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PSNC has strengthened the case for pharmacy playing a wider role in asthma care by collating evidence of the sector's impact on inhaler technique, symptom control and hospital admissions.
The negotiating body highlighted results from pharmacy asthma services across the country, which included a 50 per cent reduction in hospital admissions and a 40 per cent increase in asthma control, in a report released last week (July 1).
The evidence demonstrated that community pharmacy should offer asthma patients regular, ongoing support in the form of MURs and annual reviews (see PSNC's recommendations, below), PSNC argued, and pledged to push for national and local commissioning of the services.
PSNC stressed that pilots had proven MURs were effective at improving asthma control. An MUR programme in the south central region increased the number of asthmatics with good control of their symptoms by 40 per cent, and inhaler technique MURs halved asthma-related hospital admissions in the Isle of Wight.
In Leicester, pharmacists conducted reviews on 125 asthma patients – 42 per cent of whom had not received a review from their GP in the past year. Forty per cent of these patients increased their asthma control as a result of the pharmacy interventions.
PSNC also highlighted that pharmacist-led annual reviews would enable pharmacists to make more frequent interventions and ensure patient's inhaler technique did not "drop off".
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The results strengthened the case for pharmacists playing a stronger role in asthma care that it set out in PSNC's vision in August, the registration body said. It added that pharmacists could help with "many" of the recommendations made in the Royal College of Physicians' review of asthma deaths report, published in May.
PSNC argued that the sector's role could go well beyond that outlined in the report, which involved pharmacists assessing inhaler technique each time they dispensed a new device. Follow-up care of asthmatics discharged from hospital could be met by extending the MUR service to cover all patients who had been admitted for respiratory problems, for example.
PSNC pledged to develop a commissioning framework that could be adopted by CCGs to bring in more services locally, and expressed hope that its report would convince national policy-makers and commissioners of pharmacy's role in asthma care.
"What we would like to see is national action to enable community pharmacies across the country to provide the care we describe to asthma patients, and we will continue to make the value of that clear in our ongoing discussions with the NHS and others," said Alastair Buxton, head of NHS services at PSNC.
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PSNC's 5 recommendations for developing community pharmacy's role in asthma
1. Enhance the dispensing process
Develop indicators in the dispensing process that flag up patients who may be over- or under-using their preventer inhalers for a potential MUR.
2. Advanced services
Provide a greater number of MURs and new medicine service (NMS) interventions for asthmatic patients to check inhaler technique and offer additional support.
3. Post-discharge support
Improve the follow-up care of asthma patients recently discharged from hospital. Hospitals and GPs could refer these patients to pharmacies for an MUR.
4. Annual medication reviews and longitudinal care
Build on the support provided by MURs and the NMS with an annual review to ensure inhaler technique does not "drop off". Pharmacy teams could also offer regular interventions when repeat medicines are dispensed, such as reminders to take medicines or other "support messages".
5. Responsibility for care of people with asthma
Become the point of contact for certain elements of condition management or certain "patient cohorts" to boost active management of asthma and relieve pressure on general practice.
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How should commissioners take note of PSNC's report?
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