Determinants of the uptake of medicines use reviews (MURs) by community pharmacies in England: A multi-method study

Public attitudes towards community pharmacy attributes and preferences for methods for promotion of public health services

“…Linking of services has been advocated by pharmacists 3,28 and is being explored in research studies 29 . The strength of the preference for word-of-mouth promotion by doctors and other health professionals requires improved inter-professional networking to support uptake as well as delivery of public health services 30,31 . This is likely to be most effective if there is genuine collaboration between these professions 32 .…”

Investigating the organisational factors associated with variation in clinical productivity in community pharmacies: a mixed-methods study

“…MURs aim to help patients manage their medicines more effectively, by increasing their understanding, identifying problems and providing feedback to prescribers. Research published not long after the introduction of the 2005 contractual framework suggested that the volume of MUR provision by pharmacy chains was almost twice that of independent pharmacies 17,18 and that this difference may be primarily profit driven, prioritising service quantity over quality. 18 There is also some evidence that locally commissioned enhanced services were more likely to be provided by chain pharmacies than independent pharmacies and that provision was greater in deprived and urban areas.…”

“…Research published not long after the introduction of the 2005 contractual framework suggested that the volume of MUR provision by pharmacy chains was almost twice that of independent pharmacies 17,18 and that this difference may be primarily profit driven, prioritising service quantity over quality. 18 There is also some evidence that locally commissioned enhanced services were more likely to be provided by chain pharmacies than independent pharmacies and that provision was greater in deprived and urban areas. 19 Other research into the implementation of pharmaceutical care services by community pharmacies worldwide has identified a number of organisational barriers to and facilitators of their provision, including the physical environment (particularly adequate space and privacy), organisational culture and leadership, having the necessary staffing and skill mix, relationships with GPs, equipment and technology, and work overload/conflicting workloads.…”

“…15 Yet pharmacists, particularly those working for large chain pharmacy organisations ('multiples'), are under intense pressure to meet financial targets, including conducting specified numbers of MURs. 18 This may detract from not only the effectiveness of the MURs conducted, 21 but also the extent to which they may represent true role substitution and cost efficiency.…”

“…Although previous studies have described an association between pharmacy ownership type and the volume of services delivered (MURs) 18 or pharmacists' perceptions of the relationship between ownership type, volume of services and service quality, 15,74 none have taken a systematic approach on such a large scale to investigate all these inter-relationships. Furthermore, this study has, for the first time, looked further than 'ownership type' as an explanatory organisational variable and investigated a range of different organisational characteristics and configurations simultaneously to obtain a better understanding of the way in which pharmacies operate and how that might affect clinical productivity.…”