Pharmacy type
Community
Pharmacy context
The pharmacy has a large retail space and sells a range of healthcare products and over-the-counter medicines. The pharmacy team provides a wide range of services and consultations. These include a travel clinic, seasonal flu vaccinations, blood pressure monitoring and weight management. Other professionals hold regular private clinics in one or more of the pharmacy’s consultation rooms. And these include podiatry and audiology clinics. The pharmacy provides a substance misuse service. It delivers medicines to people’s homes. And it supplies medicines in multi-compartment compliance packs to help people take their medicines.
Relevant standards
- 4.1 - The pharmacy services provided are accessible to patients and the public
Why this is notable practice
The pharmacy provides a wide range of services that people can easily access. It considers the needs of the local community. And it puts the person at the centre of its services. It is good at promoting its services in the pharmacy. And it proactively uses its website and social media to promote its services to a wider range of people. So, the pharmacy can meet the health needs of different patient groups. The pharmacy team works closely with the local doctors and other professionals to tailor its service provision. It monitors the outcomes its services have on people’s health. And it uses this information to help promote these services more widely.
How the pharmacy did this
The pharmacy promoted its services to the community both in the pharmacy through banners, stands and verbal communication. And through its website, Facebook and Instagram. It had employed a marketing graduate, for a year, to review how the pharmacy promoted it’s services. The marketing graduate shared feedback with the pharmacy owner. And he shared it with the team. He used it to help make decisions about the services the pharmacy provided. For example, positive feedback about the podiatry service helped inform the decision to continue to offer this service. This helped to ensure the services were appropriate for the people in the community. The pharmacist owner worked closely with the local doctors to promote the services the pharmacy could provide. The pharmacy had been involved in the Bury Pilot, working closely with the local GP surgery team. The pilot service had been introduced to identify people living in Bury, with undiagnosed hypertension. And to support those with borderline hypertension to reduce their blood pressure. In a twenty week period the pharmacy had screened 113 people. The team had referred four people to the GP, with atrial fibrillation and two with blood pressure greater than 180/110. And the pharmacy team had supported nine people to reduce their blood pressure to less than 140/90. The pharmacists had helped by providing advice to reduce salt and alcohol intake. And supporting on a weight management programme. The owner was promoting the results of the pilot service. And discussed how it was hoped this pilot would be rolled out across Bury following these results. The pharmacy team provided weight management advice and Lipotrim weight management products. A counter assistant described how some people had lost eight to nine stone in weight when using the service.
What difference this made to patients
The pharmacy reaches a broader range of patient groups by advertising its services in a variety of ways. And by working closely with the local GPs the pharmacy has highlighted people with undiagnosed hypertension. And the team has referred them for treatment or provided healthy lifestyle advice to reduce their blood pressure. People have lost weight on the weight management programme. Thus more people are being treated more effectively.
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: