Investigating value as perceived and experienced by service users (Year 1)

Project Description

Community Pharmacy Scotland has commissioned Robert Gordon University and the University of Strathclyde to research the value of community pharmacy in Scotland as perceived and experienced by service users. The two universities will collaborate throughout this research, which is planned in three Work Packages.

The Minor Ailments Scheme (MAS) is the focus of Work Package 1. A mixed methods design will be employed to research the value of MAS as perceived and experienced by service users. All community pharmacies in Scotland will be invited to participate by distributing study packs to all service users accessing MAS over a specified 2-week period. The pack will contain a study invitation, participant information leaflet and questionnaire. Items will collect data on perceived quality of the consultation, perceptions of effectiveness of the treatment and advice given, GP visits potentially avoided and overall experience. Questionnaire respondents will have the opportunity of participating in a semi-structured telephone interview to provide rich data and add explanations to the quantitative results. Around 20 service user from across Scotland will be interviewed.

Work Package 2 is also a mixed methods study of value, as perceived and experienced by service users, with a focus on community pharmacy based independent prescribing. All community pharmacist independent prescribers in Scotland will be invited to participate by recruiting all consecutive service users seen, over a 4-week period. At the end of each consultation, service users will be provided with a study pack containing a study invitation, participant information leaflet and questionnaire. Items will collect data on perceived quality of the consultation, expectations and experiences of community pharmacy based independent prescribing, effectiveness and safety.
As in Work Package 1, questionnaire respondents will have the opportunity of participating in a semi-structured telephone interview to provide rich data and add explanations to the quantitative results. Around 20 service users from across Scotland will be interviewed.

Whilst Work Packages 1 and 2 focus on one specific community pharmacy service, Work Package 3 will provide data on all professional services provided in a selected number of community pharmacies. These services will be defined as part of the research to include those currently part of the community pharmacy contract as well as those not currently captured within the contract.
A case study design will be used to collect and generate data relating to community pharmacy professional services. The unit of analysis is each single case, that is, each community pharmacy. Four to six community pharmacies will be selected on the basis of leading edge professional services exemplifying a diverse service user range, for example, remote and rural populations and those in high deprivation areas.
Data will be collected and generated using a similar approach to Work Packages 1 and 2. All those receiving professional services from any team member (e.g. pharmacist, pre-registration pharmacist, technician, dispenser, medicines counter assistant, delivery driver) over a 2-week period will be recruited using similar study packs.
In addition to data of value as perceived and experienced by the service users, data on structures and processes within and external to the pharmacy will be gathered to contextualise the service user data. Pharmacy staff and samples of other key individuals in general medical practices (e.g. general practitioners, nurses, pharmacy team members) will be interviewed to explore their perspectives of the services.