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NEWS


MINOR AILMENTS SERVICE TO BE EXPANDED IN PILOT A pilot project is to be trialled in Inverclyde to explore the impact of the Minor Ailments Service (MAS) on increasing access to appropriate primary care. The pilot, which will see MAS expanded through community pharmacies in Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership, was confirmed in ‘A plan for Scotland: The government’s programme for Scotland 2016-2017’, which was published in September, and was confirmed at the Community Pharmacy Scotland conference in Edinburgh by Sinead Power, Team Leader of Innovation and Improvement in the Primary Care Division of the Scottish Government.


‘We want to deliver an extension for the minor ailment service as part of the transformation programme,’ Ms Power said, ‘and it’s particularly interesting to do that in Inverclyde so that it is part of a whole system approach and not something that is being done in isolation, so we can see the impact across the system. By testing it there, we can begin to learn the lessons nationally.’


NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH


Scottish Pharmacist is very pleased to announce the launch of our new, improved website. Redesigned around you the visitor, our new interactive site hopes to meet all your needs as a pharmacist. With a range of new features, as well as an attractive and modern new look, it is definitely worth a visit.


At our Magazines page, you can find back issues of all our published magazines. The Awards page, is where you can find out how to enter and who to contact, as well as viewing previous shows.


More exciting news for us all, our new website now has the capability to host educational webinars, another great tool for CPD.


For all the latest pharmacy news direct to your inbox, don’t forget to join our new site as a member.


We hope you enjoy the new site as much as we enjoyed creating it, and be sure to check it out at- www.scottishpharmacist.co.uk


4 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST NEW SCHEME GREAT NEWS FOR GP OVERLOAD


A NEW SERVICE IN NHS GRAMPIAN COULD FREE UP TENS OF THOUSANDS OF GP APPOINTMENTS EVERY YEAR ACROSS THE NORTH EAST. Specially-trained pharmacists are now able prescribe an antibiotic to women aged 16 to 65 with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) following suitability assessment by the pharmacist.


NHS Grampian is the first health board in the country to roll out the service and more than 90 community pharmacies have signed up to offer the treatment. It is estimated that the scheme could free up nearly 25,000 GP appointments a year.


Through the scheme, specially trained pharmacists in the North East are now able to give women aged 16 to 65


with a simple urinary tract infection the medication they need, saving the


patient a trip to the family doctor. The Health Secretary has already signalled her intention to roll out the pioneering project across Scotland, and the service has already been piloted in NHS Forth Valley. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is also testing the idea, while NHS Borders is considering adopting the system. The trial in Forth Valley, when pharmacists were also trained to give out treatment for the skin condition impetigo, apparently saw around 1200 people seek medication from the pharmacist instead of their doctor’s surgery with only a few hundred ultimately requiring a GP appointment.


‘Around half of all women will have a urinary tract infection (UTI)


at least once in their lives, usually more frequently as they age,’ said Dr Alasdair Jamieson, GP Lead for Aberdeen City with NHS Grampian. ‘Consequently, many people are acutely aware when they have a UTI and when it requires treatment. Previously, over-the- counter treatments from community pharmacies for UTI would only relieve the symptoms and didn’t address the root bacterial infection. That wasn’t ideal for patients and we’ve made these changes to ensure that people are able to get the right treatment at the right time. Antibiotic treatment for UTI isn’t always necessary, as uncomplicated cases can resolve in a few days, however, if symptoms are moderate to severe, an antibiotic is recommended.’


WAY FORWARD SET OUT FOR SCOTTISH PHARMACY


Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, has launched her Government’s Programme for Scotland for the next year. In it, the First Minister has set out what the Government seeks to implement over the coming term and includes key legislative and practical steps that the Government will take ‘to continue the process of making Scotland a better place’.


The programme commitments that relate directly to pharmacy are:


* Continue three-year programme to recruit up to 140 full-time equivalent additional pharmacists with advanced clinical skills training to work in general practice settings.


* Commitment to ensure that, by the end of this Parliament, all GP practices will have access to a pharmacist with advanced clinical skills.


* Continued protection of free prescriptions


* Piloting an expanded Minor Ailment Service for all patients through community pharmacies in Inverclyde to explore its impact on increasing


access to appropriate primary care.


‘This is good news,’ added Alex MacKinnon, Director for Royal Pharmaceutical Society Scotland, ‘and I hope the Scottish Government will build on ‘The future of primary care in Scotland: a view from the professions’, which we launched ahead of the programme being announced. It represents the views of 18 professional bodies and health organisations in Scotland involved in delivering primary care. The 18 organisations represent over 60,000 clinicians working across the length and breadth of Scotland. Together we are committed to working with the


Scottish Government, with colleagues across health and social care and with the public to turn this shared vision for the future of primary care into present-day reality.


‘I would also urge the Scottish Government to look urgently at how it can speed up its work on e-health as access to records (with patient consent) will be a key enabler in delivering the required transformation of primary care, improving the interface between the various sectors and professionals across our NHS and, most importantly, crucial in enabling our care of our patients to be even safer.’


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