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Many practices and networks up and down the country are already aware of the benefits that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can offer however in Suffolk Primary Care, they have taken this to a whole new level with the establishment not only of a centralised Pharmacy team, but in also embedding a standardised pathway across a so-called super PCN area. On this week’s podcast, Ben is joined by Henri Cresswell, East Suffolk PCN’s Head of Pharmacy, and Dr Neil Macey, Medical Director at Suffolk Primary Care, to talk about their journey from the beginning of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) journey and the birth of the Pharmacy team, to where they are now, the lessons they have learned, how they managed to successfully embed a centralised team and processes, within the backdrop of the pandemic and where they are aiming next.

Introductions (0:09)

Suffolk Primary Care and the relationship with East Suffolk PCN (0:22)

ARRS and the birth of the Pharmacy team (1:19)

All about Henri (2:51)

Getting buy in for a single, standardised process from multiple practices (4:07)

Supporting the change process (5:32)

What were the major challenges? (6:14)

Management of a centrally based team (6:53)

What happens within a pharmacy clinic? (8:00)

How the temporary shift to remote working helped to embed the service (8:35)

Neil’s role in promoting the team (9:11)

Measuring impact (10:34)

What has the experience been like from the pharmacists’ perspective? (11:40)

Training and supervision (13:49)

Development and progression of the staff (14:33)

Challenges of recruitment (15:44)

What does the future look like? (16:04)

Support from the Care Coordinators (16:45)

Neil’s thoughts on what comes next for the Pharmacy, and wider ARRS team (17:22)

Lesson learned – Neil’s view (18:32)

Henri’s reflections (20:19)

To find out more about the evolution of the Suffolk Primary Care Pharmacy Team, Henri and Neil are both happy to be contacted via their respective emails.

The Suffolk Primary Care website is here.