Curaleaf Pharmacy and Sapphire Medical are committed to engaging with patients and families, listen to feedback, and together bring about service improvements that matter to medical cannabis patients.
Below are the two new initiatives which add to the existing engagement and education activities. All patients and families are invited to get involved.
Patient Engagement Meeting
The first meeting took place on 28th April 2022 and all service users of Curaleaf Pharmacy and Sapphire Medical were invited to join the online meeting and encouraged to contribute prior, during, and after the meeting.
360° feedback
Prior to the session, individuals were asked to complete a short feedback form to ensure the content of the meeting could be tailored to the priorities that mattered most to service users. During the meeting, attendees were able to ask the panel questions and answer poll questions such as “What are your preferred methods of engagement and feedback?”. After the meeting, all service users were sent a feedback form to guide future sessions and amend the format, frequency, and agenda if required.
Catch up
For those patients and families that missed the first meeting, you can catch up on the full recording here:
https://curaleafclinic.com/patient-engagement-meeting/
A summary of the meeting
During the session the host Evonne Clarke, Advanced Specialist Pharmacist at Sapphire Medical Clinics, welcomed a range of staff to explain their roles and answer some key questions from patients. Matty Rawding, Quality Assurance Pharmacist at Rokshaw, took the attendees through the 17 stages cannabis-based medicines must go through before a pharmacy is allowed to dispense a prescription. Carl Holvey, Chief Pharmacist at Sapphire Medical Clinics shared the progress of major service improvements at many levels across both organisations.
91% of attendees found the meeting ‘Very helpful’ or ‘Somewhat helpful’.
In addition to the Quality Assurance process, which was a common theme from patient feedback, the post meeting feedback identified the following themes to be discussed in the future:
Information to share with employers, friends and family, police, other healthcare professionals
- What to do when taking your prescription out in public
- What to do when travelling abroad with a prescription
- How to prevent gaps in prescriptions
- Information on vaporisers, products, strains, profiles
The results from a live poll during the meeting concluded that emails, followed by online questionnaires, were the top preferred methods of engagement and feedback.
Attendees were also asked
‘Which aspect of the meeting did you like best? Answers included
- I felt listened to and informed
- Honesty, transparency, and the effort
- Genuine care by everyone on the panel
- Better understanding of the processes involved
Which aspect of the meeting did you like the least? Answers included
- Not long enough
- Wanted to hear more on practicalities of all aspects of care
- The quality and buffering of the videos
- No discussion of cost
Attendees were asked how often and when they’d like future sessions, the most common answer was weekdays, 1pm – 2pm every three month. The next engagement meeting is therefore set for July 14th at 1pm.
There were many messages of thanks to the teams involved including:
- You’re doing great guys keep up the good work.
- Really helpful to hear of plans and future developments. As patients we often have little say over our care. Understanding processes and building relationships with our care providers really helps us.
- Thank you all for your hard work behind the scenes, we understand there’s red tapes but it’s always an eye opener to understand it’s more than just manufacturing and writing prescriptions.
- Thank you all for the invite.
- Thanks to the staff.
- Just really want to thank everyone involved for helping make real something I’ve dreamed of for years.
- Thank you for all of your efforts. Appreciated.
- Thank you for doing this. It makes me feel so much better about being a patient with you! Knowing you are all listening and taking the time to explain things to us is really fantastic.
- Thanks to the whole team, great meeting.
Patient Engagement Committee
The second engagement initiative, the Patient Engagement Committee, was launched during the Patient Engagement Meeting. Patients and carers are encouraged to apply (Open until 31st May 2022) to be part of a committee to bring about positive change together with Curaleaf Pharmacy and Sapphire Medical.
- Commitments of patients / family members/ carers / guardians will include:
- Engaging wider service users in sharing feedback and
- Their experience of the service
- Patient-led education initiatives for health professionals – Having real patients articulate experiences and viewpoints help those taking part in training to appreciate the patient perspective.
- Celebrate successes and share learning with others
Commitments from Sapphire Medical and Curaleaf Pharmacy
- Transparent, open, and honest relationship
- Involve you in improving care and informing the future of medicine
- Support to implement initiatives
- Remuneration for your time to prepare and attend meetings
Who can apply?
Patients of Sapphire Medical and Curaleaf Pharmacy, and their family members / carers / guardians
How to apply
Applications are now open for the Patient Engagement Committee. To apply, click the link below and fill in the short application form. Once selected, the format of the meeting will be a mixture of focus groups and committee meetings
https://forms.office.com/r/uH5EQzW0Cp
Remuneration
Committee members will be remunerated for their time to prepare and attend meetings
