New NHS Pharmacy First scheme launches

By Hassan Riaz, Community pharmacist and teacher at Madni Mosque, Halifax

Earlier this year 75 per cent of people said they wanted to see pharmacies offering more healthcare services such as treating urinary tract infections or sore throats, and now they will be.

Almost all pharmacies will offer the new service, giving advice and, if needed, NHS medicines, to treat seven common health conditions – and all without needing to get a GP appointment.

Here at Sandbeds Pharmacy in Pellon, we are also offering the service, alongside our branches at Springhall, Boothtown, Horne Street and Southowram.

As experts in medicines and managing minor illnesses, pharmacists have been backed by government and the NHS to provide a new NHS ‘Pharmacy First’ service.

Over 10,000 pharmacies across England have signed up to support people in certain age groups seeking help for sore throats, earache in children, sinusitis, infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles, and urinary tract infections in women.

If you have symptoms that suggest you may have one of these conditions, you can now walk into a pharmacy and be offered a consultation with the pharmacist.

Under the new service pharmacists can provide advice and, if clinically necessary, will offer an NHS medicine to treat it (NHS prescription charges apply if you normally pay for medicines supplied on prescription).

Should the pharmacy team be unable to help, you will be directed to your GP surgery or A&E as appropriate.

By thinking ‘Pharmacy First’, people will find it easier and quicker to get the help they need and bypass the 8am rush to book an appointment with their GP.

It is estimated that with the added capability to supply non-prescription medicines and prescribe additional prescription-only medicines, the Pharmacy First service could free up 30m+ GP appointments annually.

The new service is part of a wider expansion of healthcare services that will empower pharmacists to use more of their skills and give people more choice about their healthcare.

There exists massive potential in community pharmacies, with nearly 90 per cent of the population located within a 20-minute walk of a local pharmacy, and pharmacies open for evenings and extended hours, patients will be able to seek care and advice closer to their home and at a time that is convenient for them.

Ambitious commissioning could position pharmacies as the ‘go-to’ place for urgent and emergency care.

However, community pharmacies are chronically underfunded, the current annual funding shortfall equates to more than £67,000 per pharmacy in England.

As a result of the underfunding, staff shortages and increased work-pressure, we are seeing a net rate of eight pharmacies closing each week throughout the country.

More than a third of these net closures, were in England’s 20 per cent most-deprived areas.

Whilst we welcome the new Pharmacy First service and the potential it has, the government must revisit the core funding for pharmacies, to reverse this trend in closures.