The Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) initiative, now embedded within the Quality Payment scheme of the English contractual framework, was founded to improve the quality and consistency of outcomes from pharmacy services. HLPs have demonstrated the benefits of having an engaged team with the right people doing the right thing and a health and wellbeing ethos.

The role of the health champion (a member of the pharmacy team who has completed RSPH Understanding Health Improvement Level 2) is key to this and involves the planning and delivery of health promotion campaigns in the pharmacy and in the community, proactively providing people with information about their health and wellbeing and signposting them to services that will help them adopt healthier lifestyles and access the support they need.

Becoming an HLP by fully meeting the quality criteria is a great start, but it is only the beginning. It is what you then do beyond accreditation that will determine the outcomes for your patients and the customer experience. Only then can you build a sustainable healthcare business.

Step 1 – defining your purpose

We know that businesses that focus on delivering value and a quality experience to customers are more successful than those that don’t. Profit should be the reward for doing the right thing, not the primary focus. That applies to patient outcomes, too.

Work with your team to clearly define your purpose and, once refined, share your vision. Always ‘start with why’ (startwithwhy.com offers tools to help with this). Teams that are engaged, informed and working towards a shared vision outperform those that don’t.

Step 2 – the right team

Review your skills mix and ensure you have the right people doing the right thing in the right way and at the right time. Has your team got the knowledge, skills and motivation to make every contact count and deliver an excellent experience for your patients and customers? Health champions will have additional knowledge of healthy lifestyles and communication skills. Many pharmacies train all their patient-facing team as health champions, including the delivery driver, who often interacts with the most vulnerable people. Having invested in your team, don’t hold your health champions back. Let them to make a difference to the health of your community. This will increase footfall and productivity through improved services and sales.

Step 3 – the right premises

Look at your pharmacy from the outside and inside through the eyes of a customer. Does it reflect a quality healthcare environment?

This is not about a refit; it’s about the merchandise you carry and how you display it without clutter and barriers to the potential interactions that your team can provide. This extends to your consultation room and how prepared and equipped you are to deliver brief advice and services.

The health promotion zone should be conspicuous and create some theatre, which in itself will open up conversations to deliver brief advice and make every contact count.

Step 4 – engage with your community

Understanding the needs of your community is the base on which to develop your business and marketing plan. It will also give you and your team the chance to build relationships with other providers of health and wellbeing services beyond the local GP practice. This will result in two-way referral and signposting opportunities to meet the needs of your patients and customers.

Step 5 – targeting patients

Within the MUR and NMS services there are already target lists of patients on specific medicines who are either at higher risk or who would benefit the most from support to improve adherence with treatment and associated lifestyle advice.

The Quality Payment Scheme goes one step further with a criterion relating to asthma patients who are dispensed more than six short-acting bronchodilator inhalers without any corticosteroid inhaler within a sixmonth period. They should be referred to an appropriate healthcare professional for an asthma review.

Your team can support you in targeting patients by using the reporting tools within your PMR system, which will help you to prioritise and plan your services and interventions. You can also talk to your local GPs, practice pharmacists and nurses about how you can help them in the management of patients and get them to refer them to you for support through your NHS services and healthy lifestyle advice.

Step 6 – bringing it all together

Having completed steps 1 to 5, you should now be ready to enhance the services and experience you offer the population you serve. This can only be good for you and your team, for your patients and customers, for society and for the health and care systems that are struggling with the gaps in the quality of care and health inequalities and cuts in funding.

Pharmacy is not the whole solution, but we can make a significant contribution if we all deliver consistent, high-quality services and experiences that differentiate us in the broader market within which we operate. Only then will we be universally recognised by the public, commissioners and politicians for what we do and can do.