The practice team at The Roxton Practice has found the new Pharmacy First service hugely beneficial, reducing the workload for both the Care Navigation team and clinicians within the practice. Patients are also positive about the new pathway to same-day consultations.

Staff training was key to the successful implementation of the new service. The approach taken by the practice team allowed colleagues adopting the new service to freely ask questions or voice any concerns.

Clark Edison, the Service Manager at the practice said:

“The most important components for success are Primary Care and GP training. Once this has been implemented, the service becomes part of the day-to-day process of helping patients receive the right care from the right service, without too much deliberation of what the practice can do that day with our caseloads”

Pharmacy First was implemented through structured training with the Care Navigation team, this included breakdown of the service specs and ‘mock’ conversations where patients would present with qualifying conditions so they could be referred/offered alternate options.

The team were also given individual service binders, laminated crib sheets and a template for Pharmacy First exclusions/inclusions in front of their workstations. These were used as instant query points when they handled a patient with presenting symptoms. This was applied across all sites where Care Navigators would interact with patients.

The practice was already familiar with the predecessor to Pharmacy First, the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS), so there were already processes in place that this service could be joined onto quite easily. The information provided in the written service specs and resources is a big help delivering the service, as it helped prevent confusion about what is covered.

As is common with new services, the practice worked through a few teething issues including some excluded patients initially getting referred to the service in error, but this has improved hugely with the Care Navigation team using the training resources successfully.

The positive impact for both practice staff and patients has been obvious. Clark concludes:

“Patients are seeing the benefit of the service with quicker treatment options and same day face-to-face consultations to the referred pharmacy. This clearly eases the workload on a practice and allows the patient to get the best possible care at fast pace.

“It has made a huge difference, I don’t believe it can be overstated. Our patients feel there is a legitimate pathway for treatment for issues that occur within 24-72 hours with no wait period for appointments to become available.”