Awards, Evaluations and Publications

Independent Pharmacy Awards 2020

Click on the links below to access the information relevant to the topic:

Cancer

Dementia

Education & Training

Healthy Living Pharmacy

Learning Disability

Minor Ailment & Self Care

Prevention – Alcohol

Prevention – Hypertension

Prevention – Influenza Vaccination

Respiratory

Supporting Discharge

Urgent Care

Cancer

Wise Up To Cancer – Final Report September 2019

University of Bradford – Wise Up To Cancer (WUTC) Final Report

Dementia

E. Manrai, R. Urban, F. Fox.  Understanding the type of queries and interventions made within a community pharmacy for patients with cognitive impairment and the related resource required.  International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, (2015) 23 (Suppl. S2).  p89 accessed at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ijpp.12213

Education and Training

N. Hughes, R. Urban, H. Zaman, R. Turner. Evaluation of a training programme for community pharmacy staff in West Yorkshire.  International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, (2016) 24 (Suppl. 1), p34.  Accessed at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijpp.12259/epdf

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire Development Academy Evaluation – March 2016

In 2013, the Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire Development Academy was initiated; its aim to develop the skills, learning and resources of all West Yorkshire community pharmacy staff in medicines optimisation, public health and patient wellbeing, with a focus on improving Healthy Living Pharmacies.  The Academy provides face-to-face training, a website, on-line resources and social media, accessible by the whole pharmacy team. This is funded through Health Education England (HEE) and other sources including industry, local authorities and public health.  The Academy has delivered nearly 150 events to date, with a monthly attendance of over 300 people.  This evaluation reviewed the number and type of events delivered, the number and type of attendees plus overall views and opinions of pharmacy staff.

• Between April 2013 and February 2016 there were a total of 6669 attendances at 146 events covering 58 different topics.
• One-hundred and fifty-five members of pharmacy staff provided views and opinions of the Development Academy via a questionnaire; 103 (68.7%) were pharmacists, 15 (10%) technicians, 16 (10.6%) medicines counter assistants and the remainder other pharmacy professionals eg pre-registration pharmacists.
• One hundred of these respondents (64.5%) had attended an Academy training event in the last 12 months.
• Suggestions for alternative methods of delivering Academy events included on-line videos (67/95, 70.5%), weekend events (37/95, 38.9%) and webinars (33/95, 34.7%).
• The top three topics which respondents found useful were diabetes, respiratory and medicines optimisation during Ramadan.
• 88 (88.0%) felt that the topics were relevant and 76 (76.0%) felt that attending the training events improved the service their provided to their patients.  Furthermore 80 (80.0%) respondents agreed that attending the events improved their understanding of the topic.
• To improve training further, participants suggested more practical, interactive sessions with links to event summaries, online presentations and links to professional development frameworks eg RPS faculty.
• Suggestions for future topics included mental health, substance misuse, child health and contractual matters eg drug tariff.

With support from partner organisations the Development Academy has given community pharmacies skills and resources to address health challenges faced within the region.  A number of further actions could be taken to develop the Academy.

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire Development Academy Evaluation March 2016

Healthy Living Pharmacy

West Yorkshire Healthy Living Pharmacy Evaluation

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire established a Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) programme in April 2012.  The West Yorkshire Healthy Living Pharmacy programme has now grown to be one of the biggest in England covering over 130 of the 550 community pharmacies in West Yorkshire.  The aim of the HLP programme is to meet local need, improve health and wellbeing of the local population and help to reduce health inequalities.  Healthy Living Pharmacy teams are pro-active in supporting health and wellbeing and those patients who live with long term conditions.  The programme has subsequently been evaluated by the University of Bradford.

Key Findings

• HLP services were reaching those who are healthy as well as those who are ill.  Service users ranged from young adults to elderly people and from a mix of socioeconomic circumstances.  These findings confirm the potential of community pharmacies to promote health and wellbeing among a broad range of individuals.
• The majority (80.3%) of respondents described the pharmacy in which they received the service as “my regular pharmacy” demonstrating individuals’ commitment to a single pharmacy.
• Almost half of service users (46.2%) reported planning to make a lifestyle change following the pharmacy service, with just over half (51.8%) reporting feeling more confident to make a lifestyle change
• The HLP programme has contributed to positive changes within pharmacy teams and new ways of working
• Patient satisfaction with the pharmacy environment, staff and services received was very high, and more than 95% of service users said they would recommend the service they had used to others.

