The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has said it will roll out an outcomes-focused clinic pharmacy pilot in Dudley later this year.

PDA chairman Mark Koziol (pictured) told the Sigma conference in Oman that the pilot will involve as many as 10 community pharmacies and examine four patient-facing population health schemes covering antimicrobial resistance, blood pressure monitoring and atrial fibrillation detection and asthma and inhaler technique.

At least two pharmacies will operate a polypharmacy clinic in which caseloads of patients are referred for examination of the medicines burden and potential de-prescribing.

Over £100,000 has been earmarked to evaluate the pilot’s outcomes and meetings with Dudley local pharmaceutical committee and clinical commissioning group are believed to have taken place.

The PDA has also partnered with a local university and recruitment of a senior research fellow to lead the work will start soon.

Koziol, however, warned the success of the clinic pharmacy model hinged on changing the public’s perception of pharmacy.

That, he said, could be achieved through an effective advertising campaign to remind the public that pharmacists are the best people to talk to about their medicines.

“There's a huge opportunity for us around the medicines issue that nobody has taken seriously and it's time that we as pharmacists did just that,” he said.

“We need case studies and stories to engage the media. And we need funding.”