Pharmaceutical care support to care homes in Scotland post-COVID-19 lockdown: Scottish care of older people national service evaluation results & recommendations

Anne Wilson, Catriona Young,, Alison I.C. Donaldson , Kathryn Wood, Christine H. McAlpine, and Phyo K. Myint

Introduction

Care home residents are older with complex care needs associated with frailty, multimorbidity, and resultant polypharmacy compared to the general population. This Scottish national service evaluation aimed to collect baseline information and further the understanding of how pharmaceutical care is delivered in care homes in Scotland.

Materials and methods

A questionnaire was developed and circulated to pharmacy teams involved in supporting care homes across Scotland in May 2021 using Questback platform. The following information was recorded, the number of care homes served by a pharmacy, the number and role of pharmacy workforce serving care homes, perceived barriers to providing care and possible solutions to these barriers, and changes secondary to COVID-19.

Results

68 pharmacy teams replied with representation from each of the 14 regional Health Board areas in Scotland. The majority (65%) of the pharmacy teams supported between one and five care homes, which were predominantly care homes for older adults (76.6%). Inadequate resources and lack of protected time were identified as barriers to providing care. The reasons provided for this included insufficent face-to-face and pharmacy staff involvement during COVID-19 restrictions.

Discussion

This service evaluation provided insight into variation in pharmacy services and required improvements through resource allocation, technology, and training.

Citation