Community pharmacy

Community pharmacy is one of the enduring interests of the drug usage and pharmacy practice group and has involved a variety of observational studies. Early work focused on the consumer use of pharmacies, and describing and assessing the professional services provided, mainly advice-giving.

More recently, the focus shifted to a consideration of skill mix and the (overlapping) roles and responsibilities of different grades of staff. Now issues of governance and innovation in community pharmacy are beginning to be addressed.

Work on improving understanding of the management of minor ailments, and of the factors determining the routes of access and product choices of medicines, has been conducted in parallel. The impact of charges for prescribed medicines is a particular focus.