Objectives  To review the literature, including published and unpublished evidence, around the role of community pharmacists in public health, to identify key themes emerging from these data and to identify gaps in the evidence base. Methods  The objectives of the study were met by identifying relevant literature from both the UK and overseas, through electronic database searches and the grey literature. The search was limited to the period from January 1985 to November 2010. Key findings  The scoping study identified a wide range of roles that community pharmacists were providing in public health, with the dominant themes being in the areas of smoking cessation services, healthy eating and lifestyle advice, provision of emergency hormonal contraception, infection control and prevention, promoting cardiovascular health and blood pressure control and prevention and management of drug abuse, misuse and addiction. The scoping study also identified several barriers and gaps in the UK evidence base. The gaps were significant in those themes with no identified UK studies, such as preventing falls in the elderly, emergency preparedness and response to bioterrorism, climate change and potential pandemics, immunisation and vaccination services and prevention and risk assessment of osteoporosis. There were also gaps in the evidence base regarding the role of London community pharmacists in public health. Conclusions  Although the scoping study identified a wide range of roles that community pharmacists were providing in public health, several gaps and barriers were also identified. Based on these gaps, a study incorporating mixed methods to provide in‐depth information about the role of London community pharmacists in public health could be more illuminating.

Objectives This survey seeks the opinion of UK community pharmacists to identify barriers in the public health role of community pharmacists. Methods This study took the form of a descriptive, cross-sectional survey that generated mostly quantitative data. Questionnaires were mailed to 524 randomly selected community pharmacists from Barnet, London and its surrounding areas, Bedfordshire, Cardiff and Edinburgh. All statistical analyses including tests for significance and correlation of variables were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 19.0). Key findings A majority of the respondents identified time pressure and workload (89.7%, C.I. AE4.94); lack of patients' records (78.6%, C.I. AE6.66); insufficient funding from the government (75.2%, C.I. AE7.01); lack of understanding by healthcare providers of the training and skill sets of pharmacists (73.7%, C.I. AE7.25); and lack of understanding by the public of the training and skill sets of pharmacists (72.7%, C.I. AE7.29), as the main barriers in enhancing the public health role of community pharmacists in the UK. Male respondents were more likely to agree that 'insufficient funding' was a barrier (P = 0.006; Eta, g 2 = 0.053). There was a negative correlation between 'age of respondents' and respondents agreeing that pharmacists should develop their own expertise in public health (q = À0.185; P = 0.029). Free text comments also highlighted a number of barriers, which included, among other things, time pressure and workload, commercial pressure from employers, lack of collaboration between healthcare professionals, and inadequate funding. Conclusions Several barriers associated with the public health role of community pharmacists, mainly time pressure and workload; lack of patients' records; insufficient funding from the government; lack of understanding by healthcare providers of the training and skill sets of pharmacists; and lack of understanding by the public of the training and skill sets of pharmacists have been identified as hindering the enhancement of this role. To enable the profession to evolve fully from product-oriented services to patient-centred care, many of these barriers will need to be tackled.

Objective The study aims to review the literature about strategies that can enhance the public health role of community pharmacists in the UK; and to identify main themes emerging from the literature as well as identify gaps there from. Methods Relevant literature from both the UK and overseas was identified, through electronic database searches. The search was limited to the period from January 2007 to May 2012. Key findings There are numerous opportunities for community pharmacists in public health. Following the review of knowledge and information, a wide range of strategies that could help enhance the public health role of community pharmacists in the UK were identified. The dominant themes included strategies to enhance the public health role of community pharmacists through: enhancing the effectiveness of communication techniques of students and pharmacists; advancing pharmacy practice experience of students in public health; enhancing the public health content of pharmacy curricula; managing legitimate medication needs of the public to identify/prevent drug-related problems; as well as promoting patients' self-management capacities. Conclusions Although a wide range of strategies that could help enhance the public health role of community pharmacists in the UK were identified, there were, however, gaps in the UK evidence base. There is a need to enhance, among other things, the public health training and skills of pharmacists, enabling the development of a mixed market in community pharmacy practice by contracting public health services directly to individual pharmacists, as well as pharmacists using newer technologies, including the social media, to enhance public health practice.

In the UK, community pharmacies are more accessible to the general population than general practices. Therefore, government white papers and briefing documents from pharmacy professional bodies have advocated the expansion of the role of community pharmacists, particularly in relation to the provision of services that contribute to disease prevention and health improvement. It is unknown whether the same evidence exists globally for the expansion of these roles.This article attempts to appraise and summarise the global evidence for the public health roles that community pharmacists play. Barriers, as well as strategies that can enhance these roles, are also discussed.Electronic databases were searched to retrieve relevant literature published since 1 January 2000. The selected literature included 2 meta-analyses, 7 literature reviews, 23 interventional studies and 41 descriptive studies. These were assessed according to health topics (i.e. smoking cessation, weight management, health promotion, disease screening and preventive activities, vaccination and immunisation, alcohol dependence advice and drug misuse, emergency hormonal contraception, and sexual health services).The effectiveness of community pharmacy-based public health interventions was shown in smoking cessation, health promotion, disease screening and preventive activities, provision of emergency hormonal contraceptive, and vaccination services. Although there was mixed evidence with respect to weight management and alcohol dependence advice interventions, the available data suggest feasibility and acceptability of these services due to the perceived ease of access and convenience. Key points:2  The effectiveness of community pharmacy-based public health interventions was shown in smoking cessation, health promotion, disease screening and preventive activities, provision of emergency hormonal contraceptive, and vaccination services. Overall, the evidence demonstrates that pharmacists are capable of providing both population-based and individual level public health services. However, strategies that can help facilitate and enhance community pharmacists' public health roles are needed. Further studies on cost-effectiveness of community pharmacists' public health intervention are also needed. IntroductionThe World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as "A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of infirmity"[1]. The main determinants of health include non-modifiable factors (e.g. age, sex and hereditary factors) and modifiable factors (e.g. individual lifestyle, social and community influences, living and working conditions, and general socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions)[2]. Since these determinants were identified, there has been increased awareness of health as a global issue[3]. The UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH) defines public health as "The science and art of promoting and protecting health and wellbeing, preventing ill health and prolonging life through the organised effor...

Objectives Using qualitative methods (interviews), this study aimed to identify barriers in the public health role of UK community pharmacists. Methods Data were collected through telephone interviews using Skype and recorded using ‘HD Call Recorder for Skype’. The qualitative data software package NVivo (version 10) was used for storage, retrieval and analysis of data. Key findings This study identified a number of barriers hindering the public health role of community pharmacists in the UK. The most frequently cited barriers included: challenges as to the use of new technologies and social media; lack of awareness; pharmacists’ lack of confidence in their public health role; commercial pressure from pharmacy owners; lack of time; inadequate funding; government policy on the public health role of pharmacists; inadequate communication skills; lack of integration of UK undergraduate healthcare programmes; logistics; as well as the fact that UK pharmacists qualify as scientists rather than as clinicians. Conclusions Many of the barriers identified in this study have also been confirmed in other studies. A clearer policy by the government on the public health role of pharmacists, supported by Schools of Pharmacy and relevant stakeholders might be a way forward.