The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7384 p88
21 January 2006

Society summary

Society-sponsored trust commissions £140,000 study of new contract

The Pharmacy Practice Research Trust, which was set up by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (PJ, 14 January, p56), has awarded a £140,000 contract for a study of the new pharmacy contract.

The trust is keen to identify factors that help or hinder implementation of the new community pharmacy contractual framework (CPCF), which was introduced in England and Wales in April 2005. The planned evaluation focuses on three areas: implementing enhanced and advanced services, outcomes for staff and quality issues. The project will commence shortly, with interim results available by November and a final report by June 2007.

The research contract has gone to a team led by Keele University, which is collaborating with the department of general practice and primary care at the University of Aberdeen and with Webstar Health, an organisation that specialises in providing consulting and project management services within the pharmacy arena.
Researchers Alison Blenkinsopp (Keele), Christine Bond (Aberdeen) and Gianpiero Celino (Webstar) will use quantitative and qualitative methods to elicit data from all of the key stakeholders: community pharmacy teams, patients, primary health care professionals (particularly GPs), the NHS (at primary care organisation and strategic health authority levels) and national organisations. The evaluation will be supported by an external advisory group with representation from key stakeholders. “Key progress indicators” for community pharmacy contract implementation will be used to evaluate progress with implementation of the contract.

Surveys at primary care organisation (PCO) and individual pharmacy level will be used to quantify service provision and commissioning, and to describe the changes that have taken place since the contract was introduced. The researchers will also gather data on patient perspectives on community pharmacy services introduced as a result of the new contract.

In the first of two phases of work a community pharmacy survey will investigate what is being done differently at individual pharmacy level, and the effect of these changes on workload, roles and job satisfaction. It will also look at how the clinical governance requirements of the new contract are being put into practice.

The annual audit survey of PCOs by Keele University and Webstar Health will this year cover all local health boards (LHBs) in Wales as well as all primary care trusts (PCTs) in England and the findings will be fed into the evaluation. Data will be collected on the extent of commissioning of enhanced services, implementation of advanced services, on the extent of integration of community pharmacy into wider primary care, and on how monitoring is being conducted.

In the second phase of the evaluation the findings of the quantitative work will be used to select five case study sites (PCTs and LHBs) for more detailed study. Qualitative methods will be used including focus groups and interviews with community pharmacists, GPs and patients. Documentary analysis of key local implementation papers will be undertaken. Examples of innovative practice will be identified and explored to determine critical success factors. Feedback on the findings of the evaluation will be obtained from key stakeholders from relevant national professional and patient organisations to collect their experiences and responses to CPCF implementation as well as pointers for the future. This feedback will take into account changes in primary care, particularly the developing role of practice based commissioning and the changing role of PCOs.

The findings of the evaluation will be disseminated through reports, articles, presentations and a briefing paper for NHS and pharmacy audiences.
Sue Ambler, trust director, said: “We are pleased to have been able to award this important grant to the research team led by Keele University. Competition was strong and the trust is looking forward to progressing this vital research as part of the ‘workforce’ theme in the trust’s ‘Medicines and people’ programme.

“The new contractual framework offers community pharmacists and their teams an opportunity to broaden the range of services they can provide to patients and the public. This research gives us an opportunity to see how things are changing but also to identify things that are helping and hindering implementation and further development. The trustees are committed to using results from the work they have funded to inform policy — we will be seeking to share early results with pharmacists and key stakeholders as they emerge. It is important to the trust that any knowledge we gain is shared and turned into know-how as quickly as possible”
Professor Blenkinsopp said: “This evaluation will build on and extend previous work by the members of our team to provide a unique picture of implementation so far and identify areas where the contractual framework might need to develop in the future.”