Pharmacy Show

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January 2013

CHAMPION HEALTH AND BECOME A HEALTH LEADER Community pharmacy’s role in the public’s health has never been more important. Demonstrating to future commissioners the contribution the whole team can make has been an important aspect to the national Healthy Living Pharmacy pathfinder programme. In June 2009, NHS Portsmouth, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Pharmaceutical Committees began talking to local BY DEBORAH EVANS pharmacies about the Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) concept. The first HLPs were accredited in June 2010, and since then the concept has captured the interest of over 40 PCTs. More than 400 pharmacies have achieved the HLP Quality Mark and over 1,000 Health Champions are now proactively engaging with their communities.

alongside medicines supply work? • Identify service provision gaps. Investigate what is currently available within your community, the local health needs (the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment is a good start) and the gaps in current service provision. • Engage with local commissioners and stakeholders. Understand what they need and gain their support e.g. Clinical Commissioning Groups, Public Health, Local Authorities, Local Professional Networks. Your Local Pharmaceutical Committee can help you understand what is happening in your local area.

The NPA is working with the RPS, PSNC, CCA and the Department of Health to support the rollout of this initiative across the country, and has registered the HLP logo as a trademark on behalf of community pharmacy.

The NPA has trained hundreds of individuals through its HLP leadership programme and courses for Health Champions. It has further training planned for 2013 for those wishing to develop their leadership around local engagement and stakeholder management.

Make an active choice Becoming a HLP may require little change for some, but for others achieving the HLP Quality Mark may require a greater investment of people and time. Pharmacists need to make an active choice to change and engage wholeheartedly for successful implementation. Deborah outlines some of the key steps to becoming a HLP: • Is it the right business model for you? Does becoming more involved in delivering health and wellbeing services Supported by

Regulator reassures registrants that professionalism is safe. Proposed changes to allow the self-selection of Pharmacy (P) medicines dominated conversations at last October’s Pharmacy Show. The new regulator of pharmacy, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), made presentations to packed audiences on both BOB NICHOLLS days of the Show to reassure pharmacy professionals and over the counter medicines suppliers that changes to the current P medicines supply protocol will only be made if patient safety and registrants’ professionalism can be assured. Speaking in 2012, GPhC Chairman Bob Nicholls told the packed keynote conference hall: “The GPhC is against fixed rules in general, but if self-selection cannot be done safely, then it can’t be done.” The P medicine proposals, which were first revealed in September in the GPhC’s new draft Standards for Registered Pharmacies, confirm the GPhC’s desire to implement standards based on outcomes not processes. Nicholls said that in his experience supervision of P medicines varies between pharmacies: “Some small independents don’t need to keep P medicines behind the counter as they know their patients and they are not afraid to have conversations; in some multiples I wouldn’t allow this at all.”

Leadership is key

Deborah Evans, NPA Director of Pharmacy (pictured right) and national HLP Lead has been involved in the project from its inception in Portsmouth. Presenting at the 2012 Pharmacy Show, Deborah explained the benefits of effective leadership at all levels when successfully implementing change. “We have inspirational leaders from national pharmacy and healthcare bodies promoting the concept. Local project managers, pharmacists and pharmacy managers are really committing to leading change within their practices. Health Champions are also making a significant difference in communities”.

P Medicines supply dominates Pharmacy Show 2012 agenda

From the audience, Trevor Gore, Global Healthcare Training Manager at Reckitt Benckiser UK, chipped in: “UK pharmacies have not got a great record in getting POM-P medicines out there.”

DEBORAH EVANS

• Have a HLP vision and set clear goals. Agree where you want to get to and what it will mean to you and your team when you have achieved that vision. Agree what you will focus first on by setting obtainable objectives; break down your goals into manageable steps. • Involve the whole team. Right from the start. This will ensure the team remains motivated and feels ownership. • Develop Health Champion(s). Medicines counter assistants live and work in the communities they serve. They are talking to the public every day and may have innovative ideas about approaching sensitive health issues. Mike Holden, NPA Chief Executive and a founder of the HLP concept points out that “effective leadership uses the skills and Continued on page 2

Continuing the discussion on P medicines right through to the last conference session of the Show, GPhC Chief Executive and registrar Duncan Rudkin confirmed the GPhC view and said: “Rules let people and organisations off the hook. It is how people behave that makes a difference to patient safety. Professionalism provides the better protection.” Rudkin told delegates in his presentation, Modernising the Regulation of Registered Pharmacies, that the GPhC will be consulting extensively with the profession and with the public to ‘sense-check’ its draft standards, and that registrants will be supported through new obligations on pharmacy owners that prioritise professionalism. He added that as well as guidance, there would also be new inspection processes, including site visits and face to face meetings with owners/superintendent pharmacists. The approach will facilitate “a two-way flow of information” and will evidence pharmacies’ compliance with standards. He pledged: “Council will not plough on regardless.”

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