I recently listened to a presentation on the NHS's plans for Digital Healthcare. They are huge, comprehensive and integrated around a new NHS App. They will eventually touch everyone who is either a provider or user of healthcare services. Worryingly, when I asked the speaker about community pharmacy's place in that integrated system, she went blank then said "...not sure community pharmacy is my thing." Community pharmacy and digital healthcare is very much the focus of this year's Pharmacy … [Read more...] about Digital Healthcare
Pharmacy
Saving lives
A patient came into the pharmacy to thank me. Nothing unusual in that although infrequent, our customers are generally very grateful for the support we give them across a range of issues - their medicines, general health and wellbeing. On this occasion though, the thank you will be remembered for the rest of my career. The gentleman came in specifically to thank me for saving his father's life. I remembered him clearly - he had come in on a Saturday morning wanting to speak to the … [Read more...] about Saving lives
Healthy Living Pharmacy and the NHS Ten Year Plan
It is excellent news that we now have 9436 (88%) pharmacies in England declared as Healthy Living Pharmacies, this represents an additional 5% on the November 2017 declaration. For these pharmacies the key will be ensuring that all the HLP criteria continue to be met in order to maintain the status and thus be able to promote the quality mark. Becoming an accredited HLP is just the beginning, its what HLPs then do differently, bigger and better that will define and differentiate them. This … [Read more...] about Healthy Living Pharmacy and the NHS Ten Year Plan
Here and now?
We have expressed our thoughts about the urgency for community pharmacy owners to adapt and take back control of their future in an number of previous Viewpoint articles (see below). To reflect this, we have just updated our much acclaimed Change video and launched our Business Development Programme both of which can be seen here. Some years ago I wrote an article entitled Back to the Future which examined the future options for community pharmacy - Nirvana and Amazonia I called them at the … [Read more...] about Here and now?
Hidden value
I was in Practice on Saturday - working for an independent community pharmacy owned by the adjacent GP practice. As frequently happens, we received a call from a young woman (late 20′s) who wanted to speak to the pharmacist. This case highlights just how much value pharmacists add to the health system but goes completely unnoticed by those who hold the purse-strings. She explained she had Lupus and had been late requesting a flu vaccination. She was visiting her mother from the North West … [Read more...] about Hidden value