NHS Pharmacy First Plus Service
The core use of the Independent Prescribing qualification in the Community Pharmacy setting will be for the management of acute common clinical conditions, which is beyond the scope of the standard NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service, and would otherwise require onward referral to another healthcare professional.
As stipulated in the PCA (P)(2020) 16, the pharmacist should ensure they have completed the following;
- Must be a qualified Independent Prescriber
- Two day NES Clinical Skills course
- One day NES consultation skills course
- One day Common Clinical Conditions/Teach & Treat
- Deliver the service for a minimum of 25hours/week for a minimum of 45 weeks
Applying for Prescriber Number and/or Prescription Pads
Community Pharmacy Independent Prescribers can apply to deliver the Pharmacy First Plus service in NHS Lothian by completing the Memorandum of Understanding & returning the completed form to loth.adminrehpharmacy@nhs.scot for healthboard approval. On receipt of the Memorandum of Understanding form, NHS Lothian will apply for your unique prescribing number and GP10 pads by completing on your behalf, a PHS P3 form and GP10 application, using the information you have provided in the Memorandum of Understanding form. It will take approximately 10 weeks for prescription pads to arrive at McKinnon House, Royal Edinburgh Hospital. You will be notified when your prescription pads are available and you must arrange a time to attend collection. A signature will be required on collection.
If you are running low on GP10s and require further supplies, please notify the loth.adminrehpharmacy@nhs.scot via email and an order will be processed on your behalf. We recommend requesting further supplies when you start your final prescription pad as orders can take up to 8 weeks.
If you have not been notified to collect your prescription pads within 10 weeks, you must contact the loth.adminrehpharmacy@nhs.scot for further investigation. Community Pharmacists may not use generic prescription pads, they can only prescribe on their own annotated pads and cannot sign up to deliver the Pharmacy First Plus service until receipt of a prescription pad.
CPIP Governance
The safety of prescribing pads is the responsibility of each individual practitioner and pads are required to be kept in a secure locked location with limited access. Guidance on the security of prescribing pads can be accessed here. You may be asked for the prescription pad serial numbers if they were to go missing. This helps in ensuring the safety of your pads and in the prevention of theft or fraud. Please note it is the responsibility of the individual practitioner to keep the serial number of prescribing pads up to date.
Leaving Healthboard and/or Lost or Stolen Pads
If you leave the healthboard, you must inform the loth.adminrehpharmacy@nhs.scot and return all prescribing pads to the healthboard for destruction. You must also complete Annex C – Self Declaration form for Pharmacy First Plus Withdrawal – within the PCA(P)(2020)16.
If you prescribing pads are missing, lost, or stolen this must be reported to the loth.adminrehpharmacy@nhs.scot using the reporting lost, stolen pads form. If prescribing pads are stolen this must be reported to the police.
The GPhC Framework for Pharmacist Prescribers provides pharmacist prescribers with guidance on how they should apply the GPhC standards when prescribing.
If you are unsure of anything or require any assistance at all, please contact;
loth.adminrehpharmacy@nhs.scot
OR