The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Delivering a primary care review for people prescribed opioids for persistent pain: facilitators and barriers facing practice pharmacists

Delivering a primary care review for people prescribed opioids for persistent pain: facilitators and barriers facing practice pharmacists
Delivering a primary care review for people prescribed opioids for persistent pain: facilitators and barriers facing practice pharmacists
Background: people living with persistent non-cancer pain often are prescribed opioids long-term, despite a lack of evidence for their long-term effectiveness and safety. This study informed the design of a new practice pharmacist-led review (PROMPPT review) for people prescribed opioids for persistent pain in UK primary care.

Aim: to explore the perspectives of pharmacists working in UK general practices regarding the proposed PROMPPT review and identify barriers to and facilitators of its delivery in practice, including supporting opioid deprescribing where appropriate.

Design & setting: multi-method qualitative study in primary care.

Method: pharmacists with experience of consulting in primary care participated in semi-structured interviews (n=13) and two focus groups (n=16) to explore attitudes, beliefs and experiences of a proposed PROMPPT review for people living with persistent pain. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) provided a framework for data collection and thematic analysis.

Results: 16 facilitators and barriers for delivery of a pharmacist-led PROMPPT review were identified across 10 domains of the TDF and mapped to components of the COM-B model of capability (knowledge, skills), motivation (social or professional role and identity, beliefs about capabilities, beliefs about consequences, intentions, goals, emotions), and opportunity (environmental context and resources, social influences).

Conclusion: this study provides theoretically based evidence of factors influencing pharmacists’ delivery of PROMPPT reviews in relation to pharmacist capability, motivation, and opportunity. Factors included access to evidence-based …
2398-3795
Woodcock, Charlotte
3b03f8b9-cfe9-48d7-88e7-dc0658de5568
Cornwall, Nicola
093db397-e7d3-4cb3-9f23-1641e2bde18b
Harrisson, Sarah A.
bfaa5050-e15b-41cb-9cbb-c8351db966cf
Santer, Miriam
3ce7e832-31eb-4d27-9876-3a1cd7f381dc
Pincus, Tamar
55388347-5d71-4fc0-9fd2-66fbba080e0c
the PROMPPT research team
et al.
Woodcock, Charlotte
3b03f8b9-cfe9-48d7-88e7-dc0658de5568
Cornwall, Nicola
093db397-e7d3-4cb3-9f23-1641e2bde18b
Harrisson, Sarah A.
bfaa5050-e15b-41cb-9cbb-c8351db966cf
Santer, Miriam
3ce7e832-31eb-4d27-9876-3a1cd7f381dc
Pincus, Tamar
55388347-5d71-4fc0-9fd2-66fbba080e0c

Woodcock, Charlotte, Cornwall, Nicola and Harrisson, Sarah A. , the PROMPPT research team and et al. (2025) Delivering a primary care review for people prescribed opioids for persistent pain: facilitators and barriers facing practice pharmacists. BJGP Open. (doi:10.3399/BJGPO.2025.0156).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: people living with persistent non-cancer pain often are prescribed opioids long-term, despite a lack of evidence for their long-term effectiveness and safety. This study informed the design of a new practice pharmacist-led review (PROMPPT review) for people prescribed opioids for persistent pain in UK primary care.

Aim: to explore the perspectives of pharmacists working in UK general practices regarding the proposed PROMPPT review and identify barriers to and facilitators of its delivery in practice, including supporting opioid deprescribing where appropriate.

Design & setting: multi-method qualitative study in primary care.

Method: pharmacists with experience of consulting in primary care participated in semi-structured interviews (n=13) and two focus groups (n=16) to explore attitudes, beliefs and experiences of a proposed PROMPPT review for people living with persistent pain. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) provided a framework for data collection and thematic analysis.

Results: 16 facilitators and barriers for delivery of a pharmacist-led PROMPPT review were identified across 10 domains of the TDF and mapped to components of the COM-B model of capability (knowledge, skills), motivation (social or professional role and identity, beliefs about capabilities, beliefs about consequences, intentions, goals, emotions), and opportunity (environmental context and resources, social influences).

Conclusion: this study provides theoretically based evidence of factors influencing pharmacists’ delivery of PROMPPT reviews in relation to pharmacist capability, motivation, and opportunity. Factors included access to evidence-based …

Text
BJGPO.2025.0156.full - Accepted Manuscript
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (509kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 4 September 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 October 2025

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 507111
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/507111
ISSN: 2398-3795
PURE UUID: 00e26cc2-bc98-418b-b01d-f966c7e3c68e
ORCID for Miriam Santer: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7264-5260
ORCID for Tamar Pincus: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3172-5624

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 27 Nov 2025 17:35
Last modified: 28 Nov 2025 03:00

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Charlotte Woodcock
Author: Nicola Cornwall
Author: Sarah A. Harrisson
Author: Miriam Santer ORCID iD
Author: Tamar Pincus ORCID iD
Corporate Author: the PROMPPT research team
Corporate Author: et al.

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×