Pharmacists can prescribe in England from Wednesday 1st February.

Urmstongran

A friend tells me she thinks this has been operational in NHS Scotland for some time?

What do the Scottish GNetters think of it please? Be interesting to get their take on the subject.

It has been operational in Scotland for some time now and everyone I know who has used the service has been very pleased with it. If in any doubt, the pharmacist can refer you on to a GP or other medical care for further help and advice. I have a friend who is a pharmacist and she says it's also working well from their point of view.

No the pharmacist will not be paid any money to do this role . The business has to sign up but the pharmacist has to do hours of extra training in their own time. The training finished day before it was rolled out countywide. A pharmacist has a very responsible role , I’m not sure how they can split themselves in two when the shops are so busy. When they are out for lunch, unpaid. The prescriptions even if made up can’t be handed out

Theexwife

Chestnut

So how do you know whether you have a urinary tract infection? Surely a test is required, in which case you will get your prescription from the doctor who can then send it to the pharmacy.

Also, earache can be a sign of something serious and surely this requires an examination.

Neither are urgent enough to get an immediate appointment with a doctor, sometimes it can be a three week wait or a phone appointment, the pharmacist will ask the same questions as a doctor would and prescribe instantly if nessersary or refer if needed.

I totally disagree, a UTI can be very dangerous…I had one and thought the symptoms were my kidney stones…went to bed and took co-codamol to ease the pain…became unconscious and ( thanks to a neighbour who missed me) was found in bed 3 days/nights later…it developed into sepsis and after 4 weeks of hospitalisation I’m very lucky to be alive!

Looking at the list of medical conditions covered I think a lot of these ailments are the sort of things people would just ask a pharmacist what the best OTC remedy is anyway rather than going to a doctor in the first place.

I am in Scotland and had to use the chemist on a Saturday when my daughter (over 40) had a urine infection, she had to phone them and they asked all the questions the doctor would and prescribed a three day course of antibiotics as that is all they are advised to prescribe, had to phone surgery for another (three day) course the following week and eventually had to phone 111 on Xmas evening and got an appointment at 11pm at hospital. Older Doctor prescribed seven day course as he knows shorter course doesn't work

Last time I asked a pharmacist if a rash starting over my eyebrow was shingles he said he wouldn't know and see my GP 🙁

Theexwife

Chestnut

So how do you know whether you have a urinary tract infection? Surely a test is required, in which case you will get your prescription from the doctor who can then send it to the pharmacy.

Also, earache can be a sign of something serious and surely this requires an examination.

Neither are urgent enough to get an immediate appointment with a doctor, sometimes it can be a three week wait or a phone appointment, the pharmacist will ask the same questions as a doctor would and prescribe instantly if nessersary or refer if needed.

I go from no symptoms to peeing blood within hours. I would argue that an immediate appointment is necessary if you can't get a prescription from elsewhere.
Chestnut, I think for most people the symptoms of a standard UTI are quite noticeable and distinctive. There are however some UTI's which are more disguised so you'd probably ask for a Dr's appointment anyway if it was making you feel unwell.
I think these different routes for getting treatment is a good idea and inline with many other countries.

Just wondering if they will examine patients or just go on their self diagnosis. Hope that isn’t the case, I could see a lot of abuse and mistakes if it is. It can be difficult to diagnose some things like shingles and UTIs. Scary.

During lockdown I was very unwell (with hindsight a forerunner to the pancreatitis a year later). I was only allowed to speak to, or see, a nurse practitioner who presumably the doctors considered expendable!

After two different prescriptions for antibiotics that didn’t help, the Pharmacist told my husband he would ring the surgery and deal with it. A third antibiotic prescription was obtained and it started working within three days.

More pressing for us is the fact that the Americans who bought out Boots are now closing 30 local pharmacies in our area including ours. The pharmacists and all staff have been constantly rotated to prevent them forming a connection with patients!

