Two South Yorkshire pharmacies are the first to launch a new NHS community pharmacy prescribing service pilot that will give patients greater choice of appointments for medication reviews and prescribing services.
Weldricks Scawthorpe Pharmacy in Doncaster and Dearne Valley Pharmacy in Barnsley are the first of 8 pharmacies in South Yorkshire to launch a pilot service under the NHS Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme, which will run throughout 2025. All 8 pharmacies aim to be live with the pilot by April 2025.
The NHS Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme aims to try different ways of working that will help NHS commissioners to fund prescribing services through community pharmacy. This will lead to better use of the pharmacists’ skills and provide more options for patients.
Pharmacists are experts in medicine and have the skills and training to prescribe medication. However, although pharmacists have been providing NHS prescribing services in hospitals and general practice settings for many years, due to current national policies, community pharmacists are unable to provide NHS prescribing services. This new pilot programme will provide evidence for how NHS prescribing services could work in community pharmacies.
The pilot in South Yorkshire will allow patients to visit their pharmacist for advice and medication for hypertension management, cholesterol management, minor illness, medicines substitution, asthma management and oral contraception. The 8 participating pharmacies in South Yorkshire will each be offering 1-2 of these services. Some, such as Hypertension management, will require a referral from a participating general practice, whilst others such as minor illness can be accessed without a referral. This is a national programme with pharmacies across England testing out different clinical models and pathways of care.
Claire Thomas, Strategic Pharmacist for Community Pharmacy at NHS South Yorkshire and lead for the programme, explains: “This is a huge and much needed step forward for community pharmacy, as well as our patients. It will lead to more choice of when and where to access appointments for medication reviews and prescribing services and reduce the number of people who need to see a GP.
“It will enable our community pharmacists to utilise their clinical and prescribing skills as pharmacists in other NHS care settings already do, maximising the potential they have for improving access to services and the health of their local populations.”
Patient feedback from the pharmacies already running the pilot has been positive and many people said how relaxed they had felt having their appointment at the pharmacy.
Dr David Crichton, GP and Chief Medical Officer at NHS South Yorkshire, said: “The roll out of the pathfinder programme is fantastic news; for residents of South Yorkshire, the pharmacy profession and making best use of NHS services. The benefits are clear to see with people being able to have greater choice and improving access closer to home.”
Even if your local pharmacy isn’t part of the pilot programme, community pharmacists already offer a wide range of services including the Pharmacy First Service where pharmacists are able to supply, where appropriate, treatment for 7 common conditions. It is hoped that in the future the Pharmacy First service will be expanded so that pharmacists can use their prescribing qualifications to treat a wider range of conditions.
Find your local pharmacy here and contact them for more information about the services they provide.