PHARMACY FIRST
AS NES BEGINS TO DELIVER ITS TRAINING ON THE NHS PHARMACY FIRST SCOTLAND SERVICE, SP TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT WHAT IT WILL ENABLE YOU TO PROVIDE FOR PATIENTS…
Putting Pharmacy First
A
s part of the recently- announced funding deal, the Scottish Government has
pledged £10m over the next three years to the creation of NHS Pharmacy First, a new service, which will replace the existing Minor Ailment Service (MAS) and the Pharmacy First pilots that have been in operation since 2018.
The new service will see community pharmacists able to give advice, treatment or supply of medicines to treat or refer patients with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) and impetigo.
The service will also honour the commitment the Scottish Government made in its Programme for Government 2018/19 to increase access to community pharmacy services by developing and implementing a redesigned minor ailment and common conditions service available to all.
Replacing MAS Pharmacy First represents a further attempt by the Scottish Government to harness the clinical expertise that currently exists in community pharmacy. Since 2006, this expertise has been utilised through MAS, but this new service will not only expand
the range of services that pharmacists can provide, but will provide them with the opportunity to record what they do, thereby demonstrating the efficacy of the service.
Background to MAS Minor ailments are reported to constitute around thirteen per cent and five per cent of general practice and emergency department visits respectively, but cost two and four times more by comparison with treatment in a community pharmacy.
The Scottish Government strategy ‘The Right Medicine’ made a commitment to introduce a scheme to allow patients to use the pharmacy of their choice as the first port of call for the treatment of common illnesses on the NHS. Under MAS, you, as pharmacists, were able to provide treatment for eleven minor ailment indications, including allergy, dermatological, gastrointestinal, infection, respiratory and musculoskeletal pain.
Following the completion of a service in two pilot areas, the service was rolled out nationwide in July 2006 and, year on year, was increasingly used by patients. Indeed, in 2016/17, more than two million products were provided by pharmacists through >
Natalie Taylor, locum pharmacist I think Pharmacy First will be very helpful as a first-line service. I currently work as a locum in LloydsPharmacy out-of-hours at Kincaidston in Ayr on a Sunday and, on average, I see at least four UTIs and one skin condition a week. Where previously I would have had to refer the patients to the GP out-of-hours service, I can now deal with these issues myself, which helps to develop my clinical skills.
SCOTTISH PHARMACIST - 7
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