The Pharmacy First service builds on the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service which has run since October 2019. The consultation service enables patients to be referred into community pharmacy for a minor illness or an urgent repeat medicine supply.
The new Pharmacy First service, launched 31 January 2024, adds to the existing consultation service and enables community pharmacies to complete episodes of care for 7 common conditions following defined clinical pathways.
Abbey Road Surgery offers The Pharmacy First service. This means a trained pharmacist from one of the local pharmacies such as Niti Pharmacy, Coyles pharmacy, Boots will be able to deal with all the minor ailments.
This service will be used when the reception team member triage your symptoms when you call to book an appointment with the GP. If your symptom is one of the things listed under minor ailments list you will be referred to the community pharmacy consultation service. The pharmacist will contact you within 4 hours of your referral. For example:
- If you call the surgery at 10am you can expect to receive a call from the pharmacist by 2pm on the same day.
- If you call in the late afternoon at 5pm and the pharmacy closes at 6pm, in this case you should expect to receive a call from the pharmacist the following morning by midday which will fall within the four hours contact time after the referral has been done.
If the pharmacist recommends after the consultation that your treatment requires an antibiotic, the pharmacist will contact the GP surgery to arrange the prescription on their behalf and you will be contacted to inform you of when the prescription has been issued to the pharmacy so you can make your way to collect the antibiotics.
If the pharmacist is unable to deal with your minor ailment, the pharmacist will contact the GP surgery to let us know you require a GP appointment. In this instance the GP surgery will contact you to give you an appointment for the following day. You will not have to call the surgery again to make another appointment with the GP.
If you have one of the minor ailments listed below, it is not necessary to call or come to the GP surgery at 8:30am when the phone lines are extremely busy as the community pharmacy consultation service is available all throughout the day. It would be best to call after 10am when our phone lines have quietened down.
If you phone and tell us you have already tried over the counter medication for your minor ailment the receptionist will still refer you to the community pharmacy consultation service first. They will not offer you an appointment with the GP. You need to be reviewed by the pharmacist first.
I would like to emphasize it is very important as a patient to use the community pharmacy consultation service for minor ailments. This will free up GP appointments for patients with more complex cases who actually need to be treated by a GP for their health condition.
We all need to do our part for the smooth running of the GP surgery and create a more user friendly service for patients.
Please see below list of minor ailments:
- Acne, spots and pimples
- Allergic reaction
- Ankle or foot pain or swelling
- Athlete’s foot
- Bites or stings, insect or spiders
- Blisters
- Cold and flu
- Constipation
- Cough
- Cystitis
- Diarrhoea
- Ear wax
- Eye, red or irritable
- Eye, sticky or watery
- Eyelid problems
- Hair loss
- Headache
- Hearing problems or blocked ear
- Hip, thigh or buttock Pain or swelling itch
- Knee or lower leg pain
- Lower back pain
- Lower limb pain or swelling
- Mouth ulcers
- Nasal congestion
- Rectal pain
- Scabies
- Shoulder pain
- Skin, rash
- Sleep difficulties
- Sore throat
- Tiredness
- Toe pain or swelling
- Vaginal discharge
- Vaginal itch or soreness
- Vomiting
- Wound problems – management of dressings
- Wrist, hand or finger pain or swelling
In May 2023, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care announced a Delivery plan for recovering access to primary care. Part of the plan includes enabling patients to get certain prescription medications directly from a pharmacy, without a GP appointment.
This new service is expected to free up GP appointments for patients who need them most and will give people quicker and more convenient access to safe and high quality healthcare. It includes the supply of appropriate medicines for 7 common conditions including earache, sore throat, and urinary tract infections, aiming to address health issues before they get worse.
The following table shows the 7 conditions pharmacists can manage across various age ranges.
- Acute otitis media – for 1 to 17 years
- Impetigo – for 1 year and over
- Infected insect bites – for 1 year and over
- Shingles – for 18 years and over
- Sinusitis – for 12 years and over
- Sore throat – for 5 years and over
- Uncomplicated urinary tract infections – for Women 16-64 years
Patients will be able to access the 7 clinical pathways element via referrals from referring organisations including general practice, urgent and emergency care settings, and NHS 111 (online and via telephone). In addition, for the 7 common conditions clinical pathway consultations only, patients can access the service by attending or contacting the pharmacy directly without the need for referral.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/primary-care/pharmacy/pharmacy-services/pharmacy-first/