New concept in primary care pharmacy could be model
for future practice
A CONCEPT pharmacy that aims to deliver “a complete,
community-based pharmaceutical service for patients, commissioners of
health care and health professionals” was officially opened by Lord
Hunt, parliamentary under-secretary of state for health, on 29 June.
The Primary Care Pharmacy at Tamworth in Staffordshire,
owned by Andrew Burr, a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s
Council, will offer primary care trusts access to intervention records
and dispensing data. Patients with chronic diseases will be offered services
such as medicines management at the redesigned pharmacy.
Mr Burr, who is working as a primary care pharmacist
at the Primary Care Pharmacy, told Lord Hunt that he hoped that the services
offered at the pharmacy would illustrate how the role of the pharmacist
within the community could be developed.
Patients are being invited to register at the pharmacy.
This involves agreeing to allow pharmacists to record personal details
and dispensing data and to contact the patient as appropriate. When a
patient is registered, a record of illnesses, treatments and any monitoring
that is required is entered on the pharmacy’s computer record. The
system then prompts pharmacy staff about monitoring or when the patient
is due for another consultation with a pharmacist. The pharmacist can
then ring the patient to arrange a convenient time for them to come into
the pharmacy to discuss aspects of their drug treatment or monitoring.
All interventions made by pharmacists at the Primary
Care Pharmacy are logged on the pharmacy’s computer system and can
be downloaded. Each intervention is date- and time-stamped and can be
made available daily to practices for follow-up by general practitioners
or primary care pharmacists. “For the first time, we can document
what interventions community pharmacists have made,” Mr Burr said.
He went on to suggest that this could be a payment model.
In addition to providing lists of interventions
made, the system can, for registered patients, supply primary care pharmacists
and GPs with a daily record of what has been dispensed at the pharmacy
and when. “Primary care trusts are being asked to set budgets using
prescribing information that is three months out of date — this information
is instantaneous,” Mr Burr explained.
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