West Yorkshire Healthy Living Pharmacy Evaluation

Learning Disability

Making Time Project – Winner of Two National Pharmacy Awards

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire won two pharmacy awards for the Leeds Community Pharmacy Making Time project.

The Making Time project was developed by NHS Leeds North CCG and Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire in partnership with Leeds City Council Adult Social Care Learning Disability Services, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and service users.

Making Time aims to improve the health and lifestyle outcomes for people living with a learning disability through greater support from their community pharmacy. The service has been developed for people with learning disabilities to receive accessible community pharmacy services that are person-centred supporting a healthy and safe lifestyle.

Making Time Service Guide

Making Time Service on a Page

Interim report June 2019

• To date 65 people have registered with Making Time and 26 have gone on to have the initial assessment, with many of these setting goals around their health and lifestyle.
• Goals have ranged from basic, such as setting a goal to attend the next meeting in the pharmacy, to more complex such as learning more about their Parkinson’s medication and eating more healthily by understanding the content of different foods.
• The pharmacy staff have also provided reassurance and emotional support for patients and facilitated regular weigh-ins for patients trying to lose weight.
• Current data suggests that the initial assessment takes the longest of the series of consultations (approximately 25 minutes), with subsequent consultations being half to two-thirds of the initial consultation.
• The majority of consultations conducted have been carried out by a single provider. It is important to capture learning from their approach to enable the reasons for their success to be shared.

Making Time Interim Report

Making Time Final Evaluation Report

Making Time Final Evaluation Report

Minor Ailment and Self-care

R. Urban, R. Buchan, R. Turner, N. Hughes.  Implementation of a pharmacy self-care scheme to prevent patients attending general practice within a majority South-Asian population.  International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, (2015) 23 (Suppl. S2).  p78 accessed at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijpp.12213/epdf

Pharmacy First, Bradford City CCG – 8 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First was introduced at the end of January 2014 within 32 pharmacies in Bradford City. Since then a further five pharmacies have joined the scheme.

Key Findings

• Pharmacy First has shown to be a cost-effective way to manage patients presenting with minor ailments.
• A high volume of consultations for minor ailments were delivered through this service with the estimated release of over 900 hours GP time across 27 practices, improving GP access.
• Most of the patients were under 10 years old with over half of those being under 5 years.
• The majority of patients were treated for self-limiting viral symptoms such as cough, cold, sore throat and fever and were provided with symptomatic relief for their symptoms.
• The feedback from patients was positive with most patients indicating that they would be willing to re-use the scheme and would recommend it to others.
• Feedback from GP practice staff and pharmacy staff was also very positive with most feeling the service was worthwhile and had improved access, and working relationships between practice staff and pharmacy staff. Staff suggested the service could be further improved through increased promotion and extension of the current formulary.

Pharmacy First, Bradford City CCG 8 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG – 10 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First was introduced mid-September 2014 within 31 pharmacies which serve patients within Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven (AWC) CCG.

Key Findings

• In the first ten months, Pharmacy First has shown to be a cost-effective way to manage patients presenting with minor ailments.
• A number of consultations for minor ailments were delivered through this service with the estimated release of approximately 117 hours GP time across 16 practices, improving GP access.
• Most of the patients were under 10 years old with over half of those being under 5 years.
• The majority of patients were treated for self-limiting viral symptoms such as cough, cold, sore throat and fever and were provided with symptomatic relief for their symptoms.
• The cost for medication was low (per patient £1.92 and per item £1.54).  Including the service fee of £4.50 this equates to an average consultation cost per patient of £6.42 (exc VAT).  This is lower than several other schemes which have previously been evaluated, most likely due to the differences in both service fees and formulary.
• The feedback from patients was positive with most patients indicating that they would be willing to re-use the service and would recommend it to others.
• A number of further actions could be taken improve the success of the service. These are outlined within the evaluation.

Pharmacy First, AWC CCG 10 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First, West Wakefield Health & Welling Pharmacy First – 8 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First was introduced mid-February 2015 within 13 pharmacies which serve patients within West Wakefield Health and Well-being (WWHW).

