Green Lane Pharmacy has always been innovative.
It has a robot to help with its dispensing, a collection point for patients to pick up medication out of hours and is the only pharmacy in the UK offering on-site NHS contraceptive implant insertion and removals.
It was for this contraceptive service that husband-and-wife duo Matt and Fay Harvey won Health Initiative of the Year at the C+D Awards last month, on the very same day the service marked its one-year anniversary.
“A leap of faith”
“Our mouths hit the floor”, Matt tells C+D as he recalls the moment they won. “We were very, very giddy.”
While Matt and Fay now see multiple patients a week for implant fittings, removals and replacements, their journey to becoming trailblazing award-winners was one of ambition and dedication.
“It was a leap of faith,” Matt explains. “We had no idea whether people were going to choose us and come to a pharmacy, and there were a lot of upfront costs.”
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After being commissioned to pilot the service by Axess sexual health service in Liverpool, the couple had to pass an online theory assessment with the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, complete online modules and attend in-person training, all while still running their pharmacy.
Once they completed their training last June, they faced the added challenge of obtaining insurance and developing a new standard operating procedure, being the only pharmacy providing the contraceptive implant service on the NHS.
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It was three months later in September that Matt and Fay were finally able to start offering the service to patients.
“We were on BBC North West Tonight on the Monday, and we provided our first implant service on the Thursday,” Matt says.
“We must be at about 200 patients now; we do two or three a week on average. Last week I did five in a day.”
Tackling stigma
According to Matt, the initiative’s popularity has “floored” sexual health service providers and commissioners alike. He attributes the high demand for the service to the accessibility of local pharmacies when it comes to sexual healthcare, for which stigma can be a barrier.
“You may have to wait a good while for an appointment with the GP, and there is a stigma attached to sexual health services; people don’t want to be seen in the waiting area,” he explains.
“You can be in the pharmacy waiting area for any reason and you have the ease of booking an appointment for the same or next day.”
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Matt says the scheme has been particularly popular among patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds due to its location just outside the city centre.
“Patients don’t mind travelling to our pharmacy because you can park outside for free and can get buses here quite easily from elsewhere in the city, whereas getting into town can be harder.”
The two biggest cohorts accessing the pharmacy’s implant service are students and young mothers - and according to Matt, almost 70% of those fitted with an implant at Green Lane have never been on contraception before.
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But not everyone comes in seeking contraception for the first time.
“I had a 56-year-old lady who had been trying for three years to have her implant taken out,” Matt says, “but she could never get an appointment.”
“She walked into our pharmacy and asked for help, and I said, ‘come with me, I’ll do it now. I’ve got time, let’s get you seen’.”
“Overwhelming” response
Matt says the response to the contraceptive implant service has been “overwhelming”, with interest from commissioners seeking to implement the service in their own communities.
“We’ve done all the hard work by getting the insurance and writing the standard operating procedure,” he adds. “It could be easy for others to do.”
In Liverpool, the service is being expanded to four more pharmacies, and Matt and Fay have been helping to kickstart the new schemes.
“Always thinking about what’s next”
And Green Lane isn’t stopping at the success of its award-winning implant scheme - Matt says he and Fay are already looking ahead to other initiatives that their pharmacy can spearhead.
“We’re always trying to innovate,” he tells C+D.
“The next step for us is PrEP for HIV. We’re hoping to test out whether patients who require PrEP would come to a pharmacy rather than just a hospital, and whether this could expand access.”
“We’re always thinking about what’s next and not resting on our laurels.”
