Pharmacy Complete

Quality Criteria

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HLP Criteria Self-assessment

Healthy Living Pharmacy

The requirement for Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLPs) to reassess against the HLP Quality Criteria has moved from every two years to every three years. More information is available on the PSNC website.

With HLP becoming an essential requirement in the community pharmacy contractual framework from April 2020, monitoring will fall under NHS England Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework so maintaining the criteria remains a key requirement. This evidenced capability will become increasingly important as new prevention services are commissioned either nationally or locally through PCN service sub-contracting or local public health.

Pharmacy Complete can support pharmacy contractors to become, maintain and build on the criteria. Please see our HLP page by clicking here.

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HLP – more than a tick box exercise

When we first developed the concept of Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) and evolved the quality criteria there was no Quality Payment Scheme (QPS). Pharmacy contractors and local commissioners chose to invest the time and energy because they saw it as the right thing to do.

HLP’s roots are in change management and organisational development – developing workforce capability, ensuring premises and facilities are fit for purpose and engaging with the community to deliver consistent high quality health and wellbeing services alongside the provision of our core pharmaceutical care services.

When QPS came into the contractual funding as a public health quality mark it was inevitable that some would treat it as a tick box exercise, opting for the cheapest possible solution such as online training to meet the criteria without considering or understanding the benefits it could bring to their business or the local population.

Developing any business requires creating and sharing a vision, taking your team with you through effective leadership, engagement and empowerment, understanding local needs and aligning a business plan to those needs.

The true benefits can only be realised if the action plan to implement and build on the foundations of HLP is joined up and reaches into the hearts and minds of the whole pharmacy team to achieve the required changes in behaviours. Only then can we live and breathe the HLP ethos and make every contact count for a healthier future.

So when looking at you business and the challenges you face, please consider carefully whether you are just ticking a box with HLP or whether you really want to transform your pharmacy business to become one that is fit for the future by taking the right approach and working with the right people to help you get there.

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Quality Payment Scheme 2018/19

The criteria for the second half of the 2018/19 Quality Payment Scheme have been announced with some changes to both the Gateway and the Quality criteria. The review point for this period will be February 15, 2019.

We are pleased to see that Healthy Living Pharmacy has been retained with an additional public health capability requirement for the pharmacy team to have completed child oral health training in advance of a planned health campaign on this important topic in 2019.

In addition there is a greater focus on patient safety with three criteria covering incident reporting, risk management and an NSAID and gastro-protection audit. There is also an additional element in the clinical effectiveness criteria linked to the provision of a spacer device for all children aged 5-15 years prescribed an inhaled corticosteroid.

You can find a summary of the new scheme requirements in our updated Quality Payments Quick Guide.

Pharmacy Complete have a complete package of support to become and maintain the HLP quality mark. We can also help you build on this foundation through additional team development, leadership and business development programmes.

If we can help you, please connect with us.

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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 will then help them realise the benefits of the improved ethos, engagement, capability and activity that comes with doing the right things with the right people.

The next step is building on that capability and activity for a healthier future for their community and their pharmacy. Pharmacy Complete have a range of resources and courses to support this. Developing and demonstrating this capability and commitment should have its own benefits through increased productivity and delivery of both private and commissioned health promotion, prevention and protection services.

What we need to see now is the NHS and Public Health, at both national and local level, recognising the HLP asset to deliver against the Staying Healthy and other objectives within the recent NHS Plan consultation to reduce health inequalities and improve the health of the population. Good to see some early signs of engagement from PSNC and RPS with this consultation which requires new thinking focussed on NHS and public health needs both now and in the future.

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Health Campaigns

Health promotion campaigns are a key element of a Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP). Beyond simply complying with the HLP criteria, health promotions that have been well run increase engagement with your customers and patients and promote your pharmacy to your community.

Some campaign topics materials may be sourced locally or nationally but this still requires some effort, e.g. the Stoptober campaign materials this year need to be ordered by pharmacies rather than being sent automatically; this also applies to flu.

Pharmacy Complete have launched a health campaign subscription service with six campaigns over 12 months aligned to national priorities but not duplicating what the NHS or Public Health may directly provide. This ensures that you meet the minimum criteria but leaves plenty of room for any national campaigns and local flexibility and innovation.

In the packs we provide posters and information materials to increase awareness of the health benefits of a key health issue. We include information to give the team knowledge and guidance on how they can help support people to reduce their health risks. Depending on the topic, we also provide something a bit different, e.g. cards or stickers, to help with customer engagement plus some tips on running effective health campaigns and other sources of information.

Many HLPs struggle to find reliable sources of quality materials and may waste a lot of time, effort and money in doing so or simply give up and risk being non-compliant with the criteria.

So why not sort it and  sign up now.