Option 2 - Regional Palliative Care Network: Dot C - Community Pharmacy Hep C treatment

Theme 5 asks What is Patient or Person Centred Care?

Peter Armstrong, based in Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, is the Lead Pharmacist for the Northern Ireland Macmillan Palliative Care Pharmacy Service Improvement Project. This initiative aims to improve existing palliative pharmacy services and develop new ways of working that will make a significant contribution to patients with palliative and end of life care needs. Peter has a long background in the provision of hospital, hospice and community-based palliative care. He co-edits the Palliative Adult Network Guidelines book, which is adopted as the preferred guidelines for general palliative care in many areas of the United Kingdom, and has published research on analgesia in palliative care.

‘Regional Palliative Care Network’

The definition of palliative care aligns itself closely with the ethos of person-centred care. Using a person-centred approach and their considerable knowledge and skills, pharmacists are well placed to optimise care for palliative patients and their families. In addition to good symptom control, patients want support, reduced burden for their families and well-coordinated and integrated care.

The Macmillan Palliative Care Pharmacy Service Improvement Project involves looking at innovative ways pharmacists can deliver person-centred care to palliative patients. It has four core objectives, which are being developed by the project team, based around improving access to palliative medicines, facilitating hospital discharges to ensure continuity of care, anticipatory prescribing at the end of life and education and training.

Andrew Radley joined the Tayside Pharmacy Management Team in 1994 and was Trust Chief Pharmacist for the Perth and Kinross Healthcare NHS Trust. In 2006, he was appointed as Consultant in Pharmaceutical Public Health for Tayside NHS Board and provides leadership for pharmaceutical public health and allied health topics. His main areas of activity in this role are centred on harnessing the public health role of community pharmacy to improve the health of the population. Andrew participates in the work of the Liver Group at the University Of Dundee and has a number of research interests including the use of incentives as a way of stimulating behaviour change and the use of pharmacy services to address health inequalities. He has undertaken a PhD on treating Hepatitis C in community pharmacy settings.

‘DOT-C: Community Pharmacy Hep C treatment’

Elimination of hepatitis as a public health concern from our communities is one of the tasks set out in the World Health Organisation’s Sustainable Development Goals. In the United Kingdom, the largest part of the burden of hepatitis C is borne by people who inject drugs. The introduction of new medicines technology means that Direct-Acting Antiviral Drugs can cure this potentially fatal and debilitating disease with 8 weeks of oral therapy. The work undertaken through the University of Dundee demonstrates that community pharmacy can test, diagnose, assess for treatment and cure people with hepatitis C infection. The evidence generated by this research programme underlines the value of pharmacy as an enabling force in delivering effective patient-centred care to a vulnerable group.