Our health centre has an on staff pharmacist. She is very pleasant and sympathetic. I made an appointment to discuss drug side effects and see if she could suggest an alternative
Talking NSAID s For osteoarthritis which had rapidly deteriorated whilst taking the drug and improved when I stopped it
She did not take me seriously and suggested I studied mindfulness to help me accept my situation

I've received someone else's prescription too, but it was 20 years ago (I'm deaf their name probably lip-read like mine). They check more now before handing it over. I am cautiously pleased, it's mainly infections and I suspect pharmacists are better at antimicrobial stewardship than a lot of GPs. I don't trust 111 at all but I'd go to a pharmacist for infected insect bite or UTI.

My local pharmacist has been prescribing a few years now so it’s not altogether a new concept in some areas

I have received prescriptions for other people several times. My husband once received pills for people with stomach tumours instead of for high blood pressure. If he had poor eyesight, learning difficulties or didn’t check the box and had taken them it could have been disastrous.

Excellent service from my local pharmacy here in my part Scotland.

I’ve used them for a few minor ailments instead of calling my GP surgery knowing I’d only be told to call the pharmacy and been very satisfied at the quick efficient way they’ve dealt with me.

They also deliver… free…your medication if you’re housebound

We are very grateful.

Eazybee there has to be a pharmacist present by law for the shop to open. If so much as a packet of paracetamol is sold when they aren't there the pharmacist can be prosecuted.

We know this, hence all the complaints. Originally, other pharmacists were employed but eventually they refused to work for him (accusations of bullying) and have not been replaced. The shop is run on a shoestring, and prescribed drugs are being replaced with unsuitable options, which is causing more problems.

I agree with the OP that this is a great idea.

Pharmacists are professionally qualified in the use of drugs and regulated by their professional body.

Many pharmacists may have a better understanding of medications that the average GP.

This limited list of conditions that they will be able to prescribe for could just be a start.

Jaxjacky

I order repeats through the NHS app SueDonim.

We don’t have that facility here, Jax. In fact our surgery doesn’t do anything online, though I’m told it’s one of the better surgeries in town.

We use an independent pharmacy but they are so incompetent, always missing things out, not passing on info and so on. We were with Lloyds but they closed down and tbh, they were not much cop, either.

I’m not sure if people have read the small print - this is an optional service, pharmacies aren’t obliged to provide it, and they do get extra funding if they opt to do so.
Here’s the detail
www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/launch-of-nhs-pharmacy-first-advanced-service/

The staff in the pharmacy in the small market town in which I live are fully occupied all day making up prescriptions and serving the public at the counter. There is usually only one qualified pharmacist on duty. I can't see her spending hours substituting for GP services. Diverting pharmacists from prescription management risks mistakes being made in my opinion.

Will pharmacists be given extra money from the NHS to provide consulting rooms?

My local independent pharmacy is always madly busy. There's usually a queue out of the door to collect prescriptions. They now offer blood pressure testing, and you can hear a collective sigh throughout the queue when someone wants a private word with the pharmacist in a side room.

When will they ever get the time to make up prescriptions?

Pittcity

Pharmacists have trained for much longer than GPs and often pick up on prescription errors eg. incompatible medication.
I worked in a pharmacy and was often exasperated when we knew what medication could fix a simple ailment but had to send the person to the GP for a prescription. This is excellent news.

Eazybee there has to be a pharmacist present by law for the shop to open. If so much as a packet of paracetamol is sold when they aren't there the pharmacist can be prosecuted.

They sell paracetamol in supermarkets, even small ones 🤔

I think it's a good idea especially at the weekends when GP surgeries are shut but you can usually find a chemist open if you are desperate. I've used them for antibiotics and other problems in Spain and Turkey.

I sm OK with this.

My gp surgery has a pharmacist on site for a couple of days a week, I think.
Presumably he has the same qualifications as those in chemists?