Macmillan Rural Palliative Care Pharmacist Practitioner Project : Baseline Report 2013

The University of Strathclyde is funded to provide academic input into the NHS Highland project for 2 years (starting February 2013). The project is to be a demonstration project to inform national policy and will have direct relevance to the new proposal on the delivery of pharmacy services within NHS Scotland, ‘Prescription for Excellence’ (8). This opportunity gives NHS Highland access to the expertise developed through the previous Glasgow program and allows the University team to develop the evidence base for clinical practice within this area, and focus on developing rural pharmaceutical care capacity through the use of a community pharmacy - based practitioner

Development of an online palliative care medicines training series for health and social care staff

Aim or goal of work: Frontline support staff working in General Practice (GP) (i.e. receptionists), Community Pharmacies (CP) and Care Homes are likely to face issues concerning palliative care medicines amongst their patient group. Previous service evaluations by the authors found a need for sustainable and accessible palliative care training for these staff. A national online training resource on palliative medicines for health and social care staff was subsequently developed and is currently being evaluated. Design, methods & approach taken: Various education and training materials for these staff groups were consolidated and re-developed into one interactive course, comprised of Core sessions for all staff (e.g. Introduction to Palliative Care) and discipline specific sessions i.e. Pharmacy (e.g. Dispensing Opioids) and Care Home (e.g. Palliative Medicines & Risk of Falls) staff. User feedback was obtained via a questionnaire measuring satisfaction, usefulness and impact. Results: All 50 participants (11 staff from GP Practices, Community Pharmacies (n=9) and Care Homes (n=30)) agreed that the training was useful and with the correct degree of difficulty. Participants liked the delivery format and felt the training was “informative” and “easy to access”. Staff also reported that managers were supportive of them undertaking the training. The training provided a good introduction and, for some, a refresher to palliative care. Some participants provided real-life examples of how the training had been beneficial to (and applied by) them in the workplace. Conclusions and lessons learned: This new training resource provides education in an engaging, accessible format to frontline health and social care multi-disciplinary teams. It will be available nationally from November 2016 to support the provision of palliative care by frontline staff at the point of need

Development of the NES online palliative care medicines training series for health and social care support staff

Previous Macmillan Cancer Support and Health Board funded palliative care pharmacy service evaluations in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (urban) and NHS Highland (rural) (1-4) observed a steady integration of the community pharmacy team into local palliative care services. Frontline staff in General Practice, Community Pharmacies and Care Homes in these areas were found to lack knowledge about palliative care medicines amongst their patient group. Both evaluations resulted in the development and testing of training materials in a variety of face-to-face and online formats and for different support staff

Macmillan Rural Palliative Care Pharmacist Practitioner Project Phase 2 Report January 2015

In 2012 NHS Highland secured funding from Macmillan Cancer Support in collaboration with The Boots Company PLC to explore a new service delivery model for the rural Skye, Kyle & Lochalsh population. The project would pilot the development of a full-time Macmillan Rural Palliative Care Pharmacist Practitioner (MRPP) within in the area, and test the ability of this post to: develop community pharmacy capacity to effectively, efficiently and safely support the needs of those in this rural community with palliative care needs regardless of care setting; improve service provision/co-ordination of services ensuring opportunities are developed for training and peer support, and; provide quality information to support practice. The Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS) at the University of Strathclyde was commissioned to undertake the project evaluation. This project is seen as a demonstration project to inform national policy with direct alignment to the objectives of the Scottish Government national action plan 'Living and Dying Well' , the Vision and Action Plan: “Prescription for Excellence” and the progressive integration of health and social care services across Scotland (1-3)

Developing a Model for Pharmaceutical Palliative Care in Rural Areas—Experience from Scotland

Palliative care is increasingly delivered in the community but access to medicines, particularly ‘out of hours’ remains problematic. This paper describes the experience of developing a model to deliver pharmaceutical palliative care in rural Scotland via the MacMillan Rural Palliative Care Pharmacist Practitioner (MRPP) project. The focus of the service was better integration of the MRPP into different care settings and professional teams, and to develop educational resources for the wider MDT including Care Home and Social Care staff on medicine related issues in palliative care. A variety of integration activities are reported in the paper with advice on how to achieve this. Similarly, many resources were developed, including bespoke training on pharmaceutical matters for Care Home staff. The experience allowed for a three step service and sustainability model for community pharmacy palliative care services to be developed. Moving through the steps, the key roles and responsibilities of the MRPP gradually shift towards the local Community Pharmacist(s), with the MRPP starting from a locality-based hands-on role to a wider supportive facilitating role for local champions. It is acknowledged that successful delivery of the model is dependent on alignment of resources, infrastructure and local community support