video first reduces the amount of time they need to spend there.


‘Near Me isn’t suitable for every consultation, but it is a tool which provides community pharmacists with the ability to decide if further referral etc is necessary. The service is, of course, open to every healthcare professional in NHS Scotland and so in addition to assisting patients, it also promotes collaboration between primary and secondary care, for example by enabling three- way consultations with a multidisciplinary team.


‘It is, however, very much up to pharmacists to decide how to use the service and we’re envisaging that how Near Me is utilised will differ from pharmacy to pharmacy. In some cases it may reduce physical distances for patients, who may live in remote areas, but it can also be useful for those with mobility issues, those suffering from anxiety who do not wish to enter healthcare premises and those who simply find it difficult to attend for appointments due to work commitments. There’s no doubt that Near Me could be a lifesaver for many patients during these challenging times – and those yet to come.’


Fiona Mcelrea from Whithorn pharmacy in NHS Dumfries & galloway was one of the first pharmacists to become involved in the scheme prior to its procurement by the Scottish government.


‘Initially the scheme wasn’t very popular. Many patients would still come in or would phone and the main advantage seemed to be that it improved our lines of communication with the gp, who began to refer patients to the pharmacy.


‘Obviously there was trial and error involved in finding the most advantageous ways of working. at first, we would leave the ‘virtual’ waiting room open all day and patients would just log in, but we discovered very quickly that the process worked better if we made an appointment with the patient.


‘Now that COvID-19 is here, Near Me as it is now is proving more popular. We had a farmer, for example, who had a rash on his chest. He didn’t want to go to the hassle of having a shower, travelling to the pharmacy, driving back etc, and so we arranged a time for an appointment. He had his shower at home and then I was able to see the rash online.


‘To date, we’ve used the remote consultations for services such as smoking cessation and eHC, but we also thought they would work well for medicines use reviews. One elderly patient, who was quite computer savvy, for example, was concerned that there was an issue with his high dose of morphine. He set up his laptop and placed all of his medication on the kitchen table. I was then able to go through each item individually with him and produce a chart of what he should be taking.


‘The uptake on Near Me is still not as high as I would have hoped by now, but I would envisage that this may change as the challenges posed by COvID-19 continue. people are definitely becoming more accustomed to the online and virtual world as time goes on and are more used to the technology involved. Near Me isn’t suitable for every consultation – it’s a matter of working out sometimes which issues are more suited to Near Me than to a phone call, but I think this is just a starting point and that the scheme will grow organically.’


‘Community pharmacies are particularly well suited to this service as they are generally viewed as the most easily accessible primary care service and patients are used to phoning in to their pharmacies for advice and information’


NORTHeRN IReLaND pHaRMaCISTS pLayINg THeIR paRT


In Warrenpoint, pharmacy contractor, Michael Walsh, wanted to ensure that he could continue to support the patients using his award-winning smoking cessation service. as a result, Michael created an online smoking cessation programme, which consisted of two twelve-week courses – one for pharmacists and one for patients.


‘The first six weeks of the course were background information,’ Michael told piF. ‘The second part of the course was for the period when patients had actually quit and were literally drip-fed more information each week in order to support them and help them to continue their progress.


‘I found that this online service worked very well and realised that it could be easily adapted for other services, such as Minor ailments and pharmacy First. There is considerable anxiety among the general public at the moment with regard to obtaining appointments with gps and so this method of working with patients on a one-to-one basis online not only provides advice, information and support, but is also beneficial in helping to reduce anxiety levels. The fact that pharmacists can communicate with patients through media such as Zoom, means that we can chat directly to patients and then advise on OTC products, which can then be collected by patients’ friends or family members.


‘With a service such as the smoking cessation service, it is vital that patients are regularly contacted and supported. prior to lockdown, I had always contacted my patients on a weekly basis on their smoking cessation journey. Working online with them is just an extension of that service and is one medium that I may well continue to use in the days beyond COvID.'


at andersons pharmacy in portadown, meanwhile, pharmacist Judith Dowey used Zoom calls to run the pharmacy’s smoking cessation services, making contact with patients on a weekly basis.


‘patients engaged well with the service,’ says Judith, ‘and we are seeing very positive outcomes, with a 100 per cent success rate at the week four review. I’m delighted to say that Zoom has enabled us to continue to provide our smoking cessation service in the midst of all of the changes and challenges created by COvID.


‘We’ve run the service on both a one-to-one basis and in a group setting and patients have responded positively to the consultations. The service has been so successful that we have actually received referrals from other healthcare professionals, so we’re also seeing increased collaboration between the professions.


‘Zoom has also opened up the opportunity to run our Building Community pharmacy partnership (BCpp) project. Our involvement with BCpp was initially put on hold at the beginning of the pandemic, but we are now in a position where we can continue our involvement via Zoom.


This will see the delivery of educational pharmacy sessions to a group of new mums, looking at topics such as breastfeeding and medication, nutrition, coughs and colds, childhood vaccination and childhood ailments. This will prove invaluable to this community group as COvID has brought about huge change to these new mums’ their support groups and, as a result, has left many new mums feeling isolated.


‘as with many pharmacies, technology has – thankfully – provided us with an opportunity to continue to support and help our local communities.’


pHaRMaCy IN FOCuS - 25


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