Independent prescribing pharmacies visited by national leader
Independent pharmacies in Derbyshire who are part of a national pilot programme have shown their successes to a national leader in their sector.
Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, recently visited two local participating pharmacies. They were Goodlife Pharmacy in Hatton and Evans Pharmacy, Breaston, Long Eaton.
Four pharmacies in Derbyshire who are taking part in the independent prescribing pathfinder programme have collectively carried out 3,200 consultations between April 2025 and January this year.
This means they can prescribe for issues such as:
- minor illness
- acne
- women’s health (contraception and menopause)
- hypertension case finding and lipids testing
Henry said: “It’s really important that we build on these pathfinder sites and the independent prescribing that local pharmacies are doing for their local people to deliver more clinical services.”
During his visit Henry was shown the skill mix of the whole team, from advanced dispensing checkers to a technician role in screening and undertaking the lipid point of care testing.
The pharmacy professionals agree they have an opportunity to increase the wider utilisation of the pharmacy team.
Changes to legislation and supervision will allow pharmacy technicians to have a greater role and this allows pharmacists to take on more clinical roles in delivering safe, efficient, and patient-centred care.
Shazia Patel, community pharmacy clinical lead for NHS Derby and Derbyshire, said: “Local GP practice collaboration has been key to the pharmacy technicians’ development.
“We recognise the importance of clinical supervision and additional hands-on learning and support.
“To ensure a safe expansion we also need to address protected learning, peer to peer opportunities and breaking down barriers so our independent pharmacists across sectors are not working in silo.
“We also need to strengthen career matrix working, portfolio careers and pathways for consultant credentialing.
“Our ambition is to have a consultant pharmacist in each neighbourhood.”
Feedback from patients and GPs on the service has been overwhelmingly positive.
- 96% rated the service as excellent
- 75% would have used their GP if the pharmacy service had not been available, while the remainder would have used A&E, NHS111 or a walk in centre.
GPs have fed back comments including:
- “We very much appreciate this additional service. “
- “It allows us to give more patients an appointment.”
- “The pharmacist has been great at communicating and seeing everybody we send over.”
- “It sells really well to the patients for them to go somewhere local rather than a walk in centre and also be treated for an illness in the same as they would at the GP.”
- “It helps us free up appointments for things only the GP can see and patients have also given very positive feedback for the service.”
Shazia added: “Expanding community pharmacy independent prescribing is central to how neighbourhood commissioning and strategic commissioning could be used to fully realise the vision of the NHS 10 year plan.
“Community pharmacy also has a key role in addressing population health needs in under-served communities.
“Some of our sites are set in areas of high levels of deprivation and we have a site where over 20 different languages are spoken.
“This has meant the whole team has adapted to a greater understanding of cultural competence and this is embedded across the whole pharmacy team.”