MINOR AILMENTS
AS NHS FORTH VALLEY CELEBRATES THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF ITS PHARMACY FIRST PROGRAMME AND INVERCLYDE PILOTS AN EXTENSION OF THE MINOR AILMENT SERVICE TO ALL PATIENTS, JOHN MACGILL ASKS THE OPERATIONS DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY SCOTLAND, MATT BARCLAY, FOR HIS ASSESSMENT OF THESE INITIATIVES.
INITIATIVES HIGHLIGHT POTENTIAL OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY
JOHN MACGILL (JM): WHAT, IN YOUR OPINION, ARE THE NEXT STEPS FOR PHARMACY FIRST AND THE MINOR AILMENT SERVICE?
Matt Barclay (MB): These initiatives are all building on the policy agenda to move services from secondary to primary care and, within that, supporting our GP colleagues. Hardly a day goes by when there isn’t something in the news about how they are stretched and under pressure. It’s about us as pharmacists doing our bit to try to engage with fellow
18 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
professionals, and also engage with the public to promote pharmacy as a first port of call six, often seven, days a week, for an extended range of services – making best use of the pharmacy teams and the pharmacy professionals in community pharmacies to get people seen at the right time in an appropriate manner and dealt with efficiently and effectively in a community pharmacy setting.
In our manifesto for the Scottish Parliament elections in 2016, we made
it clear that there is a place within our pharmacy contract for an evolution of services to support new ways of working, and that’s where community pharmacy can certainly do our bit.
JOHN MACGILL: THE EXTENDED MINOR AILMENT SERVICE (MAS) PILOT BY INVERCLYDE HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PARTNERSHIP LAUNCHED EARLIER THIS YEAR. BUT UNLIKE THE MAS ELSEWHERE, IT’S OPEN TO EVERY LOCAL PATIENT TO REGISTER?
MB: That is correct and it will be interesting to see how that impacts on access and numbers of patients registered in the service, because it does open it to everyone who is registered with an Inverclyde GP. Again, the thought is that this is taking these patients potentially out of the queue of people to see a GP. They do say that perhaps 30 to 40 per cent of GP consultations can be for minor ailments, up to five per cent of A&E presentations as well. So, if we are having some sort of dent on that then
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