Gerald Ellis Clinical Pharmacy programme manager oversaw the programme of work that included Wellspring surgery and Nitin Lakhani, who are now part of the NHS England clinical pharmacy programme.
What the judges said…
Jaysons Pharmacy joined forces with a surgery and a local pharmaceutical committee to prove with hard facts to NHS England what community pharmacist independent prescribers can do.
The programme saw independent prescriber Nitin Lakhani work in a local surgery for between two and three days each week. The support he offered ranged across long-term condition management, urgent care, reviews of patients in nursing homes and discharge summaries.
His performance shows how pharmacists can take a leading role in easing pressure on GP surgeries. From March 2015 to December 2017, Mr Lakhani conducted more than 1,800 consultations. This released over 300 hours of GP time, boosted the average GP consultation time to 21 minutes and reduced the risk of avoidable hospital admissions by 8% – all for half the consultation costs of a GP. No surprise, then, that patient satisfaction was 100%.
Mr Lakhani says he underwent considerable personal training and development, and that after just six months he “became a different pharmacist”.
Gerald Ellis commented “The initiative has benefited relationships with community nursing and care homes, local professional networks and clinical commissioning groups, has informed sustainability and transformation plans, and most importantly helped develop the relationship between general practice and pharmacy, and delivered great care for patients”.