The NHS-commissioned service is being piloted in areas where language could be a barrier when accessing services such as the community pharmacist consultation service (CPCS), a regional NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) spokesperson told C+D.

At present, 32 pharmacies are taking part in the six-month trial – which was developed in collaboration with the West Yorkshire integrated care board. The pilot is expected to run until the end of the year.

“It is anticipated the pilot will make CPCS and other community pharmacy services more accessible to patients who would benefit from services but might otherwise struggle due to language issues,” the NHSE&I spokesperson added.

Read more: ‘How can community pharmacy teams improve their inclusive practice?’

Increasing accessibility to services

In a video outlining the pilot, Community Pharmacy West Yorkshire CEO Ruth Buchan said it was launched to “reduce inequalities by increasing accessibility to services” for the local population.

“To date, community pharmacy has had no option but to muddle through or use family or pharmacy staff to translate,” Ms Buchan said.

But the area’s pharmaceutical needs assessment showed that pharmacies had flagged the need for a “formal translation service”.

The pilot “targeted” specific pharmacies that support GP practices with “a very high proportion of migrant patients” and asylum seekers, Ms Buchan specified.

Under the pilot, teams will have access to an interpretation service called LanguageLine, which has more than 180 languages available and is operative at any time of the week.

Participating pharmacies will need to record each use of LanguageLine on PharmOutcomes, and those that upon review of the pilot do not have any recorded activity may be removed from it, Ms Buchan warned.