Patients have given "overwhelmingly positive" feedback to a pilot of two clinical services run by the four largest multiples, the groups have announced.  

The Community Pharmacy Future (CPF) project – launched in September 2012 and funded and piloted by Boots, the Co-operative Pharmacy, Lloydspharmacy and Rowlands – has involved branches in the north west of England trialling medicine support services for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) sufferers and older patients on multiple drugs.  

So far the scheme, which also involves eight independents and three Tesco pharmacies, had gone smoothly and proved "invaluable" to patients, the multiples said last week (October 11).

DH pharmacy head Jeanette Howe was pleased that the CPF project team was ready to report its findings on time	More on the CPF project C+D Awards 2013: Head Office Team of the Year Tesco and independents join multiples' national       services pilot Big four are thinking nationally to act locally
	The multiples submitted data from their pharmacies about the project at the end of June, although patients who had used the services were continuing to receive clinical support, the multiples said.

Health economics firm IMS Health was on track to publish a full analysis of the data in peer-reviewed journals by the end of the year, the multiples said. Details of the evaluation would then be released in early 2014, they added.  

"It is really pleasing to have reached this milestone on time. The project team has collected a huge amount of data and we look forward to seeing the benefits to patients being quantified," said Jeannette Howe, head of pharmacy at the Department of Health and CPF steering committee chair.  

Richard Alexander Stokell, a GP who took part in the project, said it had been "invaluable" to have pharmacies involved in the COPD support service because patients were no longer "lost" between the screening and diagnostic stages.  

Paul Holden, another GP who was involved, said his experience of working with pharmacists to support older patients on four or more drugs had been "most positive".  

"Used properly, the service gives GPs the chance to case manage with a pharmacists' informed input. Often the learning can then be applied to other prescribing scenarios," he said.