The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7429 p661
2 December 2006

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Heart failure project likely to be recognised as enhanced service

An award winning community pharmacy heart failure medicines service in Scotland is on track to receive funding to continue as a locally enhanced service.

The Glasgow community pharmacy heart failure team won the National Pharmacy Association, Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, NHS Alliance, Merck Sharp & Dohme joint pharmacy award for 2005–06 (PJ, 19 November 2005, p625), which allowed them to evaluate pharmacists’ and patients’ views of the adherence support service.

“As a result of the case made by evaluation of the service (including the qualitative research) it is on the cards that the service will receive ongoing funding as a locally enhanced service,” said Richard Lowrie, lead clinical pharmacist at NHS Greater Glasgow and team leader. Mr Lowrie presented some of the results of the evaluation at the NHS Alliance annual conference held in Bournemouth last week.

He explained that patients are referred to a community pharmacy of their choice (90 per cent of pharmacies in Glasgow offer the service) by prescribing support pharmacists, hospital pharmacists or heart failure liaison nurses. Community pharmacists follow up any specified issues, carry out an initial assessment of symptoms and monitor progress against this baseline every month (PJ, 5 March 2005, p258).

In telephone interviews with 65 patients who had used the service, 67 per cent said their knowledge of heart failure had improved, 72 per cent said their knowledge of their medicines had improved, 59 per cent said that their knowledge of their symptoms had improved and 9 per cent said their routine for taking their heart failure medicines had changed. “We were not too disappointed with that last result since we did not select patients on the basis that they were poor compliers,” said Mr Lowrie. Part of the evaluation has come as a result of joint work between NHS Glasgow Community Pharmacy Development Team and the University of Strathclyde department of pharmaceutical sciences.

The award for 2006–07 is currently under review with a view to broadening it to include primary care pharmacists and other health care professionals who work alongside pharmacists. Further information will be announced next year.