The pharmacy team needs to develop a range of skills to be able to deliver public health services effectively. It is important that it is recognised that the delivery of public health services should be done by the team and is not the sole preserve of the pharmacist.

When planning services, the skills mix of the team should be considered to allow the pharmacist to delegate any activities that they are not required to do. For example, a locally commissioned cholesterol testing service could be provided by a competent healthcare advisor who has been suitably trained, with the pharmacist's involvement being limited to the interpretation of results and provision of patient-specific advice. This would have to be agreed with the comissioner and stipulated in the service level agreement.

The movement away from services based on a transaction (either retail or dispensing) to services based on information and advice requires a culture change in the pharmacy. The Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) concept has been important in changing the culture in many pharmacies already. A key part of this has been the health champion training that at least one team member in each HLP pharmacy is required to undertake.

This training provides the underpinning knowledge that helps support staff understand their public health role so that they can support customers and patients by changing behaviours. Pharmacists also need to develop a wider range of skills. 

Improved delegation and coaching to create the time to deliver new services is an important starting point. Improving their skills and knowledge about behaviour change by learning about topics such as motivational interviewing and true patient counselling will help to improve the outcomes from the services offered in the pharmacy.

The next step is to put these ideas into action. Finish by recording your learning outcomes.