PADUA – In less than two weeks from the expansion of the projects provided as part of the “service pharmacy” experimentation, there are 470 pharmacies in Veneto have already activated. Decree 15 of 15 May 2024 of the Veneto Region approved the start, from June, of a further 9 projects expanding the range of services offered to citizens by pharmacies. And the first numbers for the period between 3 and 18 June 2024 are more than positive: 146 pharmacies took action to screen for unknown hypertension by carrying out 803 questionnaires and the same number of blood pressure measurements; 116 issued at least one of the 650 questionnaires for screening for unknown hypercholesterolemia; 46 carried out 178 monitoring of adherence to drug therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes while 8 took action by enrolling 14 patients in monitoring adherence to COPD therapy. On the telecardiology front, 26 pharmacies have carried out 47 electrocardiograms to date; 32 performed 57 cardiac Holters and 23 performed 30 pressure Holters.
The opportunity to provide the first update on the projects financed with state funds for 2024 (almost 2 million 300 thousand euros for Veneto) was offered by the regional meeting promoted by Federfarma Veneto “The service pharmacy. The Venetian model: innovation and synergies for the health of the community”, which took place in Padua on Saturday 22 June. The meeting, aimed at pharmacists in the region, represented a moment of training and discussion with institutions and professionals on the current state of pharmacy services in Veneto and future lines. There service pharmacy represents a consolidated and increasingly integrated evolution in the Veneto Regional Health Service, an organizational model that offers opportunities for improve the proximity of care and ensure the sustainability of the healthcare system through innovation and synergy between the actors involved.
“The service pharmacy is a path in progress, our goal is to move from the experimental phase to that of the provision of integrated and affiliated services within the regional health network” he underlined Andrea Bellon, president of Federfarma Veneto representing approximately 1,200 pharmacies. “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“.
Concepts reiterated by the Councilor for Health and Social Services of the Veneto Regionwhich highlighted the social role of pharmacies: “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“.
The meeting, organized in collaboration with Edra and Punto Effe and introduced by the video message from Marco Cossolo, national Federfarma president, also served to take stock of the activities carried out by the Veneto pharmacies during theCovid emergency. 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 executions. From April 1st 2021 to January 31st 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, in the 301 participating pharmacies there were 184,448 anti-Covid vaccines administered while in the 2022 and 2023 anti-flu campaigns 459 pharmacies were mobilised for a total of 60,835 vaccinations.
Also speaking at the meeting in Padua were Giovanna Scroccaro, Pharmaceutical, Prosthetics and Medical Devices Management of the Veneto Region; the lawyers Quintino Lombardo and Silvia Cosmo; the accountant Nicola Brunello. The day ended with a round table which saw the participation of Claudia Pietropoli, vice-president of Federfarma Veneto, president of Federfarma Rovigo and national Federfarma councillor; Daniela Giovanetti, treasurer of Federfarma Veneto and president of Federfarma Vicenza; Federico Realdon, president of the Veneto Pharmacist Orders Council; Matteo Vanzan, secretary of Federfarma Veneto; Sonia Brescacin, president of the V Commission of the Veneto Regional Council.
