New Pharmacy First service already making a difference in Nottinghamshire

The new Pharmacy First service launched at the end of January and allows highly-trained pharmacists to assess and treat patients for sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bite, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women (under the age of 65), without the need for an appointment or prescription.

If they have symptoms, patients can access the service by either being referred by their GP, or just walking in to a participating pharmacy.

More than 200 community pharmacies across Nottinghamshire are providing the service.

More information is available online at notts.icb.nhs.uk/your-services/community-pharmacy/

Imran Mohammed, director and superintendent pharmacist at Orchard Pharmacy in Mansfield, said patients were already benefiting from the new service by getting treatment quicker, giving GPs more time to focus on more complicated conditions.

He said: “We have already received several referrals from local surgeries and many patients have really benefited from this new service.

“A lot of the referrals that were previously being sent back to general practice from the pharmacy were for acute sore throats and sinusitis.

"These conditions are now covered in the Pharmacy First service, allowing patients wider access to care and for GPs and clinicians to focus on the more complex cases."

The new scheme follows the roll-out of a number of other health services that people can now get at many local pharmacies, including blood pressure checks and over-the-counter oral contraception for women.

Dr Dave Briggs, medical director at NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, added: “The Pharmacy First service recognises the increasingly important part pharmacies play within the NHS family.

“They are located on the high street and at the heart of our communities, making them both easily accessible and with convenient opening times to suit busy modern lifestyles, often allowing patients to be seen quicker by a highly trained healthcare professional.

“Pharmacy First is one of a number of ways in which we’re working hard to improve access to primary care, which also includes modernising telephony systems at GP practices, providing more services through the NHS app and employing 600 extra nurses, physios, paramedics and other professionals at our GP practices in the last five years.”