My proudest NHS moment: becoming a pharmacy health centre

Becoming a pharmacy health centre, with nurses and pharmacists working together, was an incredible moment for me and the team.

Automation is enabling us to think and act differently to provide more care and services to our community, because it has freed-up the time of our pharmacists and team. We have a nurse and three pharmacists trained to offer assessments and I can prescribe on my NHS prescription pad to support patients’ health needs. The public are the key to our success and they are choosing to make use of our services, choosing pharmacy as their first port of call, which saves GP, out of hours and A&E appointments. We are so proud to be part of our NHS, working as an integrated part of primary care, supporting people to gain confidence to manage their health when they are acutely unwell, have long term conditions or in public health education. For example, we are supporting people who have poor asthma control and helping them to gain confidence and give them the tools to take back control of asthma, their health and their lives. It is a privilege and honour to have gained new skills and that the public trust us to care for them when they need it most with easier access to NHS care. “We are also thankful to NHS Fife who in this celebration year continue to support us with our triage, asthma and COPD clinics.

Author: Bernadette Brown, owner of Cadham Pharmacy Health Centre, in Glenrothes, Fife.