How community pharmacies can help?
High street pharmacies can help in a number of ways and their role is more than just dispensing prescriptions. In addition to essential services, community pharmacies can opt to provide enhanced services.
What are the essential services that all community pharmacies need to provide?
- Dispensing of Medicines and Dispensing of Appliances (2 different services)
- Repeat Dispensing
- Discharge Medicines Service - specific support for people with their medication when they are discharged from hospitals
- Promotion of Health Lifestyles
- Disposal of Unwanted Medicines
- Signposting to other services
- Support for Self-Care
- Clinical Governance
What are the enhanced services provided locally in Coventry?
- Stop Smoking Service and the Stop Smoking in Pregnancy Service - provides support and advice to people who want to give up smoking.
- Phlebotomy service - blood can be taken at a local pharmacy after a prescriber such as a nurse or GP has said you need to have blood tests. This can be booked online 17 pharmacies in Coventry are part of this service
- Sexual Health Services - pharmacies offer Chlamydia testing as well as C-Card (condom distribution) and offer Emergency Hormonal Contraception.
- Substance Misuse - providing Needle Exchange and Supervised Consumption, notification of Missed Doses service.
- End of Life Medicines - there are four community pharmacies in Coventry which deliver End of Life Medicines.
- HIV Point of Care Testing service - in Coventry it aims to increase the number of HIV tests taken in Coventry, especially in at-risk groups such as the black African population and Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). There are four pharmacies in Coventry who provide this service.
- Community Pharmacy Extended Care Service - this service is provided in 2 Tiers.Tier 1 provides treatment of simple Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) in females aged 16 – 65, and treatment of Acute Bacterial Conjunctivitis for children aged 3-months to 2 years. Tier 2 provides treatment of Impetigo, Infected Insect Bites and Infected Eczema.
What role do pharmacies play in spotting cancer?
Staff in high street pharmacies will be funded to spot signs of cancer as part of a new drive to catch tumours early when they are easier to treat.
NHS England have have said this community pharmacy pilot will be carried out in test areas across the country, where the aim will be for staff spot signs of cancer in people who might not have noticed symptoms.
Those with symptoms including: a cough that lasts for three weeks or more, difficulty swallowing or blood in their urine will be referred for scans and checks without needing to see a GP if staff think it could be cancer.
