Quality standard
Quality statement 1: Advice and education
Quality statement 1: Advice and education
Quality statement
People who have a long-term health condition or those who look for support to improve their health and wellbeing are offered advice and education when they use community pharmacy services.
Rationale
Community pharmacies are well placed to offer health and wellbeing advice and education to everyone in the local community, whether they have a long-term health condition or may benefit from support to improve their health and wellbeing. Community pharmacy teams are in a position to start general conversations about health and wellbeing with people who buy medicines or ask for advice. These informal conversations may encourage people to ask more questions, consider how they feel or how their behaviours may be affecting their health. Community pharmacy teams can offer support with adopting healthier behaviours, including stopping smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, and managing weight. They can also provide more information on mental and physical wellbeing, deliver brief interventions and signpost to other services.
Quality measures
Structure
Evidence of local arrangements to ensure that people who have a long-term health condition or those who look for support to improve their health and wellbeing are offered advice and education when they use community pharmacy services.
Data source: Local data collection, for example, review of community pharmacies' standard operating procedures submitted through the Community Pharmacy Assurance Framework (dispensing).
Outcome
a) Proportion of people using community pharmacy services who received health and wellbeing advice or education.
Numerator – the number in the denominator who received health and wellbeing advice or education.
Denominator – the number of people using community pharmacy services.
Data source: Local data collection, for example, review of information recorded as part of the Community Pharmacy Patient Questionnaire.
b) Proportion of people using community pharmacy services who were satisfied with the health and wellbeing advice or education they received.
Numerator – the number in the denominator satisfied with the advice they received.
Denominator – the number of people using community pharmacy services who received health and wellbeing advice or education.
Data source: Local data collection, for example, review of information recorded as part of the Community Pharmacy Patient Questionnaire.
What the quality statement means for different audiences
Service providers (community pharmacies) ensure that systems and protocols are in place to offer health and wellbeing advice and education to people who have a long-term health condition or those who look for support to improve their health and wellbeing. They also work with commissioners to ensure that members of staff have the training, skills and confidence to provide health and wellbeing advice and education, including advice on stopping smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, and managing weight. Pharmacies should have a facility that offers privacy to people who would like to discuss their health and wellbeing in more detail.
Community pharmacy teams offer advice and education to people who have a long-term health condition or those who look for support to improve their health and wellbeing. This includes advice on stopping smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, and managing weight. Teams provide relevant information and resources or provide a brief intervention suitable to the person's circumstances. If they cannot offer the support needed, they offer referrals or signpost to a relevant service. They also record the advice given, the interventions and referrals made.
Commissioners (such as NHS England, clinical commissioning groups and local authorities) ensure that relevant training and resources for community pharmacy teams are available, and that all community pharmacies have a facility that allows for private conversations.
People who have a long-term health condition or may benefit from support to improve their health and wellbeing are offered an opportunity to discuss their health and wellbeing with a member of the community pharmacy team. They can ask for information about smoking, alcohol, or weight management, get advice or receive a referral to another service that they may need.
Source guidance
Community pharmacies: promoting health and wellbeing. NICE guideline NG102 (2018), recommendations 1.4.1, 1.4.2 and 1.4.3
Definitions of terms used in this quality statement
Advice and education
Advice and education should be offered in line with NICE's guideline on behaviour change: individual approaches (see the recommendations on delivering very brief, brief and extended brief advice in NICE's guideline on behaviour change: individual approaches).
[NICE's guideline on community pharmacies: promoting health and wellbeing recommendation 1.4.1]
Equality and diversity considerations
People should be provided with information that they can easily understand themselves, or with support, so they can communicate effectively with a member of the community pharmacy team. Information should be in a format that suits their needs and preferences. It should be accessible to people who do not speak or read English, and it should be culturally appropriate and age appropriate.
For people with additional needs related to a disability, impairment or sensory loss, information should be provided as set out in NHS England's Accessible Information Standard.