Mental health update for Pharmacists: Masterclass

A free, one-day, masterclass for community pharmacists. This course covers core skills in psychiatric assessment and management, referral pathways, and updates on the latest evidence-based treatments. It aims to develop your confidence in providing the best possible care for your patients.

The New Medicine Service (NMS) is a well-established advanced pharmacy service based on evidence which suggests that pharmacists can successfully intervene when a medicine is newly prescribed, with repeated follow-up in the short term, to increase effective medicine-taking for the treatment of a long-term condition. From 2017 to 2018, approximately 7.3 million people (17 percent of adults) were prescribed antidepressants in England. It is estimated that about a third of these are newly prescribed. This represents a large cohort that could benefit from the NMS service. There is evidence to suggest that community pharmacists may have a role in improving adherence in the context of depression and following the success of a Pharmacy Integration Programme pilot antidepressants are likely to be added to the community pharmacy new medicines services from April 2023.

With this in mind it is now more imperative than ever that community pharmacists feel adequately trained in supporting people with their mental health needs.