Health and Social Care Committee

Inquiry into the contribution of community pharmacy to health services in Wales

CP 2 – ASH Wales

ASH Wales submission: Inquiry into the contribution of community pharmacy to health services in Wales

Health and Social Care Committee, National Assembly for Wales.

Introduction

ASH Wales is an independent charity based in Wales and is the only voluntary organisation in Wales with the sole task of tackling the ill health caused by tobacco use. Our main aim is to achieve a reduction in and eventual elimination of the health problems associated with tobacco use. A copy of the ASH Wales’ Annual Report may be accessed online at http://www.ashwales.org.uk/about/

Our recommendations

· A national enhanced community pharmacy smoking cessation service should be developed in line with the standard framework providing a clear service specification for service provided in each community pharmacy.

· The All Wales Competency and Training Framework to support the delivery of enhanced community pharmacy smoking cessation services should continue to be used to accredit pharmacists providing smoking cessation services.

Background

As part of the draft Tobacco Control Action Plan (2011), it was stated that:

Local Health Boards should agree the delivery of pharmacy smoking cessation services with community pharmacy contractors (Action 3.14). In support of this, Public Health Wales will provide training in brief intervention for smoking cessation to pharmacy teams throughout Wales (Action 3.15).

ASH Wales believe that this would be an underuse of community pharmacies: the development of local enhanced community pharmacy smoking cessation services, under the provisions of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework, would provide opportunities to increase patient access to smoking cessation services at community pharmacies in each Health Board area. Pharmacists that are accredited against the Competency and Training Framework, developed for NHS Wales by the Welsh Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education (WCPPE), are able to take a lead role in the provision of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and the motivational support for quitting.

Evaluations of community pharmacy led smoking cessation services have concluded that pharmacists have a useful role to play in smoking cessation and that pharmacy smoking cessation schemes are effective in improving access to services and in achieving success in quit rates (Tyler, 2009). Furthermore, as BME communities have higher than average use of tobacco, and are less likely to use existing NHS Stop Smoking Services (Race Equality Foundation, 2011) the need for culturally sensitive interventions for BME users of tobacco, which could be provided by community pharmacies, is crucial.

Pharmacists should be able to access additional support from Stop Smoking Wales and data from all pharmacy options should be supplied to the Welsh Assembly Government and Stop Smoking Wales.

Aimee Grant, Research and Policy Officer

ASH Wales, September 2011.

References

Race Equality Foundation (2011).  ‘Tobacco use among minority ethnic populations and cessation interventions’.  Better Health Briefing 22.  Available online at: www.better-health.org.uk

Tyler, E. (2009).   Smoking Cessation Interventions by Pharmacy: a rapid review of the evidence.  Cardiff: NPHSW.