Boots UK has taken the lead in providing pharmacist support for people with asthma, helping them to improve their inhaler use.

The company’s new in-store asthma support programme aims to provide an accessible resource for the three million adults in the UK whose asthma is not well controlled.

The project reflects the growing role of community pharmacists in helping people to manage their long-term conditions through more effective medication use and self-monitoring.

Research commissioned by Boots UK found that 45% of asthma patients felt they needed more support within the community – for example, only 26% had been encouraged to take up therapeutic activities.

All of Boots UK’s in-store pharmacists have now received training to help patients improve their self-management of asthma – including optimal inhaler use, which 71% of patients find difficult.

Peter Bainbridge, Director of Pharmacy at Boots UK, said: “An easily accessible conversation with a trained Boots UK pharmacist can empower patients to take control of their asthma,” improving their medication use and symptom management.

The new programme would complement the services provided by GPs and hospitals, he said – and would also “enable pharmacists to make relevant clinical interventions and onward referrals”.

Manny Johal, a pharmacist at Boots UK, noted that adults with asthma often lack the clinical support and guidance offered to children. “Pharmacists are ideally placed in the local community to support people with asthma to take the right steps to improving their inhaler technique or raising awareness of their triggers,” he added.

Boots UK also provides online resources for patients at boots.com/asthma and an Asthma Health Centre at BootsWebMD.com.

GPs need a new care model to deal with growing demand and their own falling numbers, a new report has said.

According to the Deloitte UK Centre for Health Solutions, primary care is facing the retirement of many GPs combined with increasing numbers of elderly and chronically ill patients.

To deal with these challenges, the report argues, primary care needs to focus on community healthcare, patient self-management and new technology.

The demand challenge is well understood: the ageing population and the growing prevalence of long-term health conditions.

However, the report highlights a supply challenge: 10,000 GPs intend to retire within five years, while increasing numbers work part-time. Practice nurses, who are increasingly relied on, show a similar demographic.

The number of entrants to the primary care sector has fallen, while changes in employment regulations mean that recruiting qualified practitioners from overseas will be impossible.

The new commissioning role of GPs will increase strain on primary care, the report notes, with GPs facing unfamiliar responsibilities and performance management systems as well as severe financial constraints.

Karen Taylor, Research Director at the Deloitte Centre, commented: “GPs need to adopt new models of care, using new technology and other practice staff more effectively, working closely with patients to provide more care in the community, with an emphasis on shared decision-making and self-management.

“GPs will still need to act as gatekeepers, but also, increasingly, as care navigators.”