Some Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs) have secured funding to ‘facilitate direct engagement’ between pharmacies and GP practices around Pharmacy First, according to a new report from the Company Chemists’ Association.
The funding from NHS England regions and integrated care systems (ICSs) has been used by one LPC to fund full-time staff to support engagement around the service, while others have used it to support system integration or awareness raising.
This is according to a new roundtable report by the CCA, which gathered insights from the LPC network on the roll-out of the Pharmacy First service in England.
The CCA has issued some recommendations within its report, including that LPCs could help build Pharmacy First awareness and confidence within the NHS, primary care and among patients through sharing best practice, busting myths by sharing evidence, and creating tools which can be used by pharmacies and GPs.
And it said that pharmacy staff should be encouraged to highlight the Pharmacy First service to patients, emphasising that it provides NHS-funded care, as well as timely and convenient access.
Patient mindset needs to change
The recommendations follow a roundtable discussion hosted by the CCA, involving LPC representatives from Avon, Greater Manchester, Kent, North East Central, North East London, Nottinghamshire, and the Thames Valley.
The roundtable found a need 'to change patient mindset to think "Pharmacy First"'.
'In many cases, patients are conscious of charges - the message that the service is free for people exempt of the prescription levy has not yet landed,' the CCA reported.
It suggested that there was here 'a continued need to highlight the virtues of the service, and what it means for patients and NHS'.
Promotional activity should be driven by data, where possible, and could include busting myths about the service or bite-sized videos answering common questions, the CCA suggested.
'Healthy competition' could improve GP referrals
The CCA also highlighted a 'relatively low volume of electronic referrals' from GP practices and NHS 111, and suggested that LPCs reporting referral data could 'help drive a sense of healthy competition between practices'.
The CCA report emphasised the importance of engaging with GP teams at several levels of seniority, from partners to reception staff who would be involved in triaging patients.
And it suggested that bringing together community pharmacy and GP staff in informal settings to ensure continued understanding of the service and its benefits.
Succinct referral guides for GP reception staff could be provided, while best practice could be shared at an ICB level, the CCA added.
Tracking referral data could help LPCs follow up with pharmacies to support with completing any open referrals. 'This will further enhance the reputation of the service and of local pharmacies and help to build a virtuous circle of referrals,' the CCA suggested.
It said that 'concerns persist around the service and the possibility of it causing lots of referrals into other parts of the NHS', but highlighted that 'some LPCs have been able to successfully draw upon data showing that this is not the case'.
Recent analysis from the CCA suggested that 92% of eligible Pharmacy First patients get the treatment they need within the pharmacy, the CCA said.
Some LPCs accessing local funding for Pharmacy First support
The CCA reported that some LPCs 'have successfully secured funding' from NHS England regions and integrated care systems to support the service.
One region has funded full-time staff to facilitate engagement with pharmacies and GP practices, another has helped with system integration, while some funding has also been used to drive awareness, the CCA said.
In addition, it suggested that ICB chief pharmacists and medicine optimisation teams should be approached to drive engagement.
And it committed to continue pushing for greater support from NHSE to drive patient awareness and referrals.
It also said it would continue to:
- Work with LPCs and their representatives to build on the successful rollout of Pharmacy First to date
- Support LPCs with ongoing guidance on all provider systems
- Showcase the successes of the service to policymakers to advocate for commissioning beyond 2025
- And highlight the opportunities to expand Pharmacy First and free up even more GP capacity.
The Pharmacist's roundtable shares best practice on working with ICBs
In The Pharmacist's own recent roundtable discussion on Pharmacy First, Shilpa Shah, chief executive of Community Pharmacy North East London, said that her ICB had funded facilitators, managed by the Local Pharmaceutical Committee, ‘to go into every surgery and into every pharmacy to train the team’.
It had also funded a referral integration for general practice IT systems, which made it ‘really easy for the receptionist to press one button’ and refer patients to the service, Ms Shah explained.
Every pharmacy in the area also has a ‘PharmAlarm’, funded by the ICB, that flashes when referrals come through to notify the pharmacy.
While Sukhy Somal, head of Community Pharmacy Clinical Services at the Black Country ICS, said the ICB had run a webinar on what good clinical note taking looks like, as well as developing a guide for pharmacists to know what sort of information was helpful to record for GP colleagues.
The ICB had also worked with local GP surgeries to understand what would help the practice code the information into its NHS payments system appropriately, Ms Somal said.
‘That collaborative piece of work has been really successful in making this work going forward,' she said during The Pharmacist's roundtable discussion.
The Black Country ICB has also run face-to-face training evenings and monthly webinars for locum pharmacists who would not have received training through an employer, so that any pharmacist covering a pharmacy would be able to provide the service, Ms Somal said.
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