Mental health pharmacist pilot 'fantastic'

MENTAL health issues among remote Highland communities could be improved “dramatically” through the use of specialist pharmacists in rural GP practices – a new study has found.

It follows a 12 month pilot involving two Highland GP surgeries.

Of the 75 patients involved, a quarter had severe depression and half exhibited severe anxiety before the pilot started.

But by the end, nearly half of the patients showed “significant improvements”.

Two specialist mental health clinical pharmacists were embedded in practices in Fort William and Invergordon/Alness for the pilot.

Liz Buist and Rebecca McLelland were independent prescribers, meaning patients did not need to be referred to a GP for their recommended prescriptions.

And the results have been well received within health circles – earning plaudits at last month’s Mental Health Pharmacy International Conference, where a presentation on it won the service development category.

It also won praise at a recent NHS Highland research, development and innovation conference.

NHS Highland said feedback from clinicians was also positive, citing one who said nobody had come back with negative comments, and another arguing it would be “fantastic” to have the pilot rolled out to other GP surgeries.

It added that the pilot also met Scottish Government aims.

Now Karen Macaskill, the principal pharmacist at New Craigs Psychiatric Hospital in Inverness, has plans to develop the pilot further.

She said the results should be used in planning further mental health services, adding: “Overall, the evaluation identified that the pilot was successful, as all of the service objectives were either fully or partially met. We are now aiming to secure further funding to enable us to build on this pilot work.”