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Person-centred care the way forward for pharmacy?

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Person-centred care the way forward for pharmacy?

Community Pharmacy Future (CPF) has published research supporting a new person-centred approach to community pharmacy care, helping patients to achieve improvements in lifestyle and condition management.

The volume of patients living with multiple long-term health conditions is increasing and the current UK healthcare system is not designed to cope with this ever-growing demand, says CPF.  Community pharmacists can help alleviate the pressure by using their clinical skills in increasingly diverse ways and support patients to improve their health, it adds.

Community Pharmacy Future, a partnership of the four largest multiple pharmacy companies (Boots UK, LloydsPharmacy, Rowlands Pharmacy and Well) has developed and evaluated a person-centred service for patients with long-term conditions called the Pharmacy Care Plan service.

As part of the service, patients identified and agreed their own health goals and had regular consultations with a pharmacist, who coached and motivated the patients to improve their quality of life through improved management of symptoms, lifestyle choices, weight loss and improvement in health conditions. 

Patient activation measure

The service included use of the Patient Activation Measure, a new tool for health professionals to tailor their advice to each individual person. Among the 52 pharmacies which trialled this new approach, almost 700 patients over the age of 50 years were recruited in the West Yorkshire area. 

This new research suggests that a person-centred approach is highly successful in a community pharmacy setting. It demonstrated the appetite of patients with long-term conditions who are willing to engage in improving their health in the community pharmacy setting, says CPF.

Clare Kerr, speaking on behalf of the group, said: “These findings give clear evidence that patients are supportive of the role which community pharmacy can play, building on existing relationships to support the prevention of illness, and the coaching of patients to self-care through long-term lifestyle changes in a cost-effective way for the NHS.”

 

 

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