Winners of the Community Pharmacy of the Year, Boots Sprucefield Pharmacy is driven by a desire to deliver person centred care, ensuring patients can access professional advice, testing, treatment and prevention services in a convenient and trusted environment.


With long trading hours and weekend opening, including Sunday, the pharmacy recognises its responsibility to provide a reliable clinical option for patients who may otherwise be forced to wait, attend out of hours care or experience a deterioration of symptoms.


Over the past 12 months the branch has embedded the Pharmacy First service, providing immediate clinical intervention, reducing pressure on out of hours and GP services and promoting safe antibiotic governance through evidence based testing and consultation.


The pharmacy has also delivered a significant vaccination programme, providing NHS flu and COVID vaccinations. Their response to the increased demand for private COVID vaccinations, due to restrictive NHS eligibility, has ensured carers and household visitors could access the same levels of protection as those automatically eligible for vaccination.


Providing rapid care and reassurance


Beyond commissioned services, the branch has built a broad, sustainable private healthcare offer including travel consultations and vaccinations, vitamin B12 injections, earwax removal and mole screening in partnership with ScreenCancer. These services directly address unmet demand, reduce onward referral delays and provide rapid reassurance and escalation where required.


The pharmacy has further strengthened innovation by integrating the Our Future Health initiative within the branch. The scheme supports population research through recruitment and health data collection, including blood sampling. This has created additional opportunities for patient engagement, signposting and referral to pharmacy services during consultations and is a powerful example of what community pharmacy can offer beyond day to day care.


Other examples of the pharmacy positioning itself as a central part of the wider health system include community outreach programmes, which have been delivered through health talks and engagement with local groups, including a local fibromyalgia group. Health stalls managed by the pharmacy can often be found at venues in the local community, supporting public health priorities such as stop smoking and lifestyle improvement.


With approximately one in every two people diagnosed with the disease, cancer care has also been a focus for the pharmacy. Macmillan training across the team allows the pharmacy to support patients and families living with cancer through compassionate and informed conversations, particularly for those patients accessing urgent or end of life prescriptions out of hours.


Independent prescribing training pilot


The pharmacy is also an early adopter of independent prescribing. An instore independent prescriber delivers consultations for a wide range of clinical conditions including acne, eczema, dermatitis, impetigo, insect bites, oral thrush in young children, period delay, altitude sickness and travel related care.


Sprucefield is also operating as a pilot training site, with the independent prescriber acting as DPP supervisor for a pharmacist undertaking IP training, one of the first community pharmacy DPP supervision models in Northern Ireland.


At the heart of every initiative introduced by the branch, is a shared professional purpose to ensure patients feel listened to, supported and cared for in a safe, private clinical setting, by a skilled and highly trained team.


Patient feedback has been consistently outstanding, with the pharmacy receiving regular positive comments highlighting the professionalism, privacy, consultation quality and dedicated clinical team experience.


“Boots Sprucefield Pharmacy is driven by a desire to deliver person centred care, ensuring patients can access professional advice, testing, treatment and prevention services in a convenient and trusted environment...”


The branch has significantly advanced the role and perception of community pharmacy by demonstrating that a pharmacy can operate as a high quality, clinically led healthcare destination at the heart of the community. It is viewed locally by patients as a trusted first point of contact, offering access to care far beyond the traditional role of dispensing.


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