Key Findings

• Overall, in the first eight months, Pharmacy First in WWHW has delivered a limited number of consultations in comparison to other similar schemes in the area, however when weighted for population and social deprivation the numbers delivered were actually higher than most other areas.
• Most patients who accessed Pharmacy First were under 10 years old with over half of those being under 5 years.  The majority of patients were treated for allergic symptoms with viral symptoms being the next highest.  This is most likely due to the evaluation being conducted over the summer months.
• The cost for medication was low (per patient £2.18 and per item £1.58).  Including the service fee of £4.50 this equates to an average consultation cost per patient of £6.68 (exc VAT).  This is slightly higher than the other Pharmacy First schemes which have previously been evaluated however lower than other schemes running in other areas.  The differences may be due to differences in formulary and presenting complaint.
• The feedback from patients was positive with most patients indicating that they would be willing to re-use the service and would recommend it to others.  The variation of number of patients consulting the self-care service per pharmacy and practice is positively skewed, with the majority of patients visiting a small number of pharmacies and being from a small number of practices.  It is unclear whether this is due to more pharmacy or GP practice promotion of the service in these areas, whether these practices have a higher rate of minor ailment consultations or some other reason for example levels of high deprivation.
• There was mixed feedback from GP practice staff with most being negative despite some seeing the potential that it could be worthwhile.  This was a stark contrast to previous Pharmacy First evaluations in other areas.  Pharmacy staff were more positive about the overall service, but felt that practice staff had not ‘embraced’ the service.  The pharmacists had experienced an increase in patient confidence towards pharmacy staff rather than the lack of trust described by the GP practice respondents.  The reasons for the disparity in views between the two staff groups is unclear.  It may be because the patients agreeing to see the pharmacist were already ‘pro-pharmacy’ or some other reason.  Further work building relationships between pharmacy staff and practice staff and patients is needed.

West Wakefield Health & Wellbeing. Pharmacy First – 8 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First, Bradford Districts CCG – 11 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First was introduced February 2015 within 92 pharmacies which serve patients within NHS Bradford Districts CCG.

Key Findings

• Overall, in the first 11 months, Pharmacy First in Bradford Districts has delivered a large number of consultations, however when weighted for population and social deprivation the numbers delivered were slightly lower than other areas.
• Most patients who accessed Pharmacy First were under 10 years old, with over half of those being under 5 years.
• The majority of patients were treated for viral symptoms with analgesia/ antipyretic medication being the most common medication supplied.
• The cost for medication was low (per patient £1.63 and per item £1.35).  Including the service fee of £4.50 this equates to an average consultation cost per patient of £6.13 (exc VAT).  This is similar to the Bradford City scheme and lower than all other evaluated Pharmacy First schemes.
• Feedback from patients was positive with most patients indicating that they would be willing to re-use the service and would recommend it to others.
• Feedback from GP practice staff and pharmacy staff was also positive with some commenting that the service had improved access, and working relationships between practice staff and pharmacy staff.
• Staff suggested the service could be further improved through increased promotion and extension of the current formulary.

Pharmacy First, Bradford Districts – 11 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First, Leeds West CCG – 7 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First was introduced in July 2015 within 73 pharmacies which serve patients in NHS Leeds West CCG.

Key Findings

• Pharmacy First in Leeds West has delivered a high number of consultations, however when weighted for population and social deprivation the numbers delivered were lower than other areas.
• Most patients who accessed Pharmacy First were under 10 years old, with approximately half being under 5 years.
• The majority of patients were treated for fever without other viral symptoms with analgesia/ antipyretic medication being the most common medication supplied.  This is different to other areas where viral symptoms were most common.
• The cost for medication was low (per patient £1.77 and per item £1.43).  Including the service fee of £4.50 this equates to an average consultation cost per patient of £6.27 (exc VAT).  This is similar other evaluated Pharmacy First schemes in West Yorkshire.
• The feedback from patients was positive with most patients indicating that they would be willing to re-use the service and would recommend it to others.
• The variation of number of patients consulting the self-care service per pharmacy and practice is positively skewed, with the majority of patients visiting a small number of pharmacies and being from a small number of practices.  It is unclear whether this is due to increased pharmacy or GP practice promotion of the service in these areas, whether these practices have a higher rate of minor ailment consultations or some other reason, for example, levels of deprivation.
• Feedback from GP practice staff and pharmacy staff was mixed with some commenting that the service had improved access, and working relationships between practice staff and pharmacy staff and others feeling that further work to improve understanding and engagement was needed.  Staff suggested the service could be further improved through increased promotion and extension of the current formulary.  Feedback also highlighted that working relationships between some pharmacies and general practices could be enhanced.

