Healthy living champions network: an opportunity for community pharmacy’s sustained participation in tackling local health inequalities

Background - Evaluations recognise healthy living champions (HLCs) as key contributors to the Health Living Pharmacy (HLP) project’s success; the project has served to reduce pressure on family doctor services and clients who would have otherwise not sought professional advice have accessed HLP services.

Objectives - To investigate the impact of innovative networking opportunities in supporting HLCs to function within their role and to explore the network’s potential in promoting sustained HLP participation.

Method - Twenty of Portsmouth’s (England) HLCs (n=33) agreed to participate in focus groups. Transcripts were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis guided by grounded theory. The transcripts were read repeatedly; recurrent themes were identified and coded manually and consensus was reached by discussion within the research team.

Findings - Network meetings provide HLCs with professional development, networking opportunities and continued encouragement. Recommendations to develop and sustain the network included the formation of a group committee and establishing of a communication facility accessible between meetings.

Conclusion - The successful Portsmouth HLP project informed the design of UK HLP projects. The current focus is to build a successful strategy to sustain the positive outcomes, building on the recognised enablers. This study contributes further lessons learnt to guide health commissioners and service implementers to best support staff development, involvement and motivation through innovative practice.