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Location, location, location: does providing public health services from community pharmacies contribute to tackling health inequalities?
- Source :
- Journal of Public Health; Sep2023, Vol. 45 Issue 3, pe478-e485, 8p
- Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Background Community pharmacies have long been advocated as an accessible source of advice on health improvement in communities. This cross-sectional study explored the association between provision of pharmacy public health services and factors that might influence the extent to which pharmacies contribute to tackling inequalities. Methods Publically available data were used to explore the association between pharmacy public health service provision and pharmacy characteristics (socioeconomic deprivation, urbanity, opening hours and workload). Regression models were fitted to the number of service consultations. The association between the number of services provided and the mean number of consultations across each service was investigated using regression models. Results Pharmacies showed a propensity for being situated in areas of higher socioeconomic deprivation. There was no association between socioeconomic deprivation and number of service consultations a pharmacy provided. Clustering of pharmacies in less affluent areas led to over half of all public health service consultations being in the two most deprived quintiles. Conclusions Providing healthcare services from pharmacies in more deprived areas does not mean the public use them or that pharmacies will prioritize their delivery. The higher prevalence of pharmacies in disadvantaged communities is an important factor in ensuring pharmacy services support reducing inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- HEALTH services accessibility
CONFIDENCE intervals
DRUGSTORES
CROSS-sectional method
PUBLIC health
POPULATION geography
REGRESSION analysis
MEDICAL care
PHARMACISTS
PRIMARY health care
SOCIAL isolation
SOCIOECONOMIC factors
MEDICAL care research
NATIONAL health services
PSYCHOSOCIAL factors
EMPLOYEES' workload
MEDICAL referrals
DESCRIPTIVE statistics
HEALTH equity
CLUSTER analysis (Statistics)
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17413842
- Volume :
- 45
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Public Health
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 171352032
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdac148