Pharmacies to prescribe drugs

[Grumps.]

I know they will be limited to what they can prescribe but even with antibiotics, there must be some kind of proper diagnosis that should be done initially?


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65488030

[Heathwood]

I had a graze on my leg that took a turn for the worse a month or so ago and I was worried that infection was setting in. Popped to my local pharmacy who examined it using one of their consultation rooms before prescribing topical antibiotics (not available over the counter), with instructions to go back in a week if no better. Free too as I live in Wales. No appointment necessary and in and out in 15 minutes. So much easier than trying to see the GP.

[Paul Dishman]

Grumps. said:

I know they will be limited to what they can prescribe but even with antibiotics, there must be some kind of proper diagnosis that should be done initially?


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65488030

It’s basically the same Pharmacy First scheme that’s run successfully in Scotland and Wales.

Pharmacists have always diagnosed patients when deciding whether a patient needs a medicine that can be supplied by the pharmacy or not, or sent on to the GP.

This is a better use of existing skills and most welcome, providing it’s funded properly.

[Teddy Lop]

Online pharmacies will already "prescribe" scrip only drugs if you pay them a consultation fee.

Useful when the surgery are refusing a scrip for a drug you have on repeat prescription until you consult a gp while simultaneously denying you an appointment to do such.

[BrassMan]

They already can. It's called being a Prescribing Pharmacist but the extra training and responsibility puts a lot of them off. Source: I know some pharmacists, so I could easily have the terminology wrong.

[Murph7355]

Teddy Lop said:

Online pharmacies will already "prescribe" scrip only drugs if you pay them a consultation fee.

Useful when the surgery are refusing a scrip for a drug you have on repeat prescription until you consult a gp while simultaneously denying you an appointment to do such.

Might be better to push for an appt. I suspect they want to check in for a reason.

(Irony in the story being at the same time as one on pharmacies closing down. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away...).

[Paul Dishman]

BrassMan said:

They already can. It's called being a Prescribing Pharmacist but the extra training and responsibility puts a lot of them off. Source: I know some pharmacists, so I could easily have the terminology wrong.

You’re referring to an extra prescribing qualification that some pharmacists have taken. They often work in GP surgeries or larger health centres.
The new scheme is going to be rolled out for all practising pharmacists working in the community.

[Teddy Lop]

Murph7355 said:

Might be better to push for an appt. I suspect they want to check in for a reason.

the problem is with appointments near impossible to get, you need to self triage

[JagLover]

Makes sense for routine visits and keeps people out of the GP Surgeries.

[98elise]

JagLover said:

Makes sense for routine visits and keeps people out of the GP Surgeries.

Agreed. More people should go straight to a pharmacist rather than a GP.

[mwstewart]

It's like this in Asia and I found it very convenient when I visited. The fact they don't control what's given out is another topic, but I'm sure the pharmacies here will have a grip on things.

[sawman]

Paul Dishman said:

providing it’s funded properly.

With this government?? good luck with that....

[s1962a]

98elise said:

JagLover said:

Makes sense for routine visits and keeps people out of the GP Surgeries.

Agreed. More people should go straight to a pharmacist rather than a GP.

Yep, should help take some of the pressure off. Heard on the radio that a lot of pharmacists welcome this change and additional responsibility (no doubt it includes extra £ for them), so sounds like it could work well.

[Grumps.]

I didn’t realise it was already a thing in other parts of the uk so I assume the idea of implementing it in England should be fairly straight forward.

[Paul Dishman]

sawman said:

Paul Dishman said:

providing it’s funded properly.

With this government?? good luck with that....

It looks like it will be funded properly, although the details haven't been announced yet. Pharmacies have been taken for granted for far too long, and have been their own worse enemies by offering services for free instead getting them paid for. Monitored Dose packs are a good example of a service that needed proper funding, but Boots offered them for free in order to gain market share and screwed the entire profession in the process.

