Pharmacy type
Community
Pharmacy context
This village pharmacy dispenses NHS prescriptions andsell a range of over‐the‐counter medicines. It provides medicines to people inmulti‐compartment compliance packs to help them take their medicinescorrectly. And it deliver medicines to people’s homes. The pharmacy providesvarious other NHS services, including the New Medicine Service (NMS).
Relevant standards
- 4.2 - Pharmacy services are managed and delivered safely and effectively
Why this is notable practice
Pharmacy team members take opportunities to advise people about their health and wellbeing. And they work effectively with people to help them achieve the best health outcomes.
How the pharmacy did this
Pharmacy team members were trained to help identify people who had been prescribed new medicines. They referred people to the pharmacist to have a consultation through the New Medicine Service) (NMS) about their new medicines and any recently diagnosed conditions. The team proactively identified people with newly diagnosed hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and people who were having their asthma inhalers changed from an aerosol device to a dry-powder device as part of a local prescribing initiative.
The pharmacy had devised a suite of questions for the pharmacist to ask people during these consultations. This helped the pharmacist find out more about people’s general health and lifestyle. It provided them with the opportunity to discuss areas where the pharmacy might also be able to help improve people's health and wellbeing and achieve the best outcome for them. The pharmacy kept a collection of information materials to give to people to help them understand various conditions. Pharmacy team members kept these resources up to date. And the team had found that some people engaging in the service returned to the pharmacy to ask further questions as they developed their understanding of their conditions.
The consultations helped people navigate the anxiety of being newly diagnosed with a chronic health disease. One recent positive outcome involved the pharmacist supporting a person recently diagnosed with a chronic disease to give up smoking. They had discussed the potential health benefits this would bring during an initial NMS consultation. And had made the appropriate checks that now was the right time to support the person in their attempt to quit.
What difference this made to patients
People accessing the pharmacy’s services obtain health advice and tailored support to help them achieve their health and lifestyle goals. And they can access additional information and support from the pharmacy at a time that is convenient to them.
Highlighted standards
We have identified the standards most likely and least likely to be met in inspections, and highlighted examples of notable practice for each of these standards; to help everyone learn from others and to support continuous improvement: