The Abbey Pharmacy at Trongate, Glasgow, is to offer free pharmaceutical care to a selected group of patients which the owner and manager believe will benefit from closer attention to their medication. The pharmacy has also started to provide complementary health clinics and a health promotion library.
The proprietor (Mr Asgher Mohammed, MRPharmS) and manager (Miss Annamarie McGregor, MRPharmS) are to offer pharmaceutical care to patients identified from their patient medication records. Initially, hypertension and ischaemic heart disease - major problems in the west of Scotland - will be targeted. The pharmacy's clientele is a mix of elderly people who have lived in the city tenements all their lives, newer residents occupying trendy river front properties, and the usual working population from shops and offices in surrounding streets.
Mr Mohammed, along with Dr Janet Krska (acting research director, College of Pharmacy Practice) were recent recipients of a CPP John Harris award. Their project, to study the costs of operating a pharmaceutical care programme, has also received funding from the Scottish Pharmaceutical General Council, which will help to defray some of the costs involved. However, most of the financial burden of setting up and operating the scheme will be borne by the pharmacy itself.
The scheme is scheduled to commence early in the New Year, using a room set aside for the purpose. Blood pressure monitoring and simple diagnostic tests will be available. A touch screen database has been installed for clients to use and there is a comprehensive supply of leaflets provided in the small waiting area.
Miss McGregor has received a Zeneca travel award, which she is to use to visit various sites in the United States of America, to study Professor Linda Strand's pharmaceutical care ideas in detail as part of her work towards an MSc at Strathclyde university. Mr Mohammed is enrolled at Aberdeen's Robert Gordon university for an MSc in clinical pharmacy.
In addition to the planned provision of pharmaceutical care, the pharmacy is trying to satisfy the rising demand for complementary medicine, having opened a new clinic on October 29. Registered complementary practitioners are offering hypnotherapy, aromatherapy and reflexology in newly refurbished rooms above the sales area. A podiatrist will also be available on a sessional basis. The pharmacy staff will provide administration and an appointments system.
Both pharmacists are upbeat about their project and believe there will be a growing demand for the services on offer.
"Most clinical pharmacy initiatives involve activities centred around doctors' surgeries," Miss McGregor said on October 29. "We feel that pharmacies have much to offer in their own right and we hope that the availability of pharmaceutical care and a range of complementary disciplines will demonstrate how we can accommodate clients' requirements effectively. When the NHSnet comes we will be able to do even more".
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the interior of the continental-style pharmacy
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