Pharmacists to hand out emergency medication supplies without GP approval

[Northerner]

NHS 111 will be referring fewer patients to GP out-of-hours services and A&E, under new plans announced by the Department of Health.

The DH said GPs were currently spending 'nearly 40% of their time advising patients on minor ailments’ but, starting from December, NHS 111 will send patients requiring urgent repeat prescriptions, or suffer minor issues like ear aches, sore throats or bites, straight to community pharmacy instead.

Under the plans, pharmacies will be given direct powers to hand out medicines to patients who have run out, without the approval of a doctor, as long as their surgery has put the prescription on repeat. The DH said NHS 111 currently receives 200,000 calls each year from patients needing urgent prescriptions.

http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/clinica...supplies-without-gp-approval/20033016.article

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[Owen]

Sounds sensible,

 

[mikeyB]

If you build a road, people will drive on it. If you provide this service, it will rapidly be utilised as a free pass to compensate for their own stupidity. So 200,000 folk forget to order their repeat prescription. Urgent? Well, yes, for insulin, or steroids. I'm struggling to think of anything else.

 

[Owen]

If you build a road, people will drive on it. If you provide this service, it will rapidly be utilised as a free pass to compensate for their own stupidity. So 200,000 folk forget to order their repeat prescription. Urgent? Well, yes, for insulin, or steroids. I'm struggling to think of anything else.

Viagra

 

[Ljc]

Good idea .............. do you hear the but
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but there's a plan to close some of our pharmacies down.
I wonder if the right hand knows what the left ones doing