Enter and View Project: Pharmacies.
Mandated by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the visits enable trained Healthwatch staff and volunteers (Authorised Representatives) to visit health and care services - such as hospitals, care homes, GP practices, dental surgeries, and pharmacies.
Enter and View visits can happen if people tell us there is a problem with a service, but equally, they can occur when services have a good reputation.
During the visits, we observe service delivery and talk with service users, their families, and carers. We also engage with management and staff. The aim is to get an impartial view of how the service is operated and being experienced.
Following the visits, our official ‘Enter and View Report’, shared with the service provider, local commissioners and regulators outlines what has worked well, and gives recommendations on what could have worked better. All reports are available to view on our website.
On the 9th of May 2023, NHS England published their delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. The main purpose of this plan is to help patients access the help they need from primary care more quickly and more easily.
Community pharmacies are playing a key role in the recovery plan: since April this year, community pharmacists have been able to issue repeat prescriptions for oral contraception without the need for patients to see their GP. By the end of the year, subject to evaluation of the programme, pharmacists will also be able to issue a new prescription for oral contraceptive pill.
In addition to the contraceptive services, Blood pressure checks and Smoking Cessation Services can now also be provided by Pharmacy Technicians, and patients can be referred to community pharmacies for consultations on minor illnesses and urgent medicine supplies.
In light of these service changes, Healthwatch Hammersmith & Fulham initiated visits to community pharmacies within the borough to explore how these new pharmacy services have so far been experienced by the local residents and pharmacy staff.
Our visits focused primarily on finding out how people feel about visiting a pharmacy instead of seeing their GP, how easily they can access a local pharmacy, and their overall experience of pharmacy services.
From staff, we wanted to find out how they feel about providing these additional services, and if there is anything that could be improved to better support them with the additional workload.
For more details, please read our reports below.
