Structured conversations

General health and wellbeing questions:

• What is most important to your health right now?
• Do you have a current health goal?
• Apart from your current health issue, how are you feeling in general?
• Are there any challenges in daily life that affect your wellbeing? (e.g. housing, money worries)
• What does a typical day look like for you?

Additional lifestyle questions:

• How is your sleep? (Explore quality and quantity)
• Relationships/social connections: How would you describe your current support? Who do you talk to day-to-day? What do you do for work?
• Stress, mental and emotional wellness: What do you do to relax? What are your hobbies?
• Physical activity: What activities/exercise do you do? How often and for how long?
• Healthy eating: What did you eat yesterday? What do you eat on a typical day?
• Risky substances/harmful behaviours: Tell me about your use of alcohol/other substances, and time spent on social media/gaming/gambling.

Conclusion

Pharmacist and patient should identify any non-medical needs that can be addressed and determine what support is required. Active signposting might be appropriate, otherwise the patient should be asked if they are interested in referral to a social prescriber, who can then support them more proactively with specific measures and advice.