Pharmacy First, Leeds West – 7 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First, Leeds North CCG – 14 Month Evaluation

Pharmacy First was introduced in November 2015 within 40 pharmacies which serve patients in NHS Leeds North CCG.

Key Findings

• Overall, in the first fourteen months, Pharmacy First has delivered a high number of consultations which have been cost-effective and embraced by the majority of patients, general practice and pharmacists.
• A number of consultations for minor ailments were delivered through this service with the estimated release of approximately 477 hours GP time across 24 practices, improving GP access.
• The mean time released per practice was 19 hours 53 minutes.
• By helping to reduce the cost of other services, (e.g. A&E, GP consultation), Pharmacy First has saved approximately £67k.
• Most patients who accessed Pharmacy First were under 10 years old, with just under half being under 5 years.
• The majority of patients were treated for self-limiting viral symptoms such as cough, cold, sore throat and fever and were provided with symptomatic relief for their symptoms.
• The cost for medication, although low, (per patient £2.42 and per item £1.80), was slightly higher than seen in other evaluated Pharmacy First Schemes in West Yorkshire.  This is likely due to the inclusion of head lice products in the Leeds North service.  Including the service fee of £4.50 this equates to an average consultation cost per patient of £6.92 (exc VAT).
• The feedback from patients was positive with most patients indicating that they would be willing to re-use the service and would recommend it to others.
• Feedback from GP practice staff and pharmacy staff was in the main positive with several people feeling the service was worthwhile and had improved access, and working relationships between practice staff and pharmacy staff.
• A number of further actions could be taken improve the success of the service. These are outlined within the evaluation.

Pharmacy First, Leeds North – 14 Month Evaluation

Prevention – Alcohol

R. Buchan, N. Hughes, R. Urban, R. Turner.  Can community pharmacy target the male population to provide alcohol intervention and brief advice?  International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, (2014) 22 (Suppl. 2), p19.  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijpp.12145/pdf

Calderdale Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice Service Evaluation

The Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) was introduced in May 2013 to raise awareness of the personal health risks of alcohol consumption, through an IBA consultation with a trained member of pharmacy staff. It identifies the drinking risk category of individuals and provides brief advice to encourage the individual to come to their own awareness of how they could reduce their drinking and their risk level.  19 pharmacies participated.  Patients who attended the pharmacy were approached and asked to answer a series of alcohol screening questions (AUDIT-C – the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) using a scratch card to determine whether they were more likely to be drinking at higher risk levels.  The pharmacy team were encouraged to complete the scratch card with the individual rather than leave the patient to answer the questions alone.

Key Findings

• Over the 12-month period, the community pharmacies successfully delivered a high volume of AUDIT-C assessments (2085 interventions).
• Approximately 3/4 of these went on to have the full AUDIT screen; 535/2085 (25.7%) scored 4 or less, 1550 (74.3%) scored 5 or more and were offered a full AUDIT screen.
• The amount of interventions delivered per pharmacy varied (range 12 to 369 interventions per pharmacy).
• The percentage of increasing-risk drinkers identified was higher than those highlighted within Calderdale Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.
• The service has been well received by both staff and patients with little suggestion on how the service could be improved.

Calderdale Alcohol IBA Service Evaluation October 2014

Kirklees Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice Service Evaluation

The Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice (IBA) pilot service in Kirklees community pharmacies was introduced in March 2013.  To date, 15 pharmacies have assessed patients under this scheme.  The aim of the service is to raise awareness of the personal health risks of alcohol consumption, through an IBA consultation with a trained member of staff.  It supports identification of drinking risk category in those who are assessed, enabling appropriate provision of brief advice or referral to further support/treatment. Patients who attended the pharmacy were approached in a variety of ways, engaged in conversation, and invited to the consultation room to answer a series of alcohol screening questions (AUDIT – the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test).

