Heart failure and community pharmacists: the untapped potential
Everyday community pharmacists come into contact with some of the 385,000 people undetected or undiagnosed living with heart failure. Yet their potential to play a vital role in easing the burden of heart failure through early diagnosis, and optimisation of medicines for those living with the condition long term is under-resourced and undeveloped.
The Alliance for Heart Failure is committed to changing this, working on a number of initiatives for pharmacists to improve heart failure awareness, education around diagnostic pathways and better titration of treatments for those coming into contact with patients in the community.
Our campaign
We are working closely with PCN networks and Local Pharmacy Committees to distribute educational resources that improve awareness and identify training pathways. We are also engaging senior stakeholders in the NHS and pharmacy organisations such as the Company Chemists’ Association and Community Pharmacy England to better involve pharmacists in diagnostic pathways and develop reimbursement mechanisms for their services.
We want to help other pharmacists across the country become their community’s herat failure champion. It is our ambition to develop a heart failure service in pharmacies that can diagnose, refer and help treat the condition.
Get involved
In collaboration with its clinical members, the Alliance for Heart Failure has produced this series of three articles aimed at educating and empowering community pharmacists when it comes to diagnosing, treating and managing heart failure.
Part 1: Recognising the symptoms of heart failure
Part 2: How heart failure is diagnosed
Part 3: Treating and managing heart failure as part of a multi-disciplinary team
If you are interested in using our resources or being involved in our discussions with stakeholders please contact us.