Community pharmacy should be empowered to become a “first port of call” for menopause advice and signposting, a new report developed with several pharmacy bodies has revealed.
The report, published this month, said community pharmacy can “increase accessibility and convenience of women’s health support” and reduce pressures on GPs.
But it added that pharmacists need to be “adequately equipped with the resource, for example via the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework”, along with the right education to align with pharmacy’s “growing role across the women’s health life-course”.
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The report was funded by Bayer Consumer Health and developed in collaboration with the Company Chemists’ Association, Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm), the National Pharmacy Association and the Proprietary Association of Great Britain.
It called for “urgent government action” on menopause care in England, including “enhanced education, information and signposting”, “more accessible care closer to home” and “targeted efforts” to tackle the health inequalities experienced by women.
“Greater role”
RCPharm England director Amandeep Doll told C+D that pharmacies are “highly accessible” and “already support people experiencing menopause”, adding that “improving access to clear information and joined-up care is essential”.
“With the right support, training and commissioning, community pharmacy can play a greater role in delivering timely, convenient menopause care closer to home, working as part of neighbourhood health teams and in partnership with women’s health hubs,” she said.
IPs and CPDs
The report said community pharmacy being a “first port of call” for menopause care could include offering advice and guidance “on lifestyle factors and treatment options, including over-the-counter (OTC) and self-care products”.
It added that the introduction of new independent prescribing abilities “offers an opportunity for community pharmacists to further increase access by initiation of prescribed treatments”.
Pharmacists “should also be empowered to signpost” or escalate to other parts of the health system – such as general practice and women’s health hubs – “where clinical pathways, such as for prescription treatments, can be initiated”, it said.
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The report also noted that the success of the NHS Contraception Service offered “important learnings for how general practice and community pharmacy can collaborate to increase accessibility”.
And it recommended the creation of new continuing professional development (CPD) modules on menopause support, as well as “signposting pharmacists to existing education materials on menopause” such as the Menopause Optimal Pathway Toolkit.
Recommendations
Other recommendations made in the report include the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and NHS England (NHSE) issuing guidance on “how pharmacies can support menopause care” and commissioning “new pathways as part of the women’s health hub network and neighbourhood model of care”.
The DH and NHSE should also “raise public awareness of pharmacy’s offering and expertise in this area”, it added, and menopause content on the NHS App should cover “holistic approaches” such as “signposting to OTC products, resources and information”.
The report also called for the advice and guidance given during an NHS Health Check - available to those aged 40 to 74 who do not have certain pre-existing health conditions - to be “holistic” and include “the role of self-care, wellness and pharmacy provision”.
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And it said clinical navigation training should be embedded within the neighbourhood health service model so that “staff can confidently guide people to the appropriate form of care, whether self-care, pharmacy or clinical support”.
It comes as Boots offered its beauty advisors and pharmacists menopause-specific training modules to help improve their knowledge and offer “expertise” to customers.
This allows customers to speak to staff with “specialist” knowledge to help them “find the right products for them”, Boots said, but it told C+D that the training is not compulsory.