Key Findings

• Over the 17-month period, 15 of 19 community pharmacies who signed up to the service completed 1557 AUDIT-C assessments in total.
• Approximately half of these went on to have the full AUDIT (as required by a score of 5 or more).
• The number of interventions delivered per pharmacy varied (range 2-368 interventions per pharmacy).
• The interventions delivered within pharmacy identified a higher rate of ‘increasing risk’ drinkers and a lower rate of ‘high risk’ drinkers than those published for Kirklees by Alcohol Concern.
• The service has been well received by both staff and patients overall with some suggestions how the service may be improved.
• During the evaluation 11/31 patients agreed or strongly agreed that they intended to make a change to their drinking.  If all these patients went on to change their drinking habits this would be a higher conversion rate than 1 in 8 quoted in previous research.

Kirklees Alcohol Identification and Brief Advice Service Evaluation

Prevention – Hypertension

Wakefield Blood Pressure Pilot Evaluation 2014

Public Health England developed a pilot publicity campaign which ran from 1st March – 6th April 2014 which was designed to encourage people in Wakefield to have their blood pressure checked.  The campaign involved various local health partners, including community pharmacy, and was designed to target people aged 40 to 75-year-old with a particular focus on people with the highest risk of hypertension and those likely to be least engaged with health services.  The aims were to increase early detection of high blood pressure and inspire people to improve their lifestyle.

The publicity campaign mainly comprised ads in local press, on local radio and local PR which promoted four weeks of mobile testing units (placed throughout Wakefield), these were positioned as drop-in clinics where people could have their BP tested.  A total of 3,632 tests were carried out – 2,019 took place in 49 local pharmacies, 1,421 in inflatable mobile testing “pods” at busy public places, including supermarkets and two local rugby grounds, and the rest involved ASDA depot staff who had the tests in the workplace.

Wakefield Blood Pressure Pilot Evaluation – March 2014

Prevention – Influenza Vaccination

R. Urban, R. Buchan, R. Turner, N. Hughes.  Utilising community pharmacy to increase uptake and accessibility to seasonal influenza vaccination.  International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, (2015) 23 (Suppl. S2).  p98 accessed at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijpp.12213/epdf

West Yorkshire Flu Evaluation 2014-2015

The Seasonal Flu Vaccination service was introduced on 1^st October 2014 within 220 pharmacies in West Yorkshire.  Its aim was to increase flu vaccination uptake in the ‘at-risk’ patient group whilst ensuring that other patients groups listed had a choice of where to access flu vaccination.  Its aims were based on the premise that pharmacy sees more patients on a daily basis than other vaccine providers. Most patients collect medicines for long term conditions every 28 days and the majority of at-risk patients will visit a pharmacy at least five times during the flu’ vaccination season (Sept- Jan).  This evaluation assessed the delivery of flu vaccination through community pharmacy.

Key Findings

• 181 pharmacies within West Yorkshire (10 CCGs) delivered a total of 8046 flu vaccinations; 4270 were for patients aged 65 and over and 3776 for patients under 65.
• The range of vaccinations delivered per pharmacy varied from 1 to 353 with a mean of 44.5 vaccinations per pharmacy and a median of 33 vaccinations per pharmacy.
• The peak times of day for vaccination were mid-morning and mid-afternoon, with 620 vaccinations (7.7 %) being delivered on a Saturday or Sunday and 201 (2.5%) consultations being out of hours on a weekday (before 8am or after 6pm); total 10.2% (821/8046) out of hours.
• A substantial number of patients both over and under 65 opportunistically accessed the vaccination for the first time from community pharmacy, with a notable number stating that they would not have had it at all if they had not had it in the pharmacy.  (16.8% (950/5663) indicated that they had not had the flu vaccination previously.  Of the 950 indicating that they had not had the vaccination previously, 641 (67.5%) were under 65 and 309 (32.5%) were 65 or over.)
• The service was well received by patients, with most stating that they would use pharmacy again and recommend it to others; liking pharmacy for its convenience and accessibility.

West Yorkshire Flu Evaluation 2014-2015

Wakefield Front-line Social Care Worker Flu Vaccination Service Evaluation

Wakefield Council have produced a short report about the uptake of their Front-line Social Care Worker Flu Vaccination Service.  This year’s uptake, for internal staff, of 35.4% shows significant improvement on previous years’ campaigns although the report notes there is still some way to go to achieving the target of 75%.

