NHS Somerset is aiming to grow its referral rate through GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) to between 4,000 to 6,000 patients a month.
Since June 2021 GPs in Somerset have successfully referred around 1,000 patients a month through the Somerset GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS)
Currently, 59 of NHS Somerset's 64 GP practices and all of Somerset's 102 community pharmacists are using the Somerset GP CPCS.
NHS Somerset found that providing the right training for GPs and for reception staff and practice managers was key to a smooth rollout and uptake of the service.
As was making sure the technology worked when making referrals from general practice to community pharmacists.
NHS Somerset is using software called Patient Access Connect, which seamlessly integrates with the EMIS Web GP system used in Somerset, to give practices a quick
and easy way to capture the patient information needed to deliver a referral.
The GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) is also delivering 'unexpected' insights to help transform patient care and facilitate integrated
working between pharmacists and GPs across Greater Manchester.
Since April 2021, almost 14,000 appointments have been referred using the GP CPCS across the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership - a figure that
is growing as its success gathers pace and they continue to support practices to increase referral activity.
Joshua Nolan, a pharmacist at Internet Pharmacy in Heywood, one of the first in the area to join the referral service, said: "The number of patients we're seeing
from GP CPCS has been building consistently month-on-month. On average we see around 50 patients, but recently we recorded 53 in just one week."
The pharmacist, who has been practising for six years and is also an independent prescriber, believes the GP CPCS has helped bring about more awareness to the
clinical services community pharmacy can offer.
The Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) will be expanded to enable urgent and emergency care settings to refer patients to a community pharmacist
for a consultation for minor illness or urgent medicine supply from Monday (15 May), the DHSC and NHSE said.
The service builds on the progress made in GP referrals via the CPCS and hospital referrals under the Discharge Medicine Service. It was originally planned to launch
in March, and fee for this service will be the existing CPCS fee of £14, as per the agreement for both year 4 and year 5 of the Community Pharmacy Contractual
Framework (CPCF) 2019 to 2024 5-year deal.
In an update on the CPCF, published today (12 May), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE) has also committed to the 4 October 2023
launch date for the Tier 2 of the Pharmacy Contraception Service, subject to a positive evaluation of the pilot.
The Tier 1 of the service was launched on 24 April, delayed by over three months. This new service enables community pharmacists to provide ongoing management, via
a patient group direction (PGD), of routine oral contraception that was initiated in general practice or by a sexual health clinic. The fees for this service are as
follows: a fee for each consultation of £18; and a set-up fee of £900, paid in instalments.
The Tier 2 will "enable community pharmacists to also initiate oral contraception, via a PGD, and provide ongoing clinical checks and annual reviews," Alette Addison,
deputy director for pharmacy, dental and optical at the DHSC and Ali Sparke, director for dentistry, community pharmacy and optometry at the NHSE, said in a letter.
The Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) has been running as a national advanced service since October 2019 to relieve pressure on the National
Health Service which aims to help with on the day demand in relation to minor illness and medicines.
The NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service CPCS (NHS CPCS) aims to meet the objectives of the NHS Long Term Plan to use community pharmacists' skills to
advise patients, and to build relationships with GP surgeries, primary care teams and wider NHS providers and to assist with urgent care system repeat prescription
requests. Referrals from the GP referral pathway and urgent care systems and urgent treatment centres are digitally routed to community pharmacies so that patients
can receive same-day appointments and have their queries resolved.
The numbers
Based on the estimated annual number of minor ailment GP appointments, the service was expected to save the NHS up to £640 million per year . Three years later, the
nation has weathered the Covid 19 pandemic, which had widespread effects and put further strain on already overstretched NHS staff.
The pandemic impact has resulted in higher numbers of GP appointments than initially anticipated. Nevertheless, this may offer an opportunity to proactively engage
pharmacy teams in patient contact help ease strain across the wider NHS.
This Pharmacy First Common Ailments service will help patients seek treatment for seven common conditions directly from a pharmacy without the need
for a GP appointment or prescription.
Launching on 31 January next year although it is subject to IT being ready, the service will cover ailments including "sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected
insect bites, impetigo, shingles, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs)" in women.
People with symptoms of the above seven conditions will be supplied with a prescription-only treatment under a Patient Group Direction (PGD).
Patients seeking assistance at the pharmacy, whether walk-in or referred by NHS 111, GPs, or other sources, can receive consultations.
The new service includes self-referring patients plus referrals, and the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) will also be a part of it.
As we transition in England through yet another NHS organisational change, I ask myself what does this mean for community pharmacy? I would like to think that
this change will bring about opportunity and a chance for community pharmacy to showcase and continue the excellent work that was carried out during the height of
the pandemic and is still ongoing today.
I hope that it allows community pharmacy to be regarded as part of the NHS rather than sitting on the side lines. This change has to lead to better funding for
community pharmacy, without sufficient funding we will see more pharmacies close.
We are hearing a lot about winter pressures but this year it feels like all year round pressure. What I have seen, whilst the NHS is under such pressure, is North
East London (NEL) CCG transitioning to an integrated care board (ICB) almost seamlessly.
I have seen people transitioning into new roles, whilst working hard to ensure that all plates are still spinning, which at the moment is no mean feat. I spent a
day out recently visiting pharmacies with the chief medical officer of NHS NEL, Dr Paul Gilluley.
The visits were positive, we felt listened to and understood. The feedback was great, it was recognised that community pharmacy is often the informal front door to
the NHS and that we have so much to offer in terms of ill health prevention.
Community pharmacy can offer a total solution as long as we have the tools to do so, which can save so much time and money. An example is the GP CPCS service, which
has launched well across NEL.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)'s 2022 Pharmacy Advice Audit revealed that more than 1.2 million consultations a week - or 65 million
a year - are now being carried out by community pharmacy teams in England.
This is an increase from 2021, when the audit results suggested that in total pharmacies were providing 58 million consultations per year.
PSNC has published the findings of the audit of over 4,000 community pharmacies carried out earlier this year. During the audit, 82,872 informal patient consultations
were recorded, with the average pharmacy completing 19 consultations per day.
This suggests that more than 1.2 million informal consultations are taking place in community pharmacies in England every week.
The audit helped to quantify the number of informal referrals being made to pharmacies by GPs and NHS 111, with 7,774 informal patient referrals into pharmacy
coming from these routes; grossed up to a national level that means 117,000 cases per week.
These are all referrals that could and should have been made by the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS).