EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY PHARMACY PRACTICE
Pictured (l-r) are: Samantha Cunningham, Galen Will and Jake Day from Will Chemists.
WILL CHEMISTS, INVERURIE
O
ver the past few years, Will Chemists in Inverurie took part in the evaluation of automated technology study, which
looked at the impact of automated technology in community pharmacy. One of the elements involved looking at the funding of a robot and assessing what the team could do with the time that had been freed up by the introduction of the robot.
Once the robot was installed in early 2018, contractor Galen Will decided to focus on using his clinical assessment skills to a greater degree for the benefit of his patients.
After some research, Galen undertook an NHS Education for Scotland (NES) course – Clinical Assessment Skills for Independent Prescribers and then, once he’d completed the course, he began to start clinical assessments in the pharmacy.
32 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
At first, Galen began by examining eyes and examining patients’ breathing etc, but soon became aware of one area in which he thought his services could be of benefit to his patients.
Like most community pharmacists, Galen had been frequently approached by patients complaining of deafness, itching in the ear, dull sounds, tinnitus, vertigo and dizziness. On average, he would be approached maybe twice a day – or more on occasion.
As he examined patients’ ears, Galen began to consider why he - as a clinical healthcare professional - was having to refer patients for something so simple and so he began to investigate how he could use his clinical skills to help the patients himself and ease the workload of the local GP practices.
Galen felt that he could provide this service himself but, having approached the local health board, he was informed that there was no funding available for this service and so he had to provide it on a private basis, paid for by the patient.
As a result, Galen undertook a further NES course on ear irrigation: a course, which was actually aimed at nurses. Having completed the course, he then looked for nurses to oversee what he was doing in order to prove his competence in this field.
As he started to focus on carrying out clinical assessments for ear problems, Galen was surprised to discover that, in 2018, the NHS had actually stopped recommending ear irrigation due to the risk of perforation or the introduction of infection into the ear.
The GP practices were aware of this lack of recommendation, but, in light of the fact that they
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