Supporting the integration of pharmacists into the primary care skill-mix

Shortfalls in GP recruitment combined with practice nurses leaving general practice results in a primary care system which struggles to meet increasing pressures arising from an ageing population with increasing chronic conditions. One strategy to address this challenge is the integration of pharmacists into the skill-mix of general practice surgeries.

Recent research conducted by the CUREMeDE team (the Evaluation of Pre-Registration Multi-Sector Training for Pharmacists and the Evaluation of a Transition Training Programme for Pharmacists Moving into General Practice Settings) has highlighted the benefit of formal training of pharmacists in general practice settings. However, general practice teams lack understanding of the role of the pharmacist and their scope of practice.

To address this need, we are conducting a new project that will apply the insights from these previous studies of pharmacists and their trainers, and work in collaboration with Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) to identify effective techniques for successful integration of pharmacists into the general practice skill-mix.

Through knowledge exchange events with diverse general practice teams, we will design, create and disseminate a multi-media toolkit designed to increase the readiness and preparedness of general practice teams to integrate pharmacists into their skill-mix and concomitantly, the readiness of pharmacists entering this environment. This toolkit will be widely disseminated to stakeholders and decision-makers through formal multiplier events.

It is envisaged that we will not only increase readiness among relevant stakeholders, but in the longer term, our activities will help towards reducing pressure on general practice teams and enable better utilisation of the general practice skill mix and improve service delivery.