Pharmacists Now Able to Prescribe for Seven Conditions
In the News
Do you think this a good idea? I am rather conflicted, may be good in that you get faster treatment but there is a shortage of pharmacists as well as GPS! www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68139870
It's great. Personally it's a good thing. One of my kids went through a phase of impetigo I knew what it was and had to keep going to the Dr's for something the chemist could have sorted
There are certain things I agree with but they have been able to prescribe the contraceptive pill for a while and that worries me. Do they have access to your medical records or do they just have to trust what they are being told. My GP surgery and pharmacy and even a little cafe is all in the same place with a small courtyard in the middle. So although they are close i worry that they wont have the information that the doctors do.
Sarahvwomble they are permitted to prescribe now but there ‘are plans’ for them to access records by the end of the year. Thats a year of prescribing without access
Makes perfect sense to me. There all minor illnesses & will free up GP appointments. I will find it much easier popping into a pharmacy then spending a morning phoning my gps hoping to get through & struggling to get a suitable appointment.
Glitterandgold yes agree, let's hope it dies. Agree about difficulty in getting to gp, in time you spend waiting for call to be answered you could visit the chemist and get back again!
I wonder if they will have access to your medical information and may sell your personal details to third-party companies if they do have access to your medical records
To be honest I'm tired of my pharmacist questioning my medication, he's not my doctor and doesn't know my circumstances, yet thinks he knows best for me
Jinky67 yeah I'm aware of that, so he thought it was a good idea to lower my blood thinner medication, which he did, 2 weeks later I had a pulmonary embolism
That’s a great step forward utilising pharmacists knowledge and should free up lots of doctors appointments.
Pjran agree but in practice some areas have lost pharmacy and can't get new ones so the chemist that are left were already struggling... can't imagine how it will work...great need for more staff of all kinds
Sarahvwomble at least they are going to be paid so hopefully recruit more staff in the chemists.
Call me crazy but I just think we need to get back to the situation where you see the same doctor regularly and he/she gives you a physical examination as well as asks you questions and then based on all the evidence prescribes you the right medication or if you need to go into hospital etc. It seemed to work in the past. Nowadays its a lottery whether you can get to see a doctor and its completely random which doctor you will see and different doctors have different opinions on the same symptoms you have. So you end up bouncing between different doctors recommendations and prescriptions. Then of course if you do need to go into hospital it might be next week or next year or never. Also in my surgery you seem to get monthly specials on doctors where one will appear but by your next appointment is gone and another doctor is there. Sometimes you see a doctor and you think what a great doctor and he/she really knows what they are doing but then next time its completely different doctor who seems utterly clueless and seems annoyed that his or her time is occupied dealing with you. I reckon I've seen/spoken to about 12 different doctors over 5 years.
I'm sure a pharmacist in many situations is fine but in other situations could be life threatening. It just seems like another way of reducing costs in the NHS and reducing the quality of service too but I totally understand this is a necessity based on the economic state of the country.
BonzoBanana I haven't seen my normal doctor in 3 years and if I want to see him it has to be booked a month in advance it's always phone appointments and if they think I should be seen then it's another appointment wouldn't it makes sense I do go to the chemist now see what they say before I make a appointment
BonzoBanana totally agree,same here ,you put it all perfectly, dreadful business all through the NHS, hospital even worse than GPS too..
I'm not critical of this but being a regular user of healthcare establishments if I have heard this right and its something the government want us to do is go to Pharmacists which I am fortunate to do so is excellent and really helpful but there is 1 flaw in the governments plans which is pharmacists are closing at an alarming rate and where I live isn't the exception to this .
stuartsmith544 I guess this policy will help protect many pharmacists who will now get extra work and money so many will now be more economically viable.
This will naturally have pros and cons - I would aim for a GP appointment to discuss most things. As with doctors, the level of competent pharmacists is going to be hit and miss.
If its restricted to just a few well defined conditions then ok, but now its started it will quite quickly be added to and soon we will be expected to put up with it rather than get a gp appt. The other big issues is that many areas are really short of pharmacist's as well. Boots seem to be closing their pharmacies down in many areas so it wont be any easier to see a pharmacist than a gp. Years of austerity have reduced the nhs to such a state that it will be hard for anyone to fix it now
For me personally I’m glad to see that shingles is on the treatment list, as I keep getting it.
I did speak to a pharmacist a few months ago and he said I needed to see a GP to get medication. I’ll hopefully be able to save time and hassle by going directly to the pharmacy from now on.
I don't really agree with this as I can see a progression of more and more people (becoming less trained along the way) having access to someone's medical records; records which should be strictly private and confidential. I wouldn't want to share my medical details with, for example, with cashiers in Boots!
tumblespots it wouldn’t be shared with a cashier- its only for trained pharmacists to deal with
tumblespots The risk of more people having access to your medical records means more chance of such data being stolen when hacked. So your medical conditions could appear in a big list on the dark web somewhere. This will give people access to your prescriptions and whether its worth a burglary at your house to get expensive medication.
I'm hoping this push to use pharmacies more will mean maybe the nhs online service will now direct people between pharmacies, doctors surgeries and the hospital depending on symptoms and other factors. It could work well but I'm just not convinced the NHS is an efficient and well managed organisation nowadays. It just seems a mess to me. There seems so many mismanagement situations reported on both local news and national news.
BonzoBanana That's it in a nutshell, I just don't trust those people who might have access to my information as they are often shown to be less than competent and, as you say, it's another place for hackers to get my details..
tumblespots It does feel like a real risk nowadays. I wonder what information there is on the darkweb today about me. I guess lots of old passwords which I've had to change for repeated web sites. Information is power.
BonzoBanana totally mess, every time I or my parents have an involvement with it there are problems,failures ,time delay or all of these!
It's a good idea as we can't get appointment when we need one and stops time wasting as well. Not saying its going to work but it's a good idea?
There's more and more responsibility being put upon our pharmacists .My local pharmacy is always rammed, as it is,and getting worse,because the local Lloyds,and Boots have closed down.The staff get lots of abuse,because of the volume of people in and out all day,and they have to wait.
The pharmacies don't have enough staff to carry out this treatment, same as the doctors.
The sane day I saw a notice on pharmacy door " Apologies but we won't be able to offer Service 1 today "
Okay so they got rid of pharmacy first scheme many years ago to save money and now they just bought it back again. 
I work in pharmacy and we are already pushed to the brink of exhaustion due to having an unbelievable amount of prescriptions ,staff shortages,patients unrealistic expectations ( abuse is a constant daily occurrence ) .I know for a fact Drs have available appointments whether it be face to face or via telephone consultation.Just an excuse to palm off pharmacies who are struggling immensely with our work load when it should be GP's dealing with the patients ailments .When Pharmacy First was first introduced ,people were coming in every single day just to stock up on medication ,not because they actually needed it .This will happen again and again ,the system is flawed .The NHS is already on its knees and abused ,so don't be surprised when it goes under and everything is privatised .People will soon stop requesting medication when it ,god forbid ,has to be paid for ,which around 75% of people don't.Anything for free
coreydee1975 mmm was hoping someone from a pharmacy would comment because I knew,years ago,the brilliant pharmacy I used to go to were greatly overworked....
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