Aston University partnership to investigate how the NHS can make best use of its pharmacists

• Aston University and the Pharmacists’ Defence Association formed a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) to look at the role of NHS pharmacists
• Pharmacists have the knowledge and skill to deliver more healthcare interventions and ease the burden on the National Health Service
• The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) is the largest independent pharmacist organisation in the UK with more than 37,000 members.

A partnership between Aston University and the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) is to examine the feasibility of extending pharmacists’ duties to include more healthcare interventions, such as blood pressure checks and cholesterol screening.

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) will look at whether such extended duties could help to ease the growing burden on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS).

A KTP is a three-way collaboration between a business, an academic partner and a highly qualified researcher, known as a KTP associate. The UK-wide programme helps businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills. Aston University is a sector leading KTP provider, with 80% of its completed projects being graded as very good or outstanding by Innovate UK, the national body.

The PDA is the largest independent pharmacist representative organisation in the UK with more than 37,000 members. It is a not-for-profit organisation which looks after the interests of individual pharmacists, supporting them in their legal, practice and employment needs. It also seeks to influence the professional, practice and employment agenda to support its members.

Pharmacists are highly skilled and could deliver more healthcare interventions than they do at present, alongside their role in seasonal flu and COVID vaccination programmes. The PDA is seeking to advocate for an increased role for pharmacists by providing NHS policymakers with robust evidence of the feasibility, acceptability and impacts this would have.

The organisation is working with Aston University’s Professor Chris Langley from the School of Pharmacy and Dr Gemma Mansell from the School of Psychology who are carrying out the research and evaluation to produce this evidence. Dr Langley is a practising pharmacist and researches how the NHS can better use pharmacists’ skills to improve the health of the population. Dr Mansell is experienced in designing, delivering, and evaluating healthcare interventions involving behaviour change.

Together with KTP Associate Dr Jason Tang, the KTP team developed a shortlist of health interventions that pharmacists could deliver to patients who have come for vaccinations. The interventions were trialled at a community pharmacy in Dudley in 2023, then evaluated for their health impact and cost-effectiveness. The interventions may then be adapted based on this evaluation and will be trialled again in 2024 to gain more data. Questionnaires will be used to assess patients’ and pharmacists’ reactions to the changes.

Alison Jones, director of policy, PDA, said:

“There are already some moves to enable pharmacists working in the community to deliver more aspects of clinical care. For example, with appropriate training, pharmacists can also take on some aspects of the prescribing of medicines. This project will be an important part of that evolution, supporting individual pharmacists to have more opportunities to practice and so develop more fulfilling careers.”

Professor Langley said:

“Since COVID, the way we deliver healthcare has changed. We have a backlog in diagnosing underlying disease and at the same time fewer face-to-face consultations. If we can make use of the time that pharmacists have with patients during their vaccinations to deliver other services, then that could help to ensure patients are diagnosed and can receive treatment much more quickly.”

About Aston University

For over a century, Aston University’s enduring purpose has been to make our world a better place through education, research and innovation, by enabling our students to succeed in work and life, and by supporting our communities to thrive economically, socially and culturally.

Aston University’s history has been intertwined with the history of Birmingham, a remarkable city that once was the heartland of the Industrial Revolution and the manufacturing powerhouse of the world.

Born out of the First Industrial Revolution, Aston University has a proud and distinct heritage dating back to our formation as the School of Metallurgy in 1875, the first UK College of Technology in 1951, gaining university status by Royal Charter in 1966, and becoming The Guardian University of the Year in 2020.

Building on our outstanding past, we are now defining our place and role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (and beyond) within a rapidly changing world.