This week's article for the Herald and Post...
I hope many of you will have seen the announcement last week about ‘Pharmacy First’. It’s a new service, starting this month, which means that medication for more conditions can be dispensed by a pharmacist without the need for a GP appointment.
This is a first for the NHS in England. Creating more choice for patients in how they access care, where and when they choose to do this.
The current estimates are that 95 percent of pharmacies have already signed up to the service. This equates to 276 pharmacies in Hampshire, meaning that there’s a high chance you’ll be able to use this service at your local pharmacy from now.
The Pharmacy First service covers seven common conditions: sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bite, impetigo, shingles and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.
For these conditions, patients will be able to have a consultation with their pharmacist to discuss their symptoms. The pharmacist will then recommend the most appropriate course of action. This may include a treatment bought over the counter, advice for self-care or supplying a prescription only medicine, such as an antibiotic or antiviral.
Lots of us live geographically closer to a pharmacy than a GP surgery so this is good news. It also means that millions of GP appointments (the NHS estimates this could be as much as 10 million per year) that would have been used for these common conditions can be freed up, leaving GPs with more time to concentrate on patients with serious or complex conditions and concerns.
The Pharmacy First service is another pillar in the government’s reforms to the pharmacy workforce. Nearly £16 million has been invested in recent years to upskill the current workforce so that they can take on more clinical work. Training places for pharmacists have also been increased with the ambition that there will be around 5,000 training places by the start of the next decade.
As the son of a pharmacist myself, I have a strong sense of the vital role of community pharmacy, and I’m especially pleased that these reforms are being made.
