|
Pharmacy Premises: Pharmacists Views on the New Contract.
Adams A,* Hall J, Smith I*
* School of Pharmacy, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester.
Andyadams_618@hotmail.com
Background
The new contract for community pharmacy services seeks to draw on
the skills, expertise and experience of pharmacists and their staff to
improve the health of the population and become a more integral part of
the NHS1. With the move away from traditional dispensing to providing
new services, especially Medicines Use Reviews (MURs), private areas are
required in which to carry out consultations. Are current premises equipped
to support this development in community pharmacy or are they a barrier
to the implementation of the contract?
Method
Semi-structured interviews with questions aimed at capturing the views
of pharmacists about the new contract, were conducted over the phone.
A pharmacist from each community pharmacy in two neighbouring Primary
Care Trusts (PCTs) was contacted and invited to participate. The interviews
were carried out in October 2005 and the researchers completed the questionnaires
and made notes during the interview. The interview notes were reviewed
by all members of the research team.
Findings
40 out of 54 (74%) pharmacists agreed to participate in the study.
A total of 16 out of the 40 (40%) pharmacists expressed views relating
to pharmacy premises. Three pharmacists stated that they had made changes
to premises by building a private consultation area already but the remainder
indicated that no changes to their premises had taken place. Findings
suggested that pharmacists viewed the premises as an integral part of
delivering the new contract. Pharmacist’s comments could be grouped
into the following two categories:
1. Reasons why the premises did not meet requirements
- Pharmacies did not have a private consultation area
- The size of the premises was not big enough to provide advanced services
- Lack of space for adequate storage
2. Reasons for not changing the premises to meet requirements
- Pharmacists can not afford to fund changes to premises
- PCTs are not funding the changes to premise
Discussion
For pharmacists to fully embrace the new contract then the environment
in which the new services are carried out should be fit and appropriate
in which to do so. From our study, it is clear that pharmacists view the
premises as a factor that will affect their ability to provide MURs. In
addition, the recording and storage of information required for the essential
services will also take up space. Pharmacists have not yet made changes
to their premises due to lack of funding and the lack of space.
Conclusion
Without the changes to premises many pharmacists believe they will
not be in a position where they can provide all the services within the
new contract.
References
1. Implementing the new community pharmacy contract. Department of
Health, London 2005
Presented at the HSRPP Conference 2006, Bath
|
