We all know what it’s like to wake up feeling slightly unwell and our first instinct being to get on the phone to our GP at that 8am window to try and book an appointment.
But with patients waiting longer to get an appointment, some waiting as long as four weeks, a different approach is needed to improve access to care in the community.
Community pharmacies have undergone a transformation in recent years, as part of a growing initiative to have them play a much bigger role in consultative and clinical care, improving access to a wider range of services, while removing strain on other parts of the NHS.
The result has been a change in the relationship between community pharmacists and patients.
It’s no longer a majoratively transactional relationship based on dispensing medications.
Instead community pharmacists play a much more important role in patient care.
In this blog we examine the changing pharmacy patient relationship and see what it means for the future of community care.
Pharmacists today deliver a much wider range of clinical services, with a more patient-focused approach to care.
While pharmacists are still primarily responsible for dispensing medications, they’re also becoming the first port of call for advice on minor ailments and some long-term medication and health management.
One of the big drivers of this change has been the rollout of Advanced Services - like those related to Pharmacy First - which enable patients to seek treatment at their local pharmacy that would have otherwise required a GP appointment.
This includes the supply of medicines for some common conditions such as earaches, sore throats and urinary tract infections.
But it also provides the opportunity for pharmacists to dig deeper into a patient’s condition, and allows them to provide additional advice and guidance on managing medications and ailments.
Pharmacies are also playing a bigger role in health consultations related to stop smoking advice, contraception services and hypertension case-finding.
It means increasingly the patient, pharmacist relationship mirrors in a small way that of a GP, with patients now visiting a pharmacy for advice, rather than just to collect medication.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, National NHS Medical Director previously highlighted the growing importance community pharmacies are playing in clinical care:
“Community pharmacies are playing an increasing role in protecting hundreds of thousands of people’s health, whether it be providing advice and treatment for minor illnesses, lifesaving flu or Covid jabs, blood pressure checks or stop smoking services.”
Watch episode one of our new docuseries "The Game Changers of Community Pharmacy" by clicking the image below...
Speeding up access to treatment and care services is a major focus of the NHS.
And community pharmacies are expected to play a leading role as they continue to take on responsibility for a wider range of services, allowing patients to bypass their GP to get faster treatment.
According to some research, the introduction of Advanced Services like Pharmacy First will free up around 15 million GP appointments by 2025.
Speaking at the time the new initiative was announced, National Pharmacy Association Chair Nick Kaye commented that the introduction of more pharmacy-based services will improve patient access to care, and free up GP waiting lists.
He added: “People across England will have more convenient access to advice and treatment for common conditions, thanks to the expert support available in their local pharmacy.”
With many pharmacies able to offer same day consultations for services, patients will have a much easier time getting advice and guidance on more varied health conditions, and be able to access some prescription medications without waiting for a GP referral.
While treatments are advancing all the time, there is a knock on effect of healthcare focussing too much downstream and trying to tackle conditions and symptoms that have already developed.
The development of chronic conditions that could have been prevented if detected earlier, and even the economic impact of people taking more sick days are all a symptom of a healthcare system based on treatment, rather than prevention.
Steps are being taken to shift this focus, and again community pharmacies are set to play a leading role in a more preventative approach to health.
In fact, pharmacies are already delivering an increasingly varied range of preventative health services.
Health monitoring and consultations around conditions like cardiovascular disease, smoking cessation, sexual health and vaccinations are increasingly within the remit of community pharmacies.
Providing better preventative care to patients is something highlighted in our new docuseries, The Game Changers of Community Pharmacy.
In episode one - The Visionary - we talked to Gurminder Singh, a second generation pharmacist who is adapting his family’s already successful pharmacy business to provide a wider range of services, including preventative consultations.
In the episode he says: “If patients want to take their health into their own hands, then it’s about making it affordable and accessible for them.
“From there they can have a gauge on their own body and what they need to change in their diet, health and lifestyle. Preventative measures that the NHS do - like blood pressure checks - [pharmacies are] making it accessible for people and then with other advanced treatments, people can really change their [own] health.”
While pharmacies are becoming more important in primary care, it remains a two-way street and the relationship will only succeed if patients are on board with dealing with conditions through a pharmacist, rather than their GP.
Positively, there are signs that patients are not only open to a closer clinical relationship with a pharmacist, but they are already experiencing the benefits.
90% of patients who received advice about medicines, a health problem or injury from their community pharmacy said they received good advice, in one Ipsos study.
The same study found that patients would be comfortable being referred directly to a pharmacy to treat a minor illness, after speaking with a GP receptionist, while 89% would be comfortable with a pharmacy offering to take them through how to manage a new long-term medicine.
There is undoubtedly a mindset shift needed for pharmacies to become the first port-of-call for clinical treatments and preventative health advice.
But with more emphasis being placed on pharmacies as clinical centres rather than just dispensers and more patients seeing positive results of using a pharmacist for new services, the signs are good for a more positive and closer pharmacist, patient relationship.
If you want to see how real life pharmacies are working towards building better relationships with patients, watch our new Game Changers series.
Episode one is available to watch now by clicking here.