​​43pharmacies recruited 382patients.

318patients received Month 2 consultations.

264patients received Month 4 consultations.

280patients received Month 6 consultations.

211 patients received all 4 consultations.​​

Results and Conclusion

A comparison of clinical and process measures at baseline and follow-up (six months) showed a statistically significant improvement in PAM,® EQ-5D-5L, EQ-VAS scores. Systolic blood pressure, weight, BMI and HDL cholesterol ratio all showed a significant reduction.

Overall, 50% (183 goals) were met at follow-up. Notes written by the pharmacist at the final consultation also suggest that, even in cases where a goal had not been fully met, the patients did derive a benefit from their service.

The findings from this study indicate that participating in the GMCPCP service may have resulted in improvements in patient activation, quality of life, medicines adherence and some clinical measures. The service may result in a modest cost saving per patient.

“Many of our team expressed how much the Care Plan service was the sort of thing that community pharmacy should be doing everywhere. It was great to build stronger relationships with patients and help them identify and progress towards their own health goals.”                                                                                                                                                       Area Manager

The Community Pharmacy Care Plan Pilot Service

The Greater Manchester Community Pharmacy Care Plan (GMCPCP) service was launched in January 2017, with the aim of providing tailored community pharmacy care plans (including patient-centred goal-setting) to support patients with one or more long-term conditions (hypertension, asthma, diabetes and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to achieve health goals, better manage their conditions and improve quality of life. ​

​​Process

Patients attended four consultations over a six-month period, during which time clinical and process measures including the Patient Activation Measure (PAM®13), a quality of life (EQ-5D), medicines adherence (MARS-5™), Asthma Control Test™ and COPD Assessment Test.™ Patients’ blood sugar, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HDL cholesterol ratio, height and weight were also measured, as was NHS service usage in the previous six months (collected at baseline and follow-up).

At the initial consultation, the patient, supported by the pharmacist, set one or more health or lifestyle-related goals. The pharmacist recorded progress towards the goals at subsequent consultations onto PharmOutcomes.