In less than two weeks from the expansion of the projects provided as part of the service pharmacy experimentation in Veneto, 470 pharmacies have already been activated across the entire regional territory. Taking stock was Federfarma Veneto, which announced that, in the period between 3 and 18 June 2024, there are 146 pharmacies active for the screening of unknown hypertension, with 803 questionnaires and the same number of blood pressure measurements. Furthermore, as highlighted by the acronym, «116 have issued at least one of the 650 questionnaires for the screening of unknown hypercholesterolemia, 46 have carried out 178 monitoring of adherence to drug therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes while 8 have taken action by enrolling 14 patients in monitoring adherence to Bcpo therapy. On the telecardiology front, 26 pharmacies have so far carried out 47 electrocardiograms, 32 have carried out 57 cardiac holters and 23 have carried out 30 blood pressure holters”.
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The services provided since 2020
From 29 December 2020 to 30 April 2024, 1,016 pharmacies joined the rapid testing campaign in pharmacies for a total of 10,770,898 tests. From April 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022, 1,397 pharmacies took the field to book anti-covid vaccinations, making 649,084 bookings. Then the vaccination chapter: from 2021 to 30 April 2024, 184,448 anti-covid vaccines were administered in the 301 participating pharmacies while in the 2022 and 2023 anti-flu campaigns, 459 pharmacies were mobilized for a total of 60,835 vaccinations.
From the testing phase to the provision of affiliated services
Andrea Bellon, president of Federfarma Veneto, explained that «the service pharmacy is a path in progress, our objective is to move from the experimental phase to that of the provision of integrated and affiliated services within the regional health network. To do this we must demonstrate that we are useful to citizens, so we must join forces and team up to reach and offer a service even in the most disadvantaged areas of the territory, those where there are no hospitals, community homes and sometimes not even general practitioners. Through our expertise we will compete on an equal footing with other operators in the healthcare network.”
High life expectancy and the problems that come with it
According to Manuela Lanzarin, Councilor for Health and Social Services of the Veneto Region, «even before the 2019 State-Regions agreement, Veneto had started talking about the service pharmacy. It was one of the construction sites we discussed together, for example, the community house and the family nurse. Our population is aging with a very high life expectancy and the resulting problems, therefore there is a need to have alternative care closer to home. Here the network of pharmacies comes into play, scattered throughout the area and often the main point of contact for the citizen. This is not a contrast between systems but an integration, a complementary and synergistic work of which pharmacies are part. We have already seen how pharmacies know how to reach citizens and also intercept signs of fragility, playing an important social role.”
