Consumers have presented a series of recommendations to improve Canterbury’s pharmacy services as part of ongoing transformation to the Canterbury Health System.
The consumers were key members of four Pharmacy Design Groups in Canterbury which have been working towards local recommendations for pharmacy services, focused around four target population groups: those with chronic conditions, the frail elderly, people with mental health conditions, and vulnerable children.
Led by Canterbury’s District Health Alliance, the Canterbury Clinical Network (CCN), the process adds to ongoing transformation in pharmacy and works towards a local response to the national Pharmacy Action Plan.
At the joint presentation held this week, Canterbury District Health Board General Manager Planning and Funding, Carolyn Gullery said hearing the recommendations from each group’s consumers was a valuable reminder about what this process is all about.
“In Canterbury, we see the pharmacist as an important part of people’s healthcare teams. By working in an alliance, we’ve already demonstrated how pharmacists can work together with GPs and other clinicians in contributing to keeping consumers – that’s everyday people – well and out of hospital,” Carolyn said.
“This design work builds on the hard work by pharmacy so far towards more integrated and patient-centred care. It was great to see consumers so heavily involved in this work and presenting the recommendations back.”
The process began with a large workshop in May to agree the way forward, which was attended by pharmacy and general practice teams, consumers and others across the Canterbury Health System. The four design groups were established from the recommendations out of the workshop and included pharmacists, GPs, consumers, planners and funders and many others from across the health system.
Canterbury Clinical Network Programme Manager, Ruth Robson said the groups met throughout the past two months to consider the current situation and what enhanced services could look like when serving these targeted populations, then developed a series of recommendations to improve pharmacy services for the people of Canterbury.
“By walking in the patient’s shoes, the groups were able to use patient stories to consider what was needed from an enhanced pharmacy service in different settings such as the home, the pharmacy, rural locations and general practice,” Ruth said.
“Each group worked towards common principles of putting the person at the centre, care closer to home that’s easy to access, integrated care and communication, trusting and enabling health professionals, working together for better care and healthier lifestyles.”
Similar themes came through from all four groups, with recommendations including investigating a pharmacy enrolment/registration service that reduces barriers to access, developing a gold standard for the pharmacy environment that clearly identifies where patients should go for health advice and privacy, a formal specialist pharmacist service in Canterbury for community pharmacy to discuss complex medication regimes, continuing to promote and encourage pharmacists as part of the multi-disciplinary health care team, education campaigns for both pharmacists and consumers, and many more.
Click on the image above to view the Prezi or the image below to view the report.
