Pharmacy Complete

Pharmacy consultancy

Quality Criteria

By Leave a Comment

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.

By Leave a Comment

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.

By Leave a Comment

Healthy Living Pharmacy update

We are delighted to see that the revised Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) quality criteria are now available from Public Health England and an announcement has been made to signal the move to a profession-led self-accreditation process which will be underpinned by appropriate quality assurance.

These quality criteria are clustered around the three key enablers of the HLP concept – workforce development, engagement (with the team and community) and creating a health promoting environment. These criteria have been built on extensive experience over the past six years and informed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Professional Standards for Public Health Practice in pharmacy.

It has never been more important for pharmacies to demonstrate that they are willing and able to deliver health and wellbeing services, making the most of the significant community asset that they have and creating even more value than their current important medicines supply and self-care support function. And there are now over 2100 pharmacies who are HLPs or well on their way, and think it is worth the investment of time and energy.

The HLP concept has stood the test of time, survived two government changes, an NHS restructure with new commissioners and procurement requirements. It’s survived because it works – Health Champions, living and working in the communities they serve , make a big difference. Having a team that is engaged, motivated, developed and involved, delivers great results for all. What is there not to like?