pharmaceuticals of the ASP are identified new services provided by pharmacies within the National Health Service. These are services with great socio-health value which will be carried out at participating pharmacies and which will allow not only reduce waiting lists in some sectors, but also to meet the needs of citizens who can do so undergo certain services completely free of charge at trusted pharmacieswho will then be reimbursed by the Regional Health Service for the amount not requested from the citizen.

The trial, scheduled for a maximum period of 6 months, will last until the budget is exhausted and, only with a positive outcome, will the competent Ministry be able to proceed with the disbursement of further funds and confirmation of the service. The services available at pharmacies will be provided in telemedicine and they concern cardiac and blood pressure holters, electrocardiograms, simple spirometry which will be reported electronically thanks to the connection with the specialist centres. It should be noted that in the experimental phase Only users who are exempt from tickets will be able to access the service for pathologies related to the services to be carried out and which must be equipped with required by the attending physician also dematerialized.

To access the provision of services, pharmacists will use the “DottorFarma” platform. Thanks to the capillarity of pharmacies it will be possible to obtain healthcare ever closer to the citizen providing basic necessities especially in rural and more internal areas, serving in particular the group of users over sixty-five and the most fragile subjects or those who have difficulty reaching the centers where the health facilities operate. A service that becomes even more efficient and effective and that broadens the concept of proximity healthcare.

For the Director of Territorial Pharmaceuticals of the Asp Giorgio Lardino “with this resolution it is accomplished an important step forward although there has been no shortage of difficulties in recent months and have been mainly linked to bureaucratic issues. The legislation stipulates that each participating pharmacy must use different premises than those in which the drugs are distributed, so in some cases, before adhering to the project, some situations had to be evaluated. At present they are over 70 pharmacies have participated on the provincial territory”.

For the President of Federfarma Potenza Carlo Claps “we’re on the home stretch an important issue that sees Basilicata align itself with other regions in which the experimentation has already started for some time”.

For Maraldo “this is the challenge of the next few years in which Asp will play a prominent role and for which it will certainly be ready“.