Applying the "You're Welcome' youth-friendly service criteria to community pharmacy in the UK

ObjectivesThe Department of Health in England developed the You're Welcome' framework, comprising criteria for all health services seeing 11- to 19-year olds, to improve their quality and coverage and reduce access inequities. To date, however, the You're Welcome' criteria have not been considered within community pharmacy service development policy. The aim of this article was to assess the relevance of the You're Welcome' criteria to community pharmacy, and examine ways in which they are currently met, or not met, to guide future service development. MethodsThe project employed three methods. Checklist-guided observations and face-to-face semistructured interviews with staff members were undertaken in eight community pharmacies across England and Scotland, purposively selected because of their known focus on provision of young people's services. This was complemented by a cross-sectional online survey for completion by pharmacy staff across a wider range of pharmacies recruited through targeted Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPC). Study instruments were designed to gather information relevant to each of the You're Welcome' criteria. Key findingsEight pharmacies took part in observations and interviews. Six LPCs posted the online survey link on their website, which was returned by 56 respondents. The results demonstrate applicability of the You're Welcome' criteria to community pharmacy services, highlighting particular strengths of community pharmacy services for young people (e.g. accessibility) as well as opportunities and priorities for service development to meet their specific needs (e.g. staff training, engagement and integration with local service provision). ConclusionsThe You're Welcome' criteria can be applied to community pharmacy services without adaptation providing an appropriate framework to guide service development to promote young people friendly pharmacy services.