A COCHRANE review of the benefit of community pharmacy in managing long-term conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, has given its "cautious" endorsement of the services.
The large-scale analysis of the evidence for basing schemes to improve the management of long-term conditions in community pharmacy showed benefits for some long-term conditions.
The study, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews on 04 Sep 2018, found that some non-dispensing services provided by community pharmacists could have "positive effects" for patients, but results from some trials were "varying".
The researchers, reviewing 111 trials covering 40,000 non-hospital patients, said that services delivered by pharmacists "produced similar effects on patient health, compared with services delivered by other healthcare professionals", and could prove cheaper than doctor-led services.
However, they added that the results should be "viewed cautiously because there was major heterogeneity in study populations".
The results of the study were presented at the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)Congress last week in Glasgow, with lead author Margaret Watson from the University of Bath saying it showed "pharmacist services can achieve clinically relevant improvements for patients".
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 10 Sep 18
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 10 Sep 18
