The British Medical Association recently published their report on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in England, highlighting the urgent need for investment in mental health services and further recruitment of mental health staff.1 Like many others, they have predicted a substantial increase in demand on mental health services in the coming months. Their recommendations include a call for detailed workforce planning at local, national and system levels. This coincides with the publication of the ‘NHS People Plan’ which also emphasised the need to maximise staff potential.2 The message from both is clear, it is time for Trusts to revise and improve how they use their multidisciplinary workforce, including non-medical prescribers (NMPs). Pharmacists have been able to register as independent prescribers since 20063 and as such, can work autonomously to prescribe any medicine for any medical condition within their areas of competency.4 There has been a slow uptake of pharmacists into this role5 and while a recent General Pharmaceutical Council survey found only a small increase between the number of active prescribers from 2013 (1.094) to 2019 (1.590), almost a quarter of prescribers included mental health within their prescribing practice.6 More recently, we …

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药剂师开处方如何帮助应对 COVID-19 的心理健康后果

英国医学会最近发布了关于 COVID-19 对英格兰心理健康影响的报告，强调了对心理健康服务进行投资和进一步招聘心理健康工作人员的迫切需要。 1 与许多其他人一样，他们预测心理健康人员的数量将大幅增加未来几个月对心理健康服务的需求。他们的建议包括呼吁在地方、国家和系统层面进行详细的劳动力规划。这恰逢“NHS 人员计划”的发布，该计划也强调需要最大限度地发挥员工潜力。2 双方传达的信息都很明确，信托机构现在是时候修改和改进如何使用多学科劳动力（包括非医疗人员）的方式了。处方者 (NMP)。自 20063 年起，药剂师就可以注册为独立处方师，因此可以在其能力范围内自主地为任何医疗状况开出任何药物。 4 药剂师逐渐接受这一角色 5，而最近通用制药公司委员会调查发现，从 2013 年 (1.094) 到 2019 年 (1.590)，活跃处方者数量仅略有增加，近四分之一的处方者将心理健康纳入其处方实践中。6 最近，我们……