The NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service allows patients to use a community pharmacy as the first port of call for treatment.
Who is eligible for NHS Pharmacy First Scotland?
Eligibility for the Pharmacy First Scotland service is reserved for those who fit the following criteria:
- Everyone registered with a GP practice in Scotland or the Defence Medical Services on a permanent or temporary basis (including care home residents).
- People who live in Scotland (including gypsy or travellers / asylum seeker or dependant of an asylum seeker).
Who isn’t eligible for NHS Pharmacy First Scotland?
Visitors to Scotland are excluded from accessing the service, however pharmacists will still be able to provide general help and advice to these patients as well as providing medication by over the counter sale.
National Toolkit for Community Pharmacies
- The National Service Scotland and Community Pharmacy Scotland webpages both have a variety of useful resources/tools for Community Pharmacy use. Some resources include:
- Consultation Forms: Once you have confirmed a patient as eligible for the NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service a consultation form may be used to note.
- Signposting Guidance for General Practice Teams: Broad overview of how the service operates and triage guidance- You may find this guide useful to highlight when you should also be referring patients to GP surgeries!
- Pharmacy First Scotland Patient Leaflets: Available online in many languages. To view and print as necessary.
- Guidance Form for Treatment of Minor Eye Conditions (Updated Dec23): Guidance aimed at both community optometry and community pharmacy teams.
Grampian Toolkit for Community Pharmacies
- Pharmacy First Daily Numbers Tracker (Click Here): Can be used by the pharmacy team to record the total number of interactions month by month across the year to show trends
- Pharmacy First Monthly Numbers Tracker (Click Here): Can be used by the pharmacy team to record the total number of interactions month by month across the year to show trends
- Pharmacy First Staff Questionnaire (Click Here): A great and quick tool to sense-check you have good PF processes in place
- Pharmacy First Information Pack (Click Here): Summarizes recent changes to the Pharmacy First service; it also includes best practice tips to help conversations with customers and increase the numbers of consultations being recorded by pharmacy staff on the PMR, and can be used to train new pharmacy staff
- Patient Referral (Click Here): you should ideally be using the SBAR facility within the PCR system to record details of any Pharmacy First consultation with a patient which ends in referral. Click above for guidance on how to generate this.
- Advice Referral & Treatment Guidance: Print this out and keep near the counter. Reminder all trained staff can conduct a consultation for Pharmacy First
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Cant find the answer to your query? Try the FAQ document first or contact the PCS team.
Pharmacy First PGDs
Please see the NHS Grampian PGD page for all Pharmacy First PGDs.
What is the role of General Practice teams?
By understanding how NHS PFS operated locally, GP teams will be able to help patients access the most appropriate service to meet their individual needs in as timely a manner as possible. As a general principle, to ensure a smooth patient journey, patients seen in general practice should be prescribed all relevant medication at the time of initial consultation.
All minor illnesses are in scope, as any eligible member of the public can present at a pharmacy to have their symptoms assessed and appropriate outcome agreed upon.
The narrative around the service nationally is intentionally designed not to set the expectation that a consultation will result in supply of medication, and this messaging should be carried through locally as well.
For more information on this see the “Signposting Guidance for GP Teams” document on the NSS Website – You may find this guide useful to highlight when you should also be referring patients to GP surgeries!
PMR Guides
These are available upon request. Please email us at gram.pharmaceuticalcareservices@nhs.scot if you would like a copy. Please let us know which PMR system you use in your email.