When the flu vaccinations in front-line social care staff working in organisations in the independent care sector, i.e. care home and care contractors, are considered it can be seen that the scheme was under used in this area:

• Over 2000 vouchers were distributed to 104 different independent care organisations
• Only 34% (36/104) care organisations used some of their vouchers
• Only 7% (161/2065) vouchers distributed were used

Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire will continue to work with the Wakefield Council on this locally commissioned service.

Wakefield Front-line Social Care Worker Flu Vaccination Service Report

Respiratory

Community pharmacy service improves inhaler technique, study shows:  https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/news/community-pharmacy-service-improves-inhaler-technique-study-shows/20207449.article

Inhaler Check-up Service – Improving in Inhaler Technique: A Community Pharmacy Service

The abstract in Thorax concludes that poor inhaler technique is common, but a dedicated service provided by community pharmacy staff is effective in improving inhaler technique for almost all patients.

Thorax Winter Meeting 2019 December 2019 Volume 74 Supplement 2 – TGD Capstick, M Burnley, H Higgins.  https://thorax.bmj.com/content/74/Suppl_2/A217.2

Enabling Patient Health Improvements Through COPD (EPIC) Medicines Optimisation within Community Pharmacy: a prospective cohort study

EPIC: a prospective cohort study

Supporting Discharge

Health Service Journal Patient Safety Awards 2020:  ‘Highly Commended’ for Improving Safety in Medicines Management.

Connect with Pharmacy

The results showed a reduction in re-admissions and potential post-intervention length of stay, indicating there may be further benefits for our older patients’ experiences and hospital flow.

Evaluating Connect with Pharmacy

Urgent Care

R. Urban, R. Buchan, R. Turner.  Implementation of a pharmacy urgent repeat medicines (PURM) service to reduce burden on out-of-hours provision. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, (2016) 24 (Suppl. 1), p8.  Accessed at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijpp.12258/epdf

West Yorkshire Pharmacy Urgent Repeat Medication (PURM) Service Evaluation 2014 – 2015

The Pharmacy Urgent Repeat Medicine Service (PURM) was introduced in November 2014 in 41 pharmacies across West Yorkshire.  It was introduced in response to the increased demand on out-of-hours services due to patients running out of medication.  It aims to facilitate appropriate access to repeat medication out-of-hours (OOH) via community pharmacy, relieving pressure on urgent and emergency care services by shifting demand from Local Care Direct (LCD) to community pharmacy.  Referrals are made via email from NHS111 to the pharmacy’s nhs.net account.  The pharmacist uses their professional judgement to determine the most appropriate course of action for the patient.  If appropriate the patient is supplied with medication under the current emergency supply legislation.  This is the first evaluation of a service of this kind.  As far as we are aware no similar schemes on this scale have been evaluated to date.

• Over the 5-month evaluation period which included both the Christmas and Easter Period, community pharmacies received 1443 referrals for medication, for which 1066 had medication supplied.  These were referrals which previously would have been referred to LCD, relieving pressure on the out-of-hours service.
• The number of referrals received by each pharmacy ranged from 0-96 referrals (mean 36.1, median 31).
• The majority of referrals were received at the weekend, mainly Saturday (81.7%, 1179/1443) and approximately a quarter of all referrals (363/1443) were received over Christmas (25^th and 26^th December) and Easter (3^rd to 6^th April).
• In total, 1592 medicines were supplied for 1066 patients (mean 1.5 medicines per patient, range 0-13).  The average cost of medication per patient was £5.90 (£7.08 inc VAT).  The average cost of PURM consultation was £22.44.  The most common types of medication requested were cardiovascular medication (13.7%, 198/1443), antidepressants (13.6%, 196/1443), respiratory medicines (12.5%, 180/1443) and pain relief (9.7%, 140/1443).
• Most patients stated that following the consultation with the pharmacist they now understood the importance of not running out of medication, how they could better use their local pharmacy and ways to help them to remember to order their medication.

Pharmacy Urgent Repeat Medication Service Evaluation 2014-2015

West Yorkshire Pharmacy Urgent Repeat Medication (PURM) Service Evaluation 2017

West Yorkshire Urgent & Emergency Care (WYUEC) Vanguard findings from an External Development Evaluation by Yorkshire & Humber Partners Academic Health Science Network Ltd in July 2017.

Pharmacy Urgent Repeat Medication (PURM) Service Evaluation July 2017

Last Updated: 26th January 2022