Evaluation of Pharmacy Teams in GP Practice

In Scotland, and globally, public health systems are coming under increasing pressures due to several complex and inter-related factors, including the lack of capacity within the primary care workforce and an expanding population of older people. Older people often have multiple conditions and the associated increase in medicines use and healthcare appointments has led to an overwhelming medicines and healthcare service burden; adversely impacting patients’ quality of life and access to primary care services. A key element of the Scottish response is the better integration and transformation of our health and social care services, and a shift in the balance of care from hospital to the community setting.1 This direction of travel has brought focus to primary care, the challenges and pressures facing frontline practitioners and the need to transform services through building broader multidisciplinary teams (MDTs). The clinical leadership community has shaped and endorsed the 2020 Vision for our public services with clear policy direction and supporting policy documents: Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care – a Strategy for Scotland (2017) commits to “Integrating pharmacists with advanced clinical skills and pharmacy technicians in GP Practices to improve pharmaceutical care and contribute to the multidisciplinary team2, and, Practicing Realistic Medicine (2018), states that “by 2025, everyone who provides healthcare in Scotland will demonstrate their professionalism through the approaches, behaviours and attitudes of Realistic Medicine”.