[BoRED S2upid]

Grumps. said:

I know they will be limited to what they can prescribe but even with antibiotics, there must be some kind of proper diagnosis that should be done initially?


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65488030

What sort of a diagnosis does a doctor do? Listen to your chest yep your hacking like a goose you need some drugs … next.


Another is contraceptives. You don’t want a baby right now congratulations here’s the pill or morning after pill. You don’t need to see a doctor for a lot of stuff.

[Biker 1]

I haven't seen a quack since 2005. I attended local GP surgery some 8 times over 2 months & was mis diagnosed several times by different doctors each time - they basically had a prod around, took pulse/blood pressure, then looked up possible symptoms in a book.
Honestly, I could look up this stuff myself on Google & probably make a correct diagnosis today. Hopefully the pharmacists will be better than a GP at dealing with minor stuff.

[otolith]

mwstewart said:

It's like this in Asia and I found it very convenient when I visited. The fact they don't control what's given out is another topic, but I'm sure the pharmacies here will have a grip on things.

The lack of control in other countries is worrying - my OH saw antibiotics we save for multiply resistant infections being sold OTC in Bangladesh. There's an even worse situation with their unregulated use in agriculture. There is a risk that at some point during this century we are going to end up with people dying of bacterial infections which were easily curable 100 years earlier.

[98elise]

Grumps. said:

I didn’t realise it was already a thing in other parts of the uk so I assume the idea of implementing it in England should be fairly straight forward.

It's always been a thing for minor stuff. I had an eye infection and saw a pharmacist who gave me medicated eye drops. Even if I'd seen my GP I would have had to go to a pharmacy to collect the medication, so it just cut out the middle man.

[dandarez]

Biker 1 said:

I haven't seen a quack since 2005. I attended local GP surgery some 8 times over 2 months & was mis diagnosed several times by different doctors each time - they basically had a prod around, took pulse/blood pressure, then looked up possible symptoms in a book.
Honestly, I could look up this stuff myself on Google & probably make a correct diagnosis today. Hopefully the pharmacists will be better than a GP at dealing with minor stuff.

Pharmacists, in my experience, some are as good if not better than some GPs. In fact, in my town one brilliant lady Pharmacist was openly loathed by some of the local GPs because she gave out 'her advice' freely to customers/patients. She probably saved me from hospitalisation because of her rapid thinking, lovely old lady with a fierce reputation (now retired). I've related this story years ago on here so here it goes again. Yes, I'm in full and total support of pharmacies to prescribe.
I used to suffer badly for a few years getting bitten by insects, they seemed to love 'biting' me. Oddly, these days they seem to avoid me.

There I was minding my own business, reading the car mags in WHSmiths (as one used to do) one Sat sunny morning, I’d put my arm up to grab another mag to flick through ...
WTF! I had not felt anything, but noticed a bite mark on my elbow. More concerning was a red area moving before my eyes slowly up my arm. Left mags and headed straight to nearest chemist. I must have looked worried as the pharmacist in charge noted me, stopped serving and came straight to my aid (she was in her 60s then, ‘experience’ was written all over her – as many others informed me afterwards. Today, she’s well past retired but by god could the system do with more like her. I sometimes see her about town doing her shopping and remind her how grateful I was back then.
She'd taken just one look at my arm 'Go straight to the community hospital (about half a mile), go through door marked **** and show them. But please do NOT tell them I sent you. Go!’ I put my head down and ran all the way. I later found out she regularly prescribed remedies and advice (which the ‘local GPs really had a problem with.’).

I went inside and opened the door she mentioned. As I walked in a nurse came and asked me what I was doing? I showed her my arm, she took a look, got me to sit down and within less than a minute was given a box of antibiotics, no prescription, anything. Given a glass of water to take some immediately and told to see my GP first thing Monday (and did). Of course, this was when you could see a GP in a hurry!).
The bite area calmed down by the end of the week and the tracking subsided. Three cheers for pharmacists!