INNOVATION AND ENTERPRISE WITHIN PHARMACY PRACTICE
Pictured (l-r) are Arnd Mommers, Sales Director, Willach UK, Alan McGeer, Jane Rorison and Charlie Denwood, Managing Director, Positive Solutions.
COMMUNITY PHARMACY PHARMACOTHERAPY PROJECT, PRESTWICK
T
he General Medical Services Contract of April 2018 indicated that every GP surgery in Scotland would receive the support of a
pharmacist and/or pharmacy technician to develop a Pharmacotherapy Service providing ‘core’ elements of the service, such as acute and repeat prescription requests, medicines reconciliation, and non-clinical medication reviews. In some areas, the pharmacotherapy service will also provide ‘additional’ elements, including polypharmacy reviews and specialist clinics covering areas, such as chronic pain and heart failure.
To provide safe, effective, patient-centred pharmaceutical care, it is essential that GP practices have good relationships with community pharmacy. General Practice clinical pharmacists (GPCP) have an increasing workload, with traditional prescribing efficiency work and the demand of the GP Pharmacotherapy Service. This project explored the possibility of transferring some of this workload to community pharmacists and provided an excellent
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opportunity to put this into practice by integrating the community pharmacist within the practice team, improving communication and information sharing.
Objectives included: • Increasing the clinical role of community pharmacists by identifying pharmacotherapy activities that could be delivered in their pharmacy • Increasing patient awareness of the role of the community pharmacist in medicines management and supporting patients to manage stable long-term conditions • Developing closer partnership working between the ‘pharmacy family’ - General Practice clinical pharmacists, community pharmacists, hospital pharmacists • Supporting continuous improvement in patient care through effective transfer of information between primary care and community pharmacy
The methodology involved identifying appropriate elements of pharmacotherapy service suitable for
delivery through community pharmacy setting; identifying specific elements for this test of change; defining criteria for pharmacist participation and identifying both the community pharmacy and GP surgery to participate in the project.
Community pharmacist, Jane Rorison, Ogg & Co Pharmacy, and Alan McGeer, GP clinical pharmacist, Cathcart St Surgery, had close links and an excellent working relationship, and agreed to participate in this project. As an Independent Prescribing Pharmacist (IPP), Jane runs a Common Clinical Conditions Clinic in collaboration with the practice. Patient requests are triaged by practice staff and where appropriate referred to this clinic. Remote EMIS access, allows full ‘read and write’ access from the community pharmacy to the GP patient record. The GP surgery's electronic diary has specific appointment slots for community pharmacy appointments. Similar referral pathways were followed for this project. Four elements of the Pharmacotherapy Service were identified for
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