The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7369 p402
1 October 2005

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Cystic fibrosis pharmacy project shortlisted for 2005 HSJ award

A community pharmacy project aimed at improving the care of patients with cystic fibrosis has won national recognition.

The scheme, which involved 51 patients, six Lloyds pharmacies and the Heart of England Foundation NHS Trust in Birmingham, is on the shortlist for an annual award celebrating innovation and improvement in the NHS.

Community pharmacists in Birmingham were trained to dispense the drugs the patients would normally have been given from the hospital outpatient dispensary as well as the medicines they were prescribed in the community.

The pharmacists also carried out six-monthly medicines reviews in the patients’ homes, which resulted in 136 interventions

Bettina Kluettgens, service development manager for Lloydspharmacy, said: “We wanted to bridge the gap between primary and secondary care in terms of pharmacy for these patients and reduce the burden on them of having to get their medicines from the hospital. The pilot study was a big success. The evaluation showed that these patients had a much more independent lifestyle because they didn’t have to wait in the hospital for their prescriptions.”

Now Lloyds is considering developing the pilot to see if the model can be used in the management of other chronic diseases.

The company is on a shortlist of four competing for the chronic disease management category of the 2005 Health Service Journal Awards.

Lloyds is the only pharmacy to win a place on any of the shortlists for the 16 different categories, which in total attracted 775 entries. There were 40 entries chasing the chronic disease management award.

The results will be announced at a special awards ceremony on November 14.