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Sharing Current Scottish Practice

Macmillan Pharmacy Service

In 2009, Macmillan Cancer Support funded a project within NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (GG&C), which piloted the establishment of four Macmillan Pharmacist Facilitators, the first of their kind in Britain.

With the aim of improving pharmaceutical palliative care services from the community, the facilitators spearheaded a quality improvement programme which engaged community pharmacies and the wider multi-disciplinary primary care team (MDT).

Four GG&C Community Health & Care Partnerships (CH(C)Ps) participated in the project and key outcomes included:

  • Compilation and delivery of a palliative care resource folder to all community pharmacies across GG&C
  • Delivery of palliative care training sessions for pharmacy support staff
  • Improved networking amongst community pharmacies
  • Improved communication between community pharmacy and the wider multi-disciplinary team
  • Design and distribution of patient information leaflets
  • Design and distribution of prescribing tools for GPs

The University of Strathclyde evaluated the project and conceptualized an evidence-based service delivery and capacity planning model. The model is aligned with Scotland’s palliative care national action plan Living and Dying Well and has, in part, been embedded within GG&C’s community pharmacy palliative care network service level agreement.

Following its success, Macmillan and GG&C have agreed to jointly fund the transition of the Macmillan Pharmacy Service from project phase to board-wide roll out. An exciting new development sees the establishment of five pharmacy technician facilitator posts. It is anticipated that the skill mix of pharmacists and technicians will maximize the capacity of the service to improve pharmaceutical palliative care to those with life-limiting conditions

Key Service Objectives:

  • Increase awareness of palliative care service provided by network pharmacies and facilitate timely access out of hours to palliative care medication
  • Improve provision/co-ordination of palliative care services through improved support of both network and non-network pharmacies
  • Deliver support staff palliative care training to all community pharmacies within GG&C
  • Extend training programme to GP practice managers and receptionists
  • Promote cost-effective/appropriate prescribing and dispensing of palliative medicines
  • Incorporate palliative care needs assessments and anticipatory care planning into the chronic medication service
  • Develop information resources to enable patients and carers to access their medication, and palliative care advice, from their community pharmacy
  • Strengthen communication strategies within pharmacy and across sectors; investigate the feasibility of sharing information on GP palliative care register

Facilitators are locally based within CH(C)Ps therefore are in a unique position within the primary care team to inform and support the delivery of palliative care services. This “on the ground” approach is designed to facilitate the sharing of good practice between community pharmacies and the wider MDT and aid the identification and resolution of problems.

For more information about the service or to talk to a local facilitator please contact:

Service Lead: Kate McCusker

Administrator: Charanpreet Sran

Telephone: 01505 706542 (Mon-Friday, 8am-4